Indy 500 Race Photos

Here's a quick take on the Indy 500. I still have many photos yet to go through and will post some more later. Other photos can be found here on my web site.

Good crash shots!

looks good, watched the entire race it was awesome.

WOW, great work.

Real good stuff.

Great shots...what a heart breaker for the National Guard driver....poised to win and sucked up the track by the marbles. ( cant recall his name at the moment =( ) Rookie no less. Second at Indy aint bad, but....

What a heart breaker for Hildebrand. Soooo close.

nice and sharp! like super sharp... but I would have loved a bit more motion/panning to convey the speed.

MaTBoY wrote in post #12507384
I would have loved a bit more motion/panning to convey the speed.

There's probably a reason for the high shutter speeds used here. Here's a guess:

Not everyone is out to create art. At a major event such as this, many photographers' goals are to capture the action, no matter what happens or how unexpected it may be. Those photographers can't afford to use a slow shutter speed for artistic motion blur, and need to use a high shutter speed to stop the extremely fast and quick action. Their clients are photo editors, not photo enthusiasts. Their goal is clarity, not art. Get caught with a slow shutter speed when something big happens and you take the risk of missing a vital shot when you get only one chance.

Besides, there's a trick to getting some of the best motion blur panning shots: wait until the yellow light is out. It's a lot easier to get a background-blurred panning shot when the cars are moving at less than half-speed -- and cars in the area shown are traveling at more then 200 miles per hour when they're racing at full speed.

DC Fan nailed it. I am there shooting for a newspaper and need to be sure that I get the sharp shot when something happens. I had gone out earlier in the month on Fast Friday and got my panning shots of the cars from locations in turn 3 and from the pit entrance.

DC Fan wrote in post #12507950
There's probably a reason for the high shutter speeds used here. Here's a guess:

Not everyone is out to create art. At a major event such as this, many photographers' goals are to capture the action, no matter what happens or how unexpected it may be. Those photographers can't afford to use a slow shutter speed for artistic motion blur, and need to use a high shutter speed to stop the extremely fast and quick action. Their clients are photo editors, not photo enthusiasts. Their goal is clarity, not art. Get caught with a slow shutter speed when something big happens and you take the risk of missing a vital shot when you get only one chance.

Besides, there's a trick to getting some of the best motion blur panning shots: wait until the yellow light is out. It's a lot easier to get a background-blurred panning shot when the cars are moving at less than half-speed -- and cars in the area shown are traveling at more then 200 miles per hour when they're racing at full speed.

Nice set some great action caught there thanks for sharing

Also forgot to mention that my shooting location was pretty precarious, consisting of many trip hazards. I didn't want to risk losing my balance while panning back and forth while looking straight down in front of me; the first step off is a killer. There were too many places to trip (note the chain tie down in the center) along with the strong winds at my back knocking me around. The low front railing (about a foot high) was much more of a liability than a help; way too easy to trip on. Here's a photo of my perch:

kb9tdj wrote in post #12508316
DC Fan nailed it. I am there shooting for a newspaper and need to be sure that I get the sharp shot when something happens. I had gone out earlier in the month on Fast Friday and got my panning shots of the cars from locations in turn 3 and from the pit entrance.

Good work!!!

kb9tdj wrote in post #12510423
Also forgot to mention that my shooting location was pretty precarious, consisting of many trip hazards. I didn't want to risk losing my balance while panning back and forth while looking straight down in front of me; the first step off is a killer. There were too many places to trip (note the chain tie down in the center) along with the strong winds at my back knocking me around. The low front railing (about a foot high) was much more of a liability than a help; way too easy to trip on. Here's a photo of my perch:

yikes.

Number 3 and 5 with the sparks (hope they are called that way) are really really really cool...

Best one its 3 tho.. well done ....