Harewood Speed Hillclimb Summer Championship Meeting

[Simon Harrison]

While quite a few other forum members are either at Cadwell for the BSB or Oulton Park for the Gold Cup, I had a run down to Harewood Speed Hillclimb for their summer championship meeting. As ever, there was a huge range of cars on display from the bumper 151 car entry that the event had attracted.

Harewood is also one of those circuits where you do not need any special access at all to get into the thick of the action - all of the following shots were taken from the public viewing areas.

#1 Lets start things off with a pan of Judy Wilson-Petch rounding Quarry Corner in her Lotus Elise
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/hsh8.jpg

#2 Dale Cordingley in his brand new Radical Prosport crests the rise and gets on the brakes for the blind Country Corner.
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/hsh5.jpg

#3 The Austin 7s were out on the hill. Great to see these old cars in action.
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/hsh3.jpg

#4 The beautiful Big Healey of Tom Walker - was worth going just to see this class of car alone.
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/hsh4.jpg

#5 This 205 only had a little 1400cc under the bonnet, but it had its' wheels driven off it on every run up the hill.
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/hsh7.jpg

#6 There wasn't a huge entry of single seaters this time around, because of a round of the British Championship taking place at the same time. Never mind, those that were there put on a good show.
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/hsh6.jpg

#7 The glorious Austin Healey Sprite mk I of Ralph Haywood exiting Farmhouse Bend.
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/hsh2.jpg

#8 I'll end with another pan, and one of my favourite shots from the day (you won't here me say that too often about a pan LOL). Late afternoon sunshine is what makes the shot for me - that and the driver working away at the wheel.
http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/hsh1.jpg

All of the shots were taken with a 1D mk II and a Sigma 500mm f4.5, apart from #1 and #8 which were taken with a Canon 85mm f1.8.

As usual, any comments or feedback on the images would be most welcome.

There's a full gallery on my website via the following link for those that are interested: -

http://srh-motorsport-photography.fotopic.net/c1567555.html

Cheers,

Simon.

[lungdoc]

Love #8, the others are very sharp and wonderful cars, maybe slightly fast SS as wheels mostly frozen. Beautiful machines.

[PeteDyer]

Looks like you had some awesome light there! #8 is great, but think my fav is #2.

[Big Pete]

Great cross section of images Simon.

All images give a sense of speed.. so they do what you intend them to do... :cool:

[Simon Harrison]

Love #8, the others are very sharp and wonderful cars, maybe slightly fast SS as wheels mostly frozen. Beautiful machines.

Thanks for the comments on the photographs Mark. You raise an interesting point about shutter speeds. #1 and #8 were taken at 1/100s from memory, as they are essentially standard side on pans. The remaining shots were all taken at 1/320s. If you discount #2 as you can't actually see the wheels to know if they're frozen or not, then the only one in the selection that looks a little static in the wheel department to me, is the shot of the little 1400cc Pug. On all of the rest of the shots, the horizontal parts of the tread blocks are not visible and / or the wheels do show motion.

Shutter speed is of course a very subjective thing, and I wanted to ensure I had the cars sharp front to back without them looking static. I therefore chose 1/320s very deliberately to make sure that the speed the front and rear of the cars were moving relative to the plane of focus wasn't too disimilar. To that end, I think I achieved my objective. I also tried to include other pointers to indicate speed - the driver leaning into the corner in #3 and #7 and the lifted wheels in #5 and #7. I could have dropped the shutter speed more, but would have ended up with increasing amounts of the car showing motion blur, as well as more motion in the wheels. That wasn't what I wanted to do with these pictures, although it can look very effective.

Cheers,

Simon.

[GSH]

Fantastic shots Simon. If i had to pick a couple to comment on i'd go for the Austin 7, purely because it's a quality shot of a beautifully presented car and the Sprite for the superb colour and the reflections :)

You only missed 1 Healey at the Gold Cup so no harm done there ;)

[Jamie Holladay]

Nice work.

[chrispons]

Evening Master,
Grasshopper here.
If I may be so bold ,but I preferred your last shots in the rain when you were trying out the new Sigi.
These are a bit tight for my tastes,although extremely good,not really showing what going into or coming out of.
A lack of speccies takes out the human element that looks good in hillclimbs.
I think there is a danger with the big glass of getting too tight on cars,and using it to justify the cost .
Maybe circuits demand said use ,but in my experience Hillclimbs work well with 250ml or less.
What do you think ?
Pons

[Simon Harrison]

Evening Master,
Grasshopper here.
If I may be so bold ,but I preferred your last shots in the rain when you were trying out the new Sigi.
These are a bit tight for my tastes,although extremely good,not really showing what going into or coming out of.
A lack of speccies takes out the human element that looks good in hillclimbs.
I think there is a danger with the big glass of getting too tight on cars,and using it to justify the cost .
Maybe circuits demand said use ,but in my experience Hillclimbs work well with 250ml or less.
What do you think ?
Pons

Hi Pons.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

I can't do much about the weather, and while we did have some rain it didn't last too long!

Harewood doesn't really allow you to include spectators in the shots when shooting from the spectator areas as I was. This is because you can really only spectate from one side of the track, and the layout doesn't allow you to look back up the track towards a spectator area as you have in some of your recent shots. The only way to include spectators would be to shoot fairly loose, and potentially have the car lost in the frame, but even then it would be difficult to do.

Harewood can certainly be shot with a 300mm - I have done so in the past = but you can't generalise on the right focal length for any track, circuit or hillclimb course, as each one is different and what the photographer wants to come away with in each case is different. Some areas of Harewood allow you to shoot at less than 300mm as well. However, without being able to include the crowd in the background and with only one car on track at anyone time, my preference is to get in tight on the car and show the car working, which is what I did here, rather than have an ugly tyre wall or some such like in the background. The farmhouse can make a nice background, but I have quite a few of those shots already. As usual, there's more than one way to skin a cat and it really is horses for courses.

I certainly don't see the need to justify the expense of any of my gear to myself, you or anybody else for that matter. To suggest that I am trying to justify having big glass by using it for these shots borders on being offensive. Why would I bother awitching to the 85mm if I was?

Cheers,

Simon.

[Dave_G]

christ look at those! wicked

Simon, you've probably been asked loads but do you shoot shutter priority or manual? and how do you manage WB?

[chrispons]

Come on Simon,offensive is the last thing on my mind,just a few thoughts.
OK,honesty is my worst trait ,and on forums it is immediately jumped on as critism and not accepted.
You know we have spoken at length on the phone and I value your thoughts highly and as a freind,so am really ,really sorry you think I was being offensive.
I had my reasons for being dispirited about posting,well for the record am doubly so now,and certainly commenting about others efforts.
Really sorry ,it wont happen again,dont know what else to say.
God I hate Forums !
Crawling back under my stone,
Pons

[Simon Harrison]

Pons,

You need to go back and re-read what I posted in reply to you. I certainly did not 'jump on' what you said as crticism in relation to the comments about why I had shot the way that I had. I did try to explain why I had done so, and some of the limitations of the angles that Harewood gives you in relation to some of the other hillclimb courses in the UK. I would encourage you and anyone else for that matter to make those sorts of comments about my photographs, as there is always something to be learned and improved upon. I much, much prefer people like yourself to make honest assessments of my pictures, rather than post the inane 'nice shots' reply. The comment that needled me a little was the 'using big glass to justify its cost'. That was not necessary, even if you believe that it was the case.

Anyway, no harm done and absolutely no hard feelings. You shouldn't let this discourage you from posting or getting in touch in the future.

Cheers,

Simon.

[Simon Harrison]

Pons,

Maybe should have posted this in my original reply to you, but the following link gives you the layout of Harewood Speed Hillclimb, and shows where the spectator areas are.

http://www.harewoodhill.co.uk/HwoodBARC/track.htm

Most of the spectators congregate at Farmhouse Bend and on the raised bank around the paddock area. You can see that that makes it difficult to get any speccies into the background of your shots. There are very few people walk all the way to the bottom of the hill.

Cheers,

Simon.

[chrispons]

Hi Simon ,
Thanks for your prompt reply,and yes I had read your reply in depth and the took on board the comments.
Re the gear,nobody has to justify to me or anyone else,it's a personal journey,and a one way ticket in life,do it now ,straight away ,we all know ,there's only one chance,so like you ,if you can get it,and get pleasure from it ,that's all that matters,it does not matter what others think.
Anyway,this aint no spat ,you know I like you ,and regard you as one of the very best on here,and remember this is a world forum ,so take that as a complement.
Will no doubt be in touch with you soon .
What do you know about Nikon D3s:lol::lol:
lol,
Pons

[Cadwell]

Lovely, Simon. It looks like you have some beautiful light to play with and the cars are a nice mixture. It is good to see the 85mm getting some use in the pan shots. I rarely think of using my one outdoors - I tend to see it as an indoor sports lens more than anything else - perhaps I should rethink that one. Your 500mm is certainly delivering the goods. I had my one out for the first time in a LONG time at Oulton so it will be interesting to see if I can still get anything decent out of it. I'm glad to see you got a Healey to play with, if I managed to get a half decent shot of one from the Gold Cup I'll post it for ya! No Sunbeams or Tigers on the hill?

[Simon Harrison]

christ look at those! wicked

Simon, you've probably been asked loads but do you shoot shutter priority or manual? and how do you manage WB?

Cheers Dave :D

I like to shoot with manual exposure when I can, and the shot of the Austin 7 in this lot was shot with the camera in M. The problem is, it's not very often that the light stays consistent for long enough to shoot in M. I therefore spend most of my time in Tv mode.

I always shoot with a custom WB, and use a CBL colour balance filter to do so. I'll generally set a custom WB every couple of hours across the day. If the mods are okay with this, or you want to see it, I can post a picture of the CBL colour balance filter that I'll have used to set my WB off.

Cheers,

Simon.

[strikerstu]

Simon,

If you could post a shot of the CBL I would be interested. Would it also be possible to post an un-sharpened image of no,2 please as I am interested to see how much you have applied from the original image.

Many Thanks

Stu

[Ian_H]

All great shots Simon but the one of Ms Petch really stands out to me, nicely panned and really great light.


Cheers
Ian

[Simon Harrison]

Simon,

If you could post a shot of the CBL I would be interested. Would it also be possible to post an un-sharpened image of no,2 please as I am interested to see how much you have applied from the original image.

Many Thanks

Stu

Here's a photograph of the CBL colour balance filter. This is essentially one of the shots that I used to set a custom WB on Sunday at Harewood.

http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/cbl.jpg

It couldn't be easier to use. Simply take a photograph of the filter with the centre focus point on the centre of the filter and with your main light source shining on to it. You need to have the camera in custom WB mode when you do this. Then simply select the shot and use it as the custom WB frame. The filter itself is made of plastic, and is hence waterproof and can take knocks etc. in its stride.

As for the radical shot, here is a version at 1024 pixels that hasn't had any sharpening applied.

http://www.srh-motorsport-photography.com/Galleries/forum/500_test/radical.jpg

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Cheers,

Simon

[Big Pete]

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Cheers,

Simon

Yeah.. tell us where you got your CBL colour balance filter from!

[Simon Harrison]

Yeah.. tell us where you got your CBL colour balance filter from!

Mine came from Warehouse Express, but you can get them from most photographic retailers.

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1015781

They had quite a bit of money off them when I got mine.......

[strikerstu]

Thanks Simon, thats very impressive shot for no sharpening.

Stu

[GSH]

I wondered when you would get around to sharing some of your bag shots Simon. What a stunning image that is, a top-notch example if ever i saw one and no mistake :D

[Cadwell]

All he wanted was an excuse :rolleyes: We'll never see the end of them now. I can just see the thread titles: "My bag at Croft", "My bag at Abbey", "My bag on Luffield Terrace", "Goodwood and Lowepro", "Photo Trekker II AW does Rallying". Gawd help us all! :p

[GSH]

All he wanted was an excuse :rolleyes: We'll never see the end of them now. I can just see the thread titles: "My bag at Croft", "My bag at Abbey", "My bag on Luffield Terrace", "Goodwood and Lowepro", "Photo Trekker II AW does Rallying". Gawd help us all! :p

My First bag panning shot.
Which 70-200 bag - Sigma or Canon.
My Lowepro Trekker MK3 won't AF in strong sunlight.


etc...

[Cadwell]

My First bag panning shot.
Which 70-200 bag - Sigma or Canon.
My Lowepro Trekker MK3 won't AF in strong sunlight.


etc...

* shudders *

[Simon Harrison]

You're both hilarious :evil::lol:

(actually I had a good laugh when I read your posts).

Anyway, I think it would be a great chapter in the 3rd edition of the great POTN book. And Geoff, you obviously don't have a blue dot trekker, as mine focuses great in bright sunshine :p

Simon.

[GSH]

You're both hilarious :evil::lol:

(actually I had a good laugh when I read your posts).

Anyway, I think it would be a great chapter in the 3rd edition of the great POTN book. And Geoff, you obviously don't have a blue dot trekker, as mine focuses great in bright sunshine :p

Simon.

Never mind the AF...i couldn't remember where the damn cover was stored when it started raining on Sunday. Luckily it stopped pretty quick so i didn't have to ask the strange man with the big white lens ;)

[Jim G]

A very fine series of shots!

[petrolhead]

Well I think the bag shot is one his best :)

[Cadwell]

Anyway, I think it would be a great chapter in the 3rd edition of the great POTN book.

The POTN Book Mark III? The one full of out of focus photos? :rolleyes:

[Dave_G]

Cheers Dave :D

I like to shoot with manual exposure when I can, and the shot of the Austin 7 in this lot was shot with the camera in M. The problem is, it's not very often that the light stays consistent for long enough to shoot in M. I therefore spend most of my time in Tv mode.

I always shoot with a custom WB, and use a CBL colour balance filter to do so. I'll generally set a custom WB every couple of hours across the day. If the mods are okay with this, or you want to see it, I can post a picture of the CBL colour balance filter that I'll have used to set my WB off.

Cheers,

Simon.


Thanks Simon.

The reason I asked is every now and again my WB appears to be way off - usually in wet weather - my shots take on a blueish hue to them.

I've tried M mode and have had some good results, mostly with white cars in bright sunlight and when the headlights come on, but never to get around WB issues, looks like custom WB is the way forward.

[Dave_G]

The POTN Book Mark III? The one full of out of focus photos? :rolleyes:

yeah man, I'll have half a dozen ready for that bad boy!

[Dave_G]

My First bag panning shot.
Which 70-200 bag - Sigma or Canon.
My Lowepro Trekker MK3 won't AF in strong sunlight.


etc...


"My Manfrotto monopod adjusty thingy tool"

Argh

[Tobias N]

Nice shots, i really like the sharpness and the colors in them.