In tight

[Bosscat]

Decided to try some nice in tight shots over the past weekend at Mosport, which were inspired by a calendar that is hanging in my house and shot by a member of this forum.

[Cadwell]

The second shot is very nice. The white balance appears to have gone a bit off in the first one...

[Bosscat]

The second shot is very nice. The white balance appears to have gone a bit off in the first one...

I guess AWB doesn't always work perfectly.

[tanner]

Nice ones. The problem I personally have with tight shots is the darn side mirrors getting in the way and blocking the helmet, which isn't the case with the Porsche Spyder, just a matter of getting the timing right.

[Bosscat]

The mirrors on the Audis are HUGE. I swear the drivers could use them to shave.

I tossed out alot of them, even though they were nice and sharp.

It's all just getting the right angle to make it work.

[tanner]

Turn five is the best chance of getting those. They slow down enough for the corner (or plow through the gravel into the tire barrier!) and great for getting close up shots of the LM P1/P2.

http://motorsport.com/photos/alms/2006/mos/alms-2006-mos-mt-0138.jpg

[Bosscat]

Here is another tight one of Guy Smith in the Dyson Lola.

I regret now that I didn't spend more time doing these kinds of shots, from different corners.

[tanner]

For two years I just sat at turn five. Then I seen some gorgeous photos from one of the main mosport track photographer (can't remember his name but I think he has a small permanent(?) trailer with his equipment) then the third year I attempted to walk around the track more often, but it was tiring. This year, the bike helped, and found out this year I'm horribly out of shape!

This year I didn't do so many panning shots. There really isn't a nice place at Mospot for panning shots, well, maybe down Mario Andretti Straightaway. The background "noise" seems to distract the eye from the car itself. Here's one not too far down the straightaway...

http://motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=228&I=fbmw-usa/2006/mos/fbmw-2006-mos-mt-0415.jpg&FS=FBMW-USA&S=FBMW-USA

Some of the shots I wanted to focus more on was to capture more of the lap traffic... cars in behind and OOF or distorted from the heat given off the car in front, etc. Turn five was great for that as you could theoretically shoot low to try and get only the trees, pavement and minimize most of the wall behind, but then, we're not suppose to be crouched down low for safety reasons (I think last year I got told to stand up but this year there the marshalls didn't seem to care).

http://motorsport.com/photos/popup.asp?N=80&I=scca-wc/2006/mos/sccawc-2006-mos-mt-0101.jpg&FS=SCCA-WC&S=SCCA-WC

[Bosscat]

Mosport isn't the prettiest place to shoot, and I wish that the walls had more advertising on them in order to add some colour to the backgrounds as those walls seem to be everywhere.

Oh well, there always next year to try some different stuff.

How many days till the race??

[vwpilot]

Tanner and Boss, you guys are missing the boat here.

Mosport is a great track to shoot at and has some of the best available shots we will see all year, I love going to Mosport for that reason. Also, there are plenty of good places for pan shots and sometimes the busy background is an advantage, you just have to be able to pan down to slower shutters. Often cluttered background enhances the sense of speed and you can use the colored tents and canopies to add color to the scene. Whats also great about the "clutter" is that so much of it is tents, spectators and RVs, so it really gives a feel for the overall atmosphere of the event.

If you arent seeing some of the possibilities at that track, you just need to start looking harder and looking at it from a different perspective. Be conscious of clutter, but also embrace it when it can help you tell the story or enhance. Mosport gives you so many of the options of both, very clean and very cluttered backgrounds...use them to YOUR advantage.

That said, I had a pretty off weekend and didnt come away with nearly the good stuff I wanted. Wasnt feeling great on Saturday which made me just want to get "something" and get out of the rain and back to the hotel and then I also think I concentrated on just getting the "safe" stuff for the clients and didnt nearly do the amount of beauty shots I wanted to do. Oh well, gives me something to look forward to next year.

[tanner]

Okay, I'm no pro or seasoned photographer at Mosport but I've shot there for a couple of years. Personally, and of course this boils down to personal taste, I rather have a nice clean background (trees, big colouful billboard, tirewalls, etc) vs a cluttered background of fans, their vans, flags, etc. I do agree that this type of arrangement with the fans in the background blurred is great to give it a better sense of the atmosphere there, to me, it's a distraction.

The photos I want to achieve is specifically the car - it's the centre of attention and the type of photo that I am going after. For example, this one I really like:

http://motorsport.com/photos/fbmw-usa/2006/mos/fbmw-2006-mos-mt-0609.jpg

Now if there was a huge grand stand of fans in the background, that would be ideal also for me, but Mosport isn't setup to have large grandstands, say, like an F1 race.

[vwpilot]

Thats funny, because I find that shot to be much less attractive than a good pan with a nicely blurred background due to that ugly catch fencing they installed this year. It took away one of the best shots in motorsports, the sky shot as the cars crest the hill in turn two. Now instead of just sky, you get fencing. If the spray was not in that shot, it would be extremely distracting to see the fencing clearly.

Take a shot like this:

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/01%20Practice%20and%20Qualifying/008.jpg

Like I shot last year (sorry I dont have my '06 iamges up yet for examples), drop the shutter down to the 1/80 or less area and those tents would give a great colorful blur in the background. Even as it sits, it gives a feel for Mosport, a track with more campers and and tents than many tracks out there. Those are part of the event, they are the people there to see the race, they are the ones that braved the rain weather to watch these cars, catch fencing is a man-made piece of crap that just gets in the way.

If you want clean backgrounds, there are plenty there, shots like these:

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/01%20Practice%20and%20Qualifying/050.jpg

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/01%20Practice%20and%20Qualifying/041.jpg

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/01%20Practice%20and%20Qualifying/039.jpg

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/02%20Raceday/009.jpg

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/02%20Raceday/061.jpg

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/Speed%20GT/2005/10%20Mosport/101.jpg

Are examples of nice clean backgrounds that Mosport provides.

And then there is the famous "sky shot" that no longer exists due to the fencing:

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/02%20Raceday/090.jpg

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/Speed%20GT/2005/10%20Mosport/059.jpg

Then there is using the background and crowd to show the viewer this was a big event and not just a weekend with cars driving around, here is one example:

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/02%20Raceday/096.jpg

http://www.speedarena.com/gallery/albums//Sportscar/ALMS/2005/10%20Mosport/02%20Raceday/039.jpg

Believe me, I'm not trying to put anyone down and that was never my intention in the first post, I'm just saying that this is one of the better tracks we visit for "useful" backgrounds, either clean or busy depending on what you want to portray and that you shouldnt look at it from a "well its not the prettiest track" kind of attitude and look for the options to get what you really want.

Come shoot Houston or Denver with me then complain about Mosport being "not so pretty." :D

[tanner]

Hey is this Jimmy? I was with Tom (motorsport.com) there during the weekend.

I guess there is one thing that I don't have is the experience of being at other tracks as Mosport is the only one that I have been at so far in the last four years I've been watching the ALMS. I had plans on going to go to one earlier this year but things fell through unfortunately. And I guess this year, I had a personal goal to get more of the car in frame for both panning and head on shots and more of the sky/car/road shots (and was so disappointed when I heard about that fence put up a few months ago).

If I got lucky with my timing, I could get a fairly decent shot with the cars coming into turn two...

http://motorsport.com/photos/alms/2006/mos/alms-2006-mos-mt-0511.jpg

Anyways, it was fun, and bringing the bike along this year I got to try out a few more different places vs trying to walk the whole thing.

[Bosscat]

Jim

I'm more used to shooting MX then I am at shooting auto racing

http://www.pixelstudioz.com/sgc/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1507

If we all saw things exactly the same, wouldn't it be a boring world?? Some folks like clean backgrounds, some don't. It's all a personal preference.

I personally have gotten used to having banners and crowds closer to the track is all. I only shoot at Mosport once a season. Maybe if I shot at other venues, I'd see things from your perspective.

Soon it'll be snowcross season, and that is actually my favourite to shoot, except for being in the cold all day. But it sure does help you sleep well at night...LOL

[PeteDyer]

Okay, I'm no pro or seasoned photographer at Mosport but I've shot there for a couple of years. Personally, and of course this boils down to personal taste, I rather have a nice clean background (trees, big colouful billboard, tirewalls, etc) vs a cluttered background of fans, their vans, flags, etc. I do agree that this type of arrangement with the fans in the background blurred is great to give it a better sense of the atmosphere there, to me, it's a distraction.

The photos I want to achieve is specifically the car - it's the centre of attention and the type of photo that I am going after. For example, this one I really like:

http://motorsport.com/photos/fbmw-usa/2006/mos/fbmw-2006-mos-mt-0609.jpg

Now if there was a huge grand stand of fans in the background, that would be ideal also for me, but Mosport isn't setup to have large grandstands, say, like an F1 race.

Like you i think this quite of shot is beautiful