D1GP Drift vs Grip, Irwindale Speedway, CA - more drifting action

[ChopstickHero]

My first time attending a D1 Grand Prix (http://d1gp.com/index.asp) event. Fun times, lots of nice drift cars. Lighting and camera settings were tricky as it was my first time shooting a night event like this. I was using my 17-55 and 430EX flash (lumiquest soft box for close up pics). I really really need a 70-200 f2.8 IS. A lens like that just begs to be used at an event like this. I guess that is my next major purchase.

Here are some pics from this past Thursday (C & C welcome):


http://images18.fotki.com/v345/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4520-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v347/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4466-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v341/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4829-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v342/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4681-vi.jpg


http://images15.fotki.com/v343/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4819-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v347/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4771-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v341/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4696-vi.jpg


http://images18.fotki.com/v345/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4731-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v345/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4738-vi.jpg

[Jim G]

Ooh, the one of what I think is a 180SX (fourth from bottom, mid-drift), both pics of the girls and whatever the heck that second from bottom thing is (mustang? god it looks hardcore, that is one nice looking car) look great :)

The last shot has some nice ambience, too... gives you a good feel for what it's like there.

[ChopstickHero]

Ooh, the one of what I think is a 180SX (fourth from bottom, mid-drift), both pics of the girls and whatever the heck that second from bottom thing is (mustang? god it looks hardcore, that is one nice looking car) look great :)

The last shot has some nice ambience, too... gives you a good feel for what it's like there.

close, it's a JDM Silvia S15 (aka 240SX in North America). :)

The infield pics were lit by those huge bright lights ontop of the grandstands. I used a little flash fill to help too. The girl pics were pretty much untouched in Photoshop, slight curve adjustment and that's it.

Yeah, that monster of a car is a Mustang! :D

[Transonic]

Great pics, I think the Silvia & Mustang pics came out the best... and you can't take pics at a car event without getting some shots of import models. ;)

[asylumxl]

those r pretty damn good man! love it!

[Thameth]

Amazing Panning shot here:

http://images18.fotki.com/v347/photos/7/73230/3977778/IMG_4771-vi.jpg

Very Nice!

[ChopstickHero]

thanks for the comments.

for those with more experience at night action photography, what kind of settings are you using? i really wanted to avoid using ISO 1600, but couldn't in most shots. i was pretty much on f/2.8 the whole time and trying to really catch my shots, but alot of them were throwaways. any tips that you can share?

[switchblade5984]

great photos i would love to get some pics like that! all of them look not much noise for iso 1600 did you use a noise reducer?

[ChopstickHero]

great photos i would love to get some pics like that! all of them look not much noise for iso 1600 did you use a noise reducer?

on some of the pictures with the girls, i think i bumped it down to ISO 400 because of the bright grand stand lights. But for the car pics, I didn't use a noise reducer.

[SonicYan]

Damn, I missed this! When was this event?

[ChopstickHero]

Damn, I missed this! When was this event?

Yeah, it was last week, Thursday! I guess try and catch the next one sometime in December. :)

[photojag]

Great series here.. I love all of these and especially the one in mid drift... thanks for sharing