Thread: Race pics...

...a few from last weekend:

Grand-Am Rolex, Playboy Racing, Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm @ 21mm, Speedlight SB-900



Grand-Am Rolex GT, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II



Grand-Am Rolex GT, Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200mm @ 102mm



Grand-Am Rolex GT, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II



Grand-Am Rolex GT, Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm @ 24mm, Speedlight SB-900



Grand-Am Rolex DP, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II



Grand-Am Rolex DP, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II



Grand-Am Rolex GT, Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm @ 105mm



Grand-Am Rolex, Checkered Flag, Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200mm @ 70mm



Grand-Am Cup Koni GS, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II



Grand-Am Cup Koni GS Start, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II



Atlantic, Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm @ 150mm


-Astro

Astro - Did you meet the guys from FallLine / Playboy? They are old friends from Chicago and a good bunch. I was supposed to have been out there shooting with Sideline Sports but had my parents in town for the weekend.

A few from today...PCA @ Miller Motorsports Park

30d 70-200 f/2.8L + 1.4xII







Still have more than 6gb of pics to sort through. Crazy how brutal track shooting is on your shutter.

Some nice in shots in here...
I'll add a few from a track event soon.

those look great truth. astro, those are huge, hard to see without scrolling around a lot.. would look better if they were smaller. id lose the scotchtape too

Originally Posted by grapedrink

astro, those are huge

OK, I fixed em, just for you...

Originally Posted by AstroPax

OK, I fixed em, just for you...

much better

Originally Posted by truth

Astro - Did you meet the guys from FallLine / Playboy?

Yeah, for a few seconds...but I was mostly dealing with Tommy Constantine. Actually, he set up a bunch of shots, like this one:



I told him that he should be a photog...as good as he is at directing and positioning models.

Evidently, the blond in the center is his girlfriend. How would it be!

BTW, your shots look great!

-Astro

well done all around sirs. what is your technique for the background blurry/side view car sharp as a tack shots?

Originally Posted by AstroPax

the brake dust! wow!

Good stuff. I need someone to give me a lesson in how to properly use a flash.

I got dibs on the blonde up top...

Astro, what kind of aperature did you use to get the whole car in focus here with the background completely indistinguishable?


You seemed to know just the right aperature to get exactly the right DOF. I'm gonna guess.... f/13? Don't really know how short DOF gets at 400mm... And if it's at f/13, your shutter speed might be a little slow unless you bumped up the ISO or used some kind of extra light on the car. And at f/13, wouldn't more of the background be in focus? Or is it further away than it actually looks due to a 400mm telephoto compression?

Any hints?

At any rate, fine photos. Fine, indeed. Thanks for sharing.

Great work.

max, why dont you just look at the exif data....

says its f3.2

i mean really.....
f13? you might as well have guessed f32

Originally Posted by pechelman

max, why dont you just look at the exif data....

says its f3.2

i mean really.....
f13? you might as well have guessed f32

Yeah- your going in the wrong direction there buckaroo.
smaller aperture number, more DOF
Larger, everything in focus.

The real question is, how many throw aways were there? I've shot motorsports, and had maybe 3 useable action photos.

Originally Posted by Deep Days

Or is it further away than it actually looks due to a 400mm telephoto compression?

For that particular shot I was really close. Close enough to just about fill the entire viewfinder. So that really helps with the background, the fact that the subject is so close.

Manual, 1/1000 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200.

One advantage of a lens such as the Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 AFS II is that it is sharp (for the most part) at all apertures. So I have no problem or regrets shooting wide-open.

When composing shots such as that one, the TRG Porsche, I refuse to sacrifice sharpness for a blurred background, so I'll set a minimum of 1/1000 sec on the shutter speed, and then set the aperture by (center-weight) exposing on the red and white rumble strip, because based upon experience, the rumble strip gives me a good exposure point. If I can't maintain a fast shutter speed at f/2.8, for example, then I'll bump-up the ISO to compensate, otherwise, the subject starts to get a little motion-blurred.

For motorsport photography (with the exception of panning), the auto modes (full auto, auto-A, and Auto-S) generally suck because the reflecting glare from the sun or the headlights will screw things up unless you always want to be fiddling with +/- EV settings. I would rather just lock it manually, which BTW a nice feature of a pro body (D3/D2X, for example) is the ability to lock the exposure settings in place so you don't accidentally change things in the heat of the battle, which actually happens rather often to me when using my (non-lockable) D300.

That was a 7-hour race, so all the photographers involved usually have plenty of time to position accordingly and make adjustments based upon the lighting and flow of the race. Also, there are numerous practice race sessions in the days and hours prior to the actual race(s)...so everyone practices...the drivers, pit crews, still photogs, video/SPEED TV dudes, rescue, flaggers, corner workers, etc.

Hope that helps.

Edit, a few more...

This first one shows the trailing car with good OOF even at f/7.1 because the subject/lead car is so close to the lens.

Atlantic, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II, 1/1250 sec, f/7.1



These next two frames have the cars at about the same distance from the lens, and the same distance from the background Armco barrier...so one can see the slight difference between f/7.1 and f/3.5, all things about equal other than the aperture. But even at f/7.1 the background OOF still looks OK.

Atlantic, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II, 1/1250 sec, f/7.1


Atlantic, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II, 1/1000 sec, f/3.5



This last one is a cover shot for a certain hard copy trade publication.

Grand-Am Rolex DP, Nikon D300, Nikkor 400mm AFS II, 1/1250 sec, f/5



-Astro

something i didnt notice before
checkout all that brake dust

Originally Posted by warthog

The real question is, how many throw aways were there? I've shot motorsports, and had maybe 3 useable action photos.

Just to put things in perspective, for the entire weekend which included the Atlantic series, the Grand-Am Rolex series, and the Grand-Am Cup series, to include qualifying, practice, and the actual races, I provided in excess of 700 photos (keepers) to my publisher. I Don't really know how many total frames I actually shot over the three days...don't keep track...but it was definitely more than 700

I shoot raw+jpg. When it's all said and done I dump everything on to DVD's for archiving, otherwise the hard drive on my laptop is maxed-out before too long...like after a few days.

-Astro