Porsche Club of America @ Mosport

[smcclelland]

Another weekend at Mosport, thankfully the weather turned out better for the Porsche visit this weekend. Was all geared to go test my new MK2 until I found a horrible dust smear on the sensor on Saturday which put an abrupt halt to the testing. All shots were taken with a 40D and 100-400 L, slight sharpening in PP and colour adjustments. Comments and criticism welcome and appreciated as always.

Will be putting the rest up on my flickr site over the next few hours or so.

1.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2729467859_a29089e8be_o.jpg

2.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/2730353200_744b640445_o.jpg

3.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3063/2730303672_dac524fbcf_o.jpg

4.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/2729471643_fe202806ac_o.jpg

5.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2730304852_569a5669c3_o.jpg

6.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2729476841_1a7fabcd03_o.jpg

7.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/2730310194_3d3fe4f198_o.jpg

8. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/2730335604_eecdc95ca5_o.jpg

[Dennis Valet]

Those look great man! I just started taking pictures at races and I was wondering how much of those pictures is cropping and how much is just zoom from the lens?

If you don't want to divulge your secrets no worries :eek:

[smcclelland]

#1 and #2 were the only ones in this bunch that were cropped in Photoshop. I used to crop everything in post but I've been trying harder and harder to work the composition into the shot before I take it so I'll use the zoom far more than I tend to crop if I can.

[Dennis Valet]

#1 and #2 were the only ones in this bunch that were cropped in Photoshop. I used to crop everything in post but I've been trying harder and harder to work the composition into the shot before I take it so I'll use the zoom far more than I tend to crop if I can.


awesome, thanks man. I guess I just need to work on my timing and focusing skills a little more. I have to use a 500mm lens to get zoom like the ones in your pictures because I usually can't get too close to the track- having such a large zoom makes the depth of focus pretty narrow!

[smcclelland]

awesome, thanks man. I guess I just need to work on my timing and focusing skills a little more. I have to use a 500mm lens to get zoom like the ones in your pictures because I usually can't get too close to the track- having such a large zoom makes the depth of focus pretty narrow!

All those pictures were taken from the spectator area at Mosport, with the exception of #5 where I found a nice little area after whacking my way through the bush like crocodile dundee :) 400mm is usually plenty at most tracks unless you're looking to shoot motorcycles or drivers faces.

[Not4you]

All those pictures were taken from the spectator area at Mosport, with the exception of #5 where I found a nice little area after whacking my way through the bush like crocodile dundee :) 400mm is usually plenty at most tracks unless you're looking to shoot motorcycles or drivers faces.
I know that spot!! cool shots as always. the pans turned out great.

[hotrod100]

Great shots! Love the front plate in #3.

[NTHEWIND]

I just love #4 the silver 70 car. The blurred car in the background gave the image 'location' (racetrack) and the green grass adds a good contrast to the silver car plus the location of the car in relation to the blurred red & white stripes adds a little 'something' special. Silver seems to be one of the most difficult colors to get right. There is just enough contrast with the sun in the back and shading the sides to give the car a very defining, not flat, look to the body lines. Hands down a 10 in my book.
#7 car 226 It's great to have a car with such a cool paint job. Again I love the location and blur of the track stripes and the little section of track that separates the green,(that btw is more than just 'plain' green) background is just killer. Another 10.

[smcclelland]

Thanks for the comments and crits everyone.

Not4You: shhhhhh don't give it away! I don't want to have to wade through tons of spectators at ALMS weekend ;)

hotrod100: thanks man.

NTHEWIND: Appreciate the comments and glad you enjoyed the photos. Indeed, it's a bit more than plain green with some saturastion boost to make it pop a bit ;)

[Jadam]

I shoot motorcycles with my 70-200 and make out fine. Just got to stand in a little closer. Shoot more per race at a tighter zoom. You will get more fails, but plenty of good tight shots out of the camera. It's a lot easier to delete a photo than go in to PP and crop one. You'll get better at it the more you do it.

Is that last one a GT2 or GT3? Good shot, nice pan, nice colour.

[smcclelland]

70-200 isn't bad but most turns at Mosport are pretty wide and distant from the spectator area so a 300mm is minimum for bikes and 400 will get you those really nice tight crops of the rider leaning over. I shot the Parts Canada Superbike with a Sigma 120-300 + 1.4x TC and it was still pretty short in some corners.

Last one is a GT3.

[mlav]

Good job on the panning and shutter speeds. The 968 is a cool car to see racing.