More MX pics

Erbeman

Last weekend I went to a new track in New Mexico called Dixon MX and did some shooting. The conditions were brutal. It was very windy and one of those hazy days where the light is harsh white and the track setup isn't too camera friendly as far as trying to keep the sun at my back. But, these aren't too bad. Enjoy

mercphoto

Cool stuff. Love the background separation your're getting. Really draws the eye to the rider. Are you selling to riders? How are MX pic sales doing these days?

Erbeman

mercphoto wrote:

Cool stuff. Love the background separation your're getting. Really draws the eye to the rider. Are you selling to riders? How are MX pic sales doing these days?

Hey brother, haven't heard from you in awhile. Thanks for the compliment. I'm not in love with the series by any means, but something is better than nothing right. Yes, I'm selling alot of pics to the riders. I just got a check from SmugMug for over $900 a month ago and I've already got over $200 in my new account balance with them. I just got a call from a lady 20 minutes ago who wants to buy pics from Nov 9 at TNT! It's funny that people wait 5 months to order, but as long as they order right! When I get my next check in I'm going to order the bad-arse Nikkor 14-24 F/2.8 lens!! I love it when your hobby starts paying for itself! I'm sure my wife loves it even more considering how much we've spent on my equipment to date.

Did you go to the Arenacross that was in Austin a few months back? I was the series photog for that. Let me tell you, that arena was freakin horrible!! OMG, the lighting was almost non-existant and the light that did come out was funky colors. It made my job very hard. I hope we don't go back there again. The facility in Waco was incredible!! The Heart O Texas Colliseum is a wonderful venue. The floor is huge which allows for a much bigger track, the lighting was great and there are bathrooms and concession stands everywhere.

mercphoto

Glad to hear the sales are doing good for you. I did not make the Arenacross (didn't even know about it, I've been out-of-the-loop for over a year now). Funny, I had convinced myself that I was tired of speculative race photography, but trying to get paying assignments in car photography has been very difficult, making speculative look better as time goes on.... Maybe I need to call Twyla at Cross Creek and see how is shooting out there these days.

Erbeman

mercphoto wrote:

Glad to hear the sales are doing good for you. I did not make the Arenacross (didn't even know about it, I've been out-of-the-loop for over a year now). Funny, I had convinced myself that I was tired of speculative race photography, but trying to get paying assignments in car photography has been very difficult, making speculative look better as time goes on.... Maybe I need to call Twyla at Cross Creek and see how is shooting out there these days.

Yea, I would imagine that isn't the best market to be in. Have you tried joining car forums and advertising that way? I'm a member of a BMW forum and we Beemer drivers love taking pics of our cars!!! Here are a few that I recently snapped after doing some mods to my car. They are nothing fancy. I had just washed my car and decided to get a few pics of my mods. I shot these in my neighborhood at the worst time of day with the sun bright as heck and straight over me. And before you say it, I know my car needs a good deep polishing!! Haha, I recently dropped over $300 on a buffer and all the supplies needed, however either the weather hasn't cooperated or I've been bust shooting MX to do it yet.

mercphoto

Erbeman wrote:

Yea, I would imagine that isn't the best market to be in. Have you tried joining car forums and advertising that way?

I'm a sponsoring member of the S2000 forums (and a prior owner of the car). Been hit or miss with them. I did a no-obligation session with two cars and my motion rig that resulted in selling only one digital file and nothing else. I have four in Houston who want me to come down, but that drive is long from Austin. Tried to get all four scheduled for the same time, to cut down on fuel/travel expenses, but that is difficult to pull off. The ZR-1 net I'm on a probationary period to advertise my services, but I have managed to sell two stock prints so far through them. Just joined a Corvette forum and about to advertise myself there (prior Corvette owner as well). And I'm trying to get hooked up with one of the top "used" car lots in Austin (where many of those "used" cars are exotics, some selling for more than my house is worth!).

Erbeman

mercphoto wrote:

I'm a sponsoring member of the S2000 forums (and a prior owner of the car). Been hit or miss with them. I did a no-obligation session with two cars and my motion rig that resulted in selling only one digital file and nothing else. I have four in Houston who want me to come down, but that drive is long from Austin. Tried to get all four scheduled for the same time, to cut down on fuel/travel expenses, but that is difficult to pull off. The ZR-1 net I'm on a probationary period to advertise my services, but I have managed to sell two stock prints so far through them. Just joined a Corvette forum and about to advertise myself there (prior Corvette owner as well). And I'm trying to get hooked up with one of the top "used" car lots in Austin (where many of those "used" cars are exotics, some selling for more than my house is worth!).

Good deal. You might check out www.e46fanatics.com for BMWs. Rollings shots are mint! Especially in the Austin area with the hills, trees and many curvy roads.

Darren Troy C

Cool stuff! Love the Beemer headlamps!

Erbeman

Idlewild wrote:

Cool stuff! Love the Beemer headlamps!

Thanks, what was one of the mods that I did. I love them.

j-bo

As with anything spec.... hit or miss and depends on the area.

My MX area just had an influx of 3 chicks that rattle off 600 photo's, post them straight from camera, and GIVE THEM AWAY FOR FREE!

As much as I say, quality wins out.....not with MX'ers. Free beats quality every day.

I'll be shooting a LL qualifier this weekend and I'll let ya know if I sell enough to pay my gate fees. .

Erbeman

j-bo wrote:

As with anything spec.... hit or miss and depends on the area.

My MX area just had an influx of 3 chicks that rattle off 600 photo's, post them straight from camera, and GIVE THEM AWAY FOR FREE!

As much as I say, quality wins out.....not with MX'ers. Free beats quality every day.

I'll be shooting a LL qualifier this weekend and I'll let ya know if I sell enough to pay my gate fees. .

That feakin blows brother!! I just got my credentials for the Vegas SX 2 days ago!! I'm so freakin amped up. I cannot wait.

j-bo

Awesome!!!!!! and hopefully another zine will see your stuff and give you more exposure or get some ad sales.. that would be sweet eh?

Just remember who the little guys ya know are. Hahhaa.

I new some training on panning shots if we ever meet again too.

nw scout

This is nice

Erbeman

j-bo wrote:

Awesome!!!!!! and hopefully another zine will see your stuff and give you more exposure or get some ad sales.. that would be sweet eh?

Just remember who the little guys ya know are. Hahhaa.

I new some training on panning shots if we ever meet again too.

Haha, sure thing bro!! Do you think you will make it to the Freestone National this year?

BCSPhotoguy

Thats the problem with my area as well - there is a couple companies, IE husband and wife that sell SOC and the quality... well.. far from what most would post here. I am my worst critic I admit, but I offer what I would by myself. I think i sold 3 prints last year!!??? Then again, all sorts of blurry, boring, ZERO composition shots are flooded the area. I hear most are free, but the shots being sold are about $15 each - i match the price with edited etc pics - but i cant meet free! I thought it was a "who you knew" kind of thing, but not sure.

Atleast this year i have ONE track organizer on my side and has offered my skills are training days etc.. Heres hoping! My and my Nikons eating dust for free, well.. I love MX but covering costs would be really nice!

BTW: Those head on shots... Nice!! I am going to PM you an idea about they quad shot...

Erbeman

I think about the only ways you guys can get a handle on these situations it to get these track owners to appoint you as track photograher and not allow just anyone to walk out on the track and take pics. This is working well for me. You are just going to have to find a way to show the track owners that it is in their best interest to only have you out there. One way would be to become a track sponsor. At my local track here in Lubbock, I just paid for a big banner with my logo to be hung on the fence with the rest of the track sponsors. I'm also going to donate money to the summer night series to help pay for trophies and the other expenses. When you show these owners that you want to invest in them, they are more likely to invest in you.

j-bo

Erbeman wrote:

Haha, sure thing bro!! Do you think you will make it to the Freestone National this year?

I'll def. be at Freestone. I skipped last year in protest for the 1st year non-fan friendly setup. .

Shooting from the cheap seats though. And at Freestone, getting over the trackside banners (track was above eye level in a lot of spots!) is halfway impossible, but fun none the less.

This was one of my favs from the 1st year where I made a major boo boo and "thought" I had camera set one way and never checked it. One of my worst outings ever and it was the 1st Freestone National. I used a RebelXT back then too.

Erbeman

j-bo wrote:

I'll def. be at Freestone. I skipped last year in protest for the 1st year non-fan friendly setup. .

Shooting from the cheap seats though. And at Freestone, getting over the trackside banners (track was above eye level in a lot of spots!) is halfway impossible, but fun none the less.

This was one of my favs from the 1st year where I made a major boo boo and "thought" I had camera set one way and never checked it. One of my worst outings ever and it was the 1st Freestone National. I used a RebelXT back then too.

Good deal! I went last year, and yes it sucked how freakin strict they were. Hopefully, I'll get credentials and won't have to deal with that nonsense this year. Lets hope that it doesn't get to the temperature it was last year. It was over 100 degrees and just miserable!! We'll definately exchange Phone #'s before we go so that we can hang out again and practice our panning. Haha

mercphoto

Erbeman wrote:

I think about the only ways you guys can get a handle on these situations it to get these track owners to appoint you as track photograher and not allow just anyone to walk out on the track and take pics. This is working well for me.

Agreed. There are ways to make it worthwhile for the track. Let the track have some small number of images per race for their website or newsletter, but make sure its those uses only (don't ask me how I know to be leary of this!), and keep the count to ten or less, and give them low-res images only. If they have a clubhouse offer to hang some 16x20 prints for them. Only a few as that gets expensive, maybe rotate them every once in a while. But don't go overboard here, otherwise people will just use the clubhouse as their photo album. (yes, happened to me!)

The racers will have to understand why this is happening, why they can't go out and snap their own, so as to not get resentful. The kart track I shot for was very safety conscious -- you could NOT go out around the track, so I had the only good vantage points. Most MX tracks I've been at kinda scare me from a safety perspective -- seems people are allowed to roam at-will anywhere. What you don't want to do is come across as saying "don't take your own pics so that you must buy them from me".

j-bo

Not cost efficient for me to do that. We don't have enough riders to make it worth putting out all the expense. Plus, no track owner will do exclusive deals, sponsor or not.

As merc said.. people can roam wherever and whenever they so choose. The only time they are not allowed to do so is at an LL qualifier. Thus, the reason I'm going this weekend as this track owner (I've given him loads of photo's for web use and trophy plaques) allows me track access where the other mom and pops have to shoot outside the fence.

Just part of the game.....if I didn't love mx so much, no way in hades would I be out there to try and make a little pocket money!

Matt336

Hey Russ, great shots like always! I think the first one in my favorite. Have you tried using some fill flash in the harsh conditions? You might be able to throw enough light at the rider to make their faces a little brighter. Just an idea. I've used it and it seems to work but it all depends on how bad the conditions are too I guess. Great shots, I can't wait to see more from you. We still have snow here in eastern ND, I can't wait to start shooting mx with my D3.

mercphoto

Matt336 wrote:

Hey Russ, great shots like always! I think the first one in my favorite. Have you tried using some fill flash in the harsh conditions? You might be able to throw enough light at the rider to make their faces a little brighter. Just an idea.

That's a good point. I used to shoot with Marc Pujol of MPick.com and he always had me fire the flash, no matter what. Play around a bit with the FEC (if memory serves, I used -2/3) to get the balance you want. It does make a nice difference. But I highly recommend an external battery pack for the flash. :O

Erbeman

I didn't try there but I have a my local track and I've found that it only makes a difference if I'm using a short lens and right up on the rider. I generally shoot with my 70-200 and I like to shoot somewhere between 100-130. That way I have plenty of time to track the rider and adjust zoom as necessary. From this far away, my on-camera flash doesn't render much aid unfortunately. I shot a race yesterday and left my SB-900 on my camera and used it on manual at 1/1 and zoomed out "when I thought of it" when I was shooting close to the riders. It didn't make too much of a difference for me.

mercphoto

Erbeman wrote:

From this far away, my on-camera flash doesn't render much aid unfortunately. I shot a race yesterday and left my SB-900 on my camera and used it on manual at 1/1 and zoomed out "when I thought of it" when I was shooting close to the riders. It didn't make too much of a difference for me.

Yeah, an on-camera flash will be useless. I have a 580EX (Canon), not sure the Nikon equivalent, but its the most powerful of the Canon lineup. One thing flash can help with is making the mud particles stand-out (they are wet, and therefore reflective). It helps on jump shots. It can be subtle, as you have discovered. But its the little things that help make you stand out from mom-and-dad's photos.

amadeus

Erbeman wrote:

amadeus

Erbeman wrote:

amadeus

Erbeman wrote: