IMSA GT3 at Mosport

[smcclelland]

Well, it's that time of year again when the American Le Mans series rolls into town and packs the people into Mosport and brings many nice cars with it. Todays main race was the IMSA Porsche GT3 or at least it was for me and many other fans. This weekend was me trying to kick the habit of "hey look, it's a car parked on a track" style and be a bit more creative in my shooting. It was also the first weekend I stopped myself from using center point and shot all using the lower middle AF point on the 40D's.

C&C greatly appreciated. Enjoy! And yes I broke the rule of shooting into the sun on a few but the flares were quite intereasting and added a nice touch in some areas.

1. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/2790534263_dd8452b18a_o.jpg

2. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/2791384196_d0fbd25567_o.jpg

3.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2791387576_ee691c86d5_o.jpg

4. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/2790537575_ed7a6f696c_o.jpg

5. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3294/2790536931_5fa6b66b7d_o.jpg

6. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2791385954_aee65568d1_o.jpg

7. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/2790535821_fc3f405e7c_o.jpg

8. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/2791384828_73d980fa09_o.jpg

[Jamie Holladay]

They don't looked parked to me. Very nice series. Especially #3 & # 8.

[drisley]

Damn nice series!
I love the motion blur/panning!

[smcclelland]

They don't looked parked to me. Very nice series. Especially #3 & # 8.

Thanks for the feedback Jamie.

Thanks as well drisley ;)

[mrandrew]

What's the technique to get those panning shots? I tried, but all my pictures were blurry at 1/320s or slower

[Borbor]

By far your best work to date.

[smcclelland]

What's the technique to get those panning shots? I tried, but all my pictures were blurry at 1/320s or slower

I mixed it up a bit this weekend and went anywhere from 1/40 to 1/320 and even up to 1/500 for some oncoming shots. I stick to Tv mode, use my AF-ON button for focus and shutter for exposure/shutter release so that if I am tracking through light to dark areas I will repeatedly press the shutter to re-expose or if it's constant just hold it in Ai-Servo and keep firing. All shots were done hand-held, I have a monopod but since getting rid of my Sigmonster (120-300) I haven't really needed the additional support.

Apologies about the EXIF, apparenly my PS macro saved it using Save For Web and stripped the EXIF.

Thanks Cyril :)

[drisley]

WHAT? NO EXIF?!! :evil::evil::evil:
;)

[Tigermack]

Those are nice series... I like them.

[StarJack]

Really enjoyed those pictures, I need to fire up the DVR, I've been so busy I haven't watched the ALMS race from the weekend!

[Claudalfa]

Great job
I really enjoyed looking at all your pictures
Nice and sharp with good panning

[smcclelland]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

[Tigermack]

Ah crap, anyway to get the EXIF back up? What lens did you use?

[Borbor]

Well judging by his sig, I'm guessing it's not the Tokina, not the macro and not the 17-40 ;)

[smcclelland]

Yeah I've actually been meaning to correct the EXIF.. apparently I changed my Photoshop Resize action and it used Save For Web.

Lens was a mix between the 70-200 2.8 L non-IS and the 100-400 f4.5-f5.6 IS L

I've always wanted to shoot an entire race with the 12-24 :p

[Ingsy]

They are very good. Did you do much PP to get such vibrant colours or are the L lenses just better with that?

[smcclelland]

I use Standard mode on the 40D's when shooting with I believe +1 saturation on both bodies and then when I bring it into photoshop I'll take a look at the colours first before applying any further saturation. At most these days I will do a Lab Color +10 -10 adjustment to the levels on the 'a' and 'b' channels after performing a Contrast adjustment on the Lightness channel.

[Ingsy]

Ok, I'll pretend I understood most of that, thanks :)

[smcclelland]

Hehe. Just convert the image mode to Lab Color and go to your Channels window. Select the Lightness Channel (gives you a greyscale value image) and begin to do any contrast fixes. Then select the 'a' channel and open your Levels adjustment, give it about +10 on the inputs darkness and then subtract the same value from the lightness (you'd have 245 if you used +10 on the darkness). Repeat the same procedure for the 'b' channel and voila, nice and clean saturation and contrast :)

[Ingsy]

That sounds so simple I think even I could do it, thanks! I'll give it a go :)

[Tigermack]

I have the 70-200 2.8L in my list. =]