2011 IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals

I attended the 2011 IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta last weekend. Had a blast, despite the blustery and wet weather. I haven't shot drag racing for a few years and my vantage point was not the best but I still managed to get some decent shots. As always, C&C welcome!

1.

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nice, they almost look like model cars

Thanks. I had a similar comment elsewhere. With virtually no people in the shots, plus all the background blur, it's hard to get a sense of scale.

nice cars and photos. Where you using a tilt-shift lens ?

Nope - no TS lens. All shots were taken with the Canon 85mm f/1.8 (check the EXIF data on Flickr if you want full info). The faster vehicles (motorcycles and Nostalgia Top Fuel) were typically shot at 1/160s to 1/200s or so, since they were pushing 90-100 mph when they passed me. The slower vehicles were typically in the 1/125s or 1/160s shutter speed ranges. Not sure if I posted any that I took at 1/100s but they were much tougher to hold in high wind.

Typical aperture was f/9 through f/4, depending on light/time of day. With the slower shutter speeds, you get a semi-tilt shift effect because everything but the car is blurred. No post-processing blur/smudging added, either. Most of the images were cropped to at least 70% of the original size to get the detail/object focus I wanted. Really wish I had a 70-200 lens for this location...

One last one, just because it's pretty unique to see on a drag strip...

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Hahaha... What was the time and speed for the Grave Digger?

Jon.

Great shots, 2 & 4 are my favorites.

#7 is my favorite! Love the shots!

Jon Foster wrote in post #12710693
Hahaha... What was the time and speed for the Grave Digger?

Jon.

13.77s @ 87.28 mph

VegasBoz wrote in post #12710731
#7 is my favorite! Love the shots!

Thanks! I like the colors of #1 but for actual technique and style, I think #7 is best as well (#2 is a close second)...