The Photography Thread

[Alastair]

Right, here's a few of the car shots from Saturday, it was an AC owners club timed sprint but there were many more makes and types of car than just AC's. It was 5 cars on track at once but just completing 1 lap each so no 'racing' shots I'm afraid It was however a beautiful day with lovely sun and no wind at all.

All shots taken with the 300mm lens and all hand held with manual focus, you really need to be able to do manual for motorsport.

All shot in Tv mode ranging from 1/100 - 1/300.

With regards to PP (we always come back to this don't we) I've just cropped and sharpened these in PS. What I do do though is shoot RAW (as others have said it really is better). In raw shooter essential you can hold down Ctrl when reviewing your shot, this 'colours' the under or over exposed areas of the shot, while still holding down Ctrl I then slide the exposure compensation slider to try to minimise any areas of underexposure (if it's over it's a lost cause to be honest). For these shots I underexposed in camera by about 1/3 to combat the horrific blown highlights that racers white helmets and white cars in the sun cause.

I don't know if you guys like motorsport (except Peanuts) or know what it's like to shoot/have ever tried, but I'm gonna write it all up anyway!

Less talk more pics

A great example of a car that would normally be over exposed if you weren't expecting it, standard pan at Madgewick corner.

Exposure: 1/160
Aperture: f/16
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100


You could call this a sequence, just trying to get used to manual focusing as the subject moves away at 60/70mph

Exposure: 1/160
Aperture: f/14
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

This guy was probably hitting 110/120mph along this straight, I think he was the fastest of the day.

Exposure: 1/160
Aperture: f/13
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Slightly over on this guys helmet.

Exposure: 1/160
Aperture: f/10
Focal Length: 119 mm
ISO Speed: 100


Trying a 'static' non panned shot but with movement in the wheels, so hard to get right. Click through to get it large or original and see for yourself though, it is there!! Oh, this was as close as the cars got to each other too, see the other guy top left?!

Exposure: 1/200
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 209 mm
ISO Speed: 100

I have around 60 more but will save you all the boredom, love shooting this sort of stuff though, just wish I could get to the track a bit more often.

[Crisp_Rapper]

i really do like that white car shot (top one), love the fact you can pick out the red interior.

building out the back of leeds train station last night whilst waiting for a lift:

[Spagoli]

great pics of the cars Alastair, looks like you got it cracked, like the tilt of the car on the last pic to give a sense of speed rather than just the blur, very nice. I went to a Peugeot race day where they had some really quick stuff and all I ended up with was a lot of very still very static looking pics, mainly due to not having the right lenses or any real idea about what I was doing!

[Crisp_Rapper]

i may actually set fire to yahoo's offices at this rate... i've forgotten my password (again) as i've switched browsers when firefox died on me. so i go to the yahoo page and enter my details (i should know where i live right?), put in the crappy randomly generated password and it gives me some bull**** excuse like my details are wrong.

how can they be wrong when they need to be accepted just to get an email about changing your password anyway?!

[Richard.John]

Magnificent shots, Alastair, fooking brilliant. Have you ever considered going pro?

[Alastair]

Magnificent shots, Alastair, fooking brilliant. Have you ever considered going pro?

That's one hell of a compliment 8)

You show me the way to go pro and I'm there. I'm working on a little something that'd class me as semi-pro I guess but I've got nowhere with it at the moment (very early days). I did also contact the local rag to enquire about freelance work but didn't even get a courtesy response. Think I better give the photo editor a call!

Problem with track photography is that you need to give up your whole w/e every w/e and unless you're luck enough to live on the doorstep of a decent track it's a long day that turns into a long w/e. As I work full time weekdays already I think I'd miss my weekends and soon get pretty exhausted. Also, with my girlfriend back studying this year I'm in the financial position of needing to earn at least what I do in my day job so we can pay the mortgage etc.

But yeah, that is pretty much my dream job, at the moment I'd just be happy to sell an image so I could say I've been paid for my work!

Anyone know how greeting card manufacturers get there images?

[PeteJ]

I've been interested in that last question myself! I spoke with the head PR guy at my work but he wasn't too interested (local council) in what I already had. I was offered a teenage skate competition, but it would have been unpaid and all weekend. Almost took up the offer to 'get my name out' but ultimately I was hung over and couldn't be arsed.

I've figured there is no way anyone will want to buy my photos to hang on their walls, so my only option is to sell to magazines or whatever. Unfortunately there are hundreds of macro photographers that are way better than me, so my chances are slim at best!

I only want to get some money back from my purchases!

[Alastair]

Where would the pics of been used Pete? I'd take them up on it next time, you would learn so much and it'd be great to see your work published.

Know what you mean about doing it for free though, do it once and I reckon they'd expect it again and again.

[PeteJ]

Where would the pics of been used Pete? I'd take them up on it next time, you would learn so much and it'd be great to see your work published.

Know what you mean about doing it for free though, do it once and I reckon they'd expect it again and again.

Well that was the thing, since they had already hired a media company it was very unlikely I'd get anything published. Figured it wasn't really worth my effort

On the flip side, they haven't spoken to me since!

[bangaio]

The whole pro smei pro thing is a good one - I am trying to work in my spare time to start selling prints properly. My mum's a music teacher and I have lots of prints in her hall and people often ask where they came from and are interested. I am also trying to work with local bars etc to get some work hung with a view to getting some sales.

Has anyone actually tries selling stuff properly. The difference between a pretty card and art is also an unteresting one and tough to call!

Ali, love the cars, they remind me of my one here -

[Ish]

I have around 60 more but will save you all the boredom, love shooting this sort of stuff though, just wish I could get to the track a bit more often.

I wish you would too! Seriously your motorsport shots are up there with the stuff you see in magazines. To my humble eyes anyway! Your panning is excellent and the colours always very vibrant.

[Nijo]

The professional round these parts is Fergus Noone:

http://fergusnoone.com/

I think he got into it by selling his prints in a market stall, plus doing wedding photos for friends and relatives (and friends of friends, and so on), until it started to snowball. Now he has a little shop where he sells stuff for more than I'd want to pay.

I reckon you guys are up there with his shots on quality.

Edit: In fact some of his example shots look over-exposed or blurry to me. Tell me what you think....

[MartyG]

His stuff looks very good - great framing, good subjects, nicely contrasted. The B&W stuff is particularly decent.

Which pics did you think were over-exposed? Sometimes this is what the photographer wants, and blurs can be used to great effect when done properly.

I definitely think that a good number of photos posted in this thread are an easy rival though - but there are some very nice pics on your link.

[Nijo]

True, he may be doing it on purpose. Who am I to judge.

These two shots of San Fransisco seemed to lack detail in the whites:

http://fergusnoone.com/displayFullBaseItem.php?baseItemID=79

http://fergusnoone.com/displayFullBaseItem.php?baseItemID=80

But that *does* give the feeling of heat, I suppose.

Also this one:

http://fergusnoone.com/displayFullBaseItem.php?baseItemID=320

I think I would have preferred Alastair's take on that shot.

[MartyG]

I can't really see any issue with any of those pics - but like any art medium, the eye is in the beholder. I'd suggest that those pics, given they're published on his web site, are exactly as he wanted them.