ZJChaser

Thanks, I appreciate it. Panning F1 cars took a bit of practice that day, but it was worth it. I was just glad I got to shoot some, too bust driving and wrenching at the track to worry about bringing my camera anymore. Here is the rest of that gallery: Shanghai GP

I believe thats because most of them are going for consistency and increasing their number of keepers vs throw aways so they dont have to sort and edit photos to sell at the track. They shoot with a high and safe shutter speed, pretty tightly cropped on the car.

Serge944

That might be the case. I'm not knocking their abilities. However, Id pay $50 bucks for one amazing photo, but never for a CD of 50 mediocre ones.

Blackness

I almost fell over! I was recently chastised about my prices because the person can buy 50 photos on a CD for $50. And they get hi-res photos so the "quality" is the same as I offer.

Ok, off the soapbox. Is this more like what you would expect?

dp35

From last weekend at Laguna Seca.

gums

I want some copy here, too.

Whaddya think?

cello

Did my wife take that ??

Its funny the majority of her pics show either open track, or the rear qrtr panel, or the front qrtr panel. In focus is just a plus.

Blackness

Cello, congrats to your wife for pulling off shots like this on a regular basis

The blur in the photo above is largely due to the slow shutter and relative motion of the car to the plane of the camera's sensor. It's a going away pan with the shutter at 1/20s. The focus point is on the rear quarter of the car. Due to the relatively long time the shutter is open, the front of the car is changing direction more than the back of the car. This happens in any shot where the car is not perpendicular to the plane of the sensor, it's just very pronounced due to the long time the shutter is open. Here's a shot with the shutter still quite slow at 1/40s, but the car is basically parallel to the camera. The focus point is on the numbers...


Here's another solid side pan from the Rolex 24 this year (Jeff Grant's Bullet Racing #22). I was shooting across the infield so the car was much farther away than the first photo and is more of a point source (the entire side of the car is the same distance from the sensor)...shutter is 1/15s


I've seen a lot of shots from Road Atlanta in this thread, so here's a few recent ones from the HSR "The Mitty" weekend...
Standing between T2 and T3, looking back at T2 just as the car pops over the rise


Looking back at T3 from Driver's Left...


Standing on the side of the hill looking back at the Suzuki Bridge...

M758

Yes most are. The vast majority just want "A photo" of their car on track rather than true art.

I would not be shock to hear a guy at 3000 photos and only a 1 or 2 really to a high standard. Not beacuse they are bad at their work, but it is so very hard to get everything to work out to make really special photo.

I have alot of picture of my 944 on the track. Not sure if any are really spectacular.

Larry Herman

Now that's art. At least IMHO.

utkinpol

your panning skills are amazing. i would never believe it was done with 1/15th shutter speed. what lens it was?
do you do it all by hand from monopod or use some device to preserve panning accuracy?

Blackness

Thanks Larry and utkinpol for the positive words.

The Bullet Racing 911 was shot with a Canon 300mm f/4L IS. I believe the IS was in the panning mode, but I've come to realize the IS actually hurts you by slowing up the focusing speed. The Road Atlanta shots were taken with a Canon 400mm f/5.6L. And the DE samples were with a Canon 70-200mm f/4L

All of these lenses are hand-holdable. But, I'm pretty sure I was using a monopod for the #22 shot. I usually don't use one for those side pans though. It worked for this shot because the car was so far away the motion of the camera was small. When the car is closer it requires a bigger "swing" and I feel that the monopod gets in the way. The panning motion is like a golf swing. You have to find a rhythm and follow through. The DE shots were handheld.

The Road Atlanta shots were off a monopod. These are basically straight on shots where you usually want the car as tack sharp as possible. The monopod helps with this. And if you're using a lens the size of a 500mm f/4 you need it or your arms will give out. The shutter speeds are much higher. But, you don't want to push them too high if you can see the wheels in the shot. This will tend to freeze the motion and make the shots look static even if the car is running 200 mph.

ausgeflippt951

Thanks for the insight Blake. Making photography a hobby has been on my to-do list for quite some time....still gotta buy the darn camera though!

BTW I'm in love with your avatar. What's the reflection of?

Blackness

ausgeflippt951 - Thanks! It helps to have a camera if you want to take photos

Seriously though, there are some great cameras available that don't require tons of cash if you're trying to get your feet wet. Motorsports does benefit from having the "right" HW though. Frame rate and autofocus speed/accuracy for the camera body and focus speed of the lenses are important. It helps to have long glass (300mm+), but you can rent those when you get to that point.

The avatar was shot at this years Rolex 24. I was parked in the Porsche corral near the end by the ferris wheel. It had rained heavily at the start of the race and the water drops were still on the hood of my car that evening. The reflection is the ferris wheel. The rest is history

Said ferris wheel...

utkinpol

totally true. on top of my game (which was not very successful unfortunately) i had a complete contax 645 system prior to that had almost complete canon system (up to 300mm 2.8) eos 3 and 1 series, nowadays still lurking with nikon d200 an sigma glass very lazily thinking to get next successor to d700 but it is not a camera what takes pictures for sure. i honestly envy people who have 'vision' as it is very difficult indeed to jump that mark between being 'very good' and 'great'.

you do have great skills Sir, nice handheld shot like this using 1/15 on 400mm glass is not something common and it was done very good indeed, to my taste at least.

TeamDrugMoney

Good eye for a shot!