Canadian Superbikes @ Mosport

Went to shoot my first motorcycle race this weekend. I think I'll stick to 4 wheels instead of exploring 2 wheels. Just didn't tickle my fancy as I thought they should. (probably the fact that they all looked the same might have something to do with it)

Anyway, here are 8 of my best efforts. C&C welcomed

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Beauty work. I'm going tomorrow. Any advice on good locations to shoot from ? What lens did you use for the shots above ?

Well if you get there early, you MIGHT be able to get up to turn 5. That corner should be packed tomorrow. Then again, if the weather turns nasty the turnout might not be so good.

Outside of turn 9 is another good spot, as is the outside of 3.

Lens were 70-200 and 120-300 with 1.4TC

Outside of #3 either right in front of the concession stand or just down the hill toward the corner exit. Fron just down the hill you can get a nice low perspective if you have a zoom. #5 is a killer location and I am hoping to be there for some of the day!

I'll be shooting an XTi as well. Maybe we'll bump into each other.

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Nice shots man, #4 has a really cool perspective.

Did you end up getting your media pass and who were you shooting for there?

Yah, I tried to make good use of the media pass. Was shooting for Inside Motorcycles.

The back end of bikes don't work as well as the back end of cars I find.

Nice shots Cyril. Was up there with a few buddies today (getting soaked), but we did get some really nice shots in when it dried up for a few races up in turn 5. Hopefully I'll get some online later this week.

Any luck selling the S2k yet?

got a few tire kickers. As with almost 80-90% of the import crowd, all talk, no action.

2 wheels or 4 wheels... both are exciting. I really like the bikes because it brings the riders into the picture... something that is missing in most car shots (because they are hidden). Because of that, many shots that don't work for cars work really well for bikes... like REALLY tight shots (my personal favorites).

One thing I notice about your shots is that they are very similar. You have the head-on shots and the going-away shots... but you only have one side-on panning shot. Also, you have very few shots from the inside of corners... it goes into the whole rider thing... when you shoot from the inside of corners (rather than the outside) you can get the riders hanging off the bikes more. Their bodies, what I find most interesting, is not blocked by the bikes.

You did a good job with the slower shutter speeds, and a really good job getting multiple bikes in the frame (something that I'm always poor at). I think it's really cool when you get shots with other bikes that show the motion (like #2).

I don't know the track you were shooting at, so I'm not sure what is possible, but getting some tighter shots from the insides of corners will really add some 'different' looking shots. Also, areas where the bikes are heading out of corners towards straights you will find riders popping the front wheel up under acceleration, a nice touch of action that doesn't happen with 4 wheels.

So I wouldn't disregard the bikes just yet... While I like shooting cars (and started there), getting to shoot bikes is always a treat.

-Todd...

Thanks a bunch for your valuable feedback Going to store your pointers into my memory bank.

That track has a few places that gives fairly good inside the corner access. I tried a couple of places and one of the better ones turned out to be