No kidding! I was thinking the same thing. He wants us to be kind and gentle to him? Ok then, I'll be as gentle as I can in the praise of those images. ROTFL
I love taking pictures of motocross. Just last weekend I attended the Motocross Nationals in Millville, Minnesota. I only live 30 miles from there so I have been going there for the last five years. No more Goat but still amazing racing!
I always thoght Goat was over rated and never reached his full potential. The sport has been around a long time and I'm sure will some how manage to get by without Goat Breker.
been on a bit of a MX tear and finally had to stay home today, just couldn't get myself out the door. Open practice last Saturday, race last sunday, race yesterday because one of the tracks has been forced to run saturdays and not sundays, and another race today.
but I had to pass today. the old laundry and house work thing. I've still got 3 races worth of pics to sort and upload.
took a few yesterday I'm really happy with. #94 put his well used RM250 2 stroke out in front of the 250A class ahead of a flock of well groomed 4 stokes ridden by a few guys who are good enough to have qualified for the Unadilla National MX last year.
We've also got the "national champ" from the Dominican Republic showing up locally as I believe he's spending some time with family and friends in the Bronx.
whatever he is the guy can really ride.
here is one of the very fast small guys from last weekends open practice. with all of the hints and advice from this thread I've surmised that in good light, light from mostly clear skies, 800 shutter and f stop of around 7.1 has been giving the best results. of course this one is 640/6.3
I've found that shooting S priority, seeing what the camera wants to choose as the F stop, and then switching to manual and going one higher on the F stop has been a pretty good rule of thumb.
one of the very best things about shooting MX has been the interaction with the kids. a lot of times when the real small guys are on the track I put the camera down and look for a spot where I just might be of some use.
some of these hills are pretty big for a 5-6 year old on a PW 50.
and they never flinch. they may be scared inside but they all give it the best they have. some may be better than others but they all try just as hard.
I posted myself at the top of a hill I thought might be a potential problem spot last week, and sure enough a PW50 comes trudging up it and just at the very top the engine couldn't close the deal.
another 2 feet and he'd have made it. :cry
I'm sure the sight of my hand grabbing the middle of his handle bar and pulling him the extra 2 feet up was a welcome relief as opposed to rolling backwards down the hill to impending doom.
the "thanks" that came out from the visored helmet from all 40 inches 50 pounds of him was for me the highlight of the day.
I'm making a conscious effort to try and get more of the human element of the sport. MX means kids and even littler kids in tow.
I wish I'd have worked harder on this and even coached him. the cutest kid in the world and he was just talking to the dog like another person. saying hi and then bye.
at the last second I grabbed the camera and shot but he was already ending the conversation. a little more face from both parties might have been an epic.
PortPerry practice before the rain
Here some from PortPerry ONT on saturday before the 3hrs of rain.
2.
3.
4.If you notice the guy in the red hat that is BCSPhotoguy ,it was nice to meet a fellow photog from DGrin.
www.rmwphoto.ca
Canon XSI
18-55 AF IS
55-250 AF IS
Canon 430 EXII Flash
Good to meet fellow Dgrinners over the weekend that share a love for MX!! Too bad the event was cancelled... I think this picture says what racing was like all over this past weekend! Its gotta stop raining at some point..!
Some photos from Sweden
Hello all professional photographers, I am an interested reader of this exellent forum with a lot of tips for a beginner like me. Today I am using a Pentax K10D and I have just recently bought a Sigma EX 70-200 2.8 and WOW what a difference on the photos now with this lens. Previously I used a 75-300 4.5 - 5.6 cheap lens that I at first thought was good. Below are some images from the last training session (my son rides mx)
Please give some feedback, I am always interested to learn more and to get tips of how to take better photos.
Good to meet fellow Dgrinners over the weekend that share a love for MX!! Too bad the event was cancelled... I think this picture says what racing was like all over this past weekend! Its gotta stop raining at some point..!
Very cool shot. Loved racing in the mud - until time to clean up. I've only shot motocross once (loved it) and happened to meet a local pro photographer there. That was a first for me and pretty neat.
Hello all professional photographers, I am an interested reader of this exellent forum with a lot of tips for a beginner like me. Today I am using a Pentax K10D and I have just recently bought a Sigma EX 70-200 2.8 and WOW what a difference on the photos now with this lens. Previously I used a 75-300 4.5 - 5.6 cheap lens that I at first thought was good. Below are some images from the last training session (my son rides mx)
Please give some feedback, I am always interested to learn more and to get tips of how to take better photos.
welcome to the club and and the thread. these look pretty good to me, I'll second Erbemans comment that #3 is kind of average but these are some pretty good looking shots. I'm always tellinh myself I'm going to try and pay attention to backrounds but always find myself ignoring my own plans and shooting a jump with a flag stand in the backround, stuff like that. Some of the trees in your backround are a little distracting but what can you do sometimes? If the jump is in favorable light and the trees are there you either live with the trees or whatever or you aren't shooting that jump. I've done a lot of shooting the past few weeks with the exception of this past weekend, it rained and I've got a bum shoulder so I stayed home. Needed a break.
I went to Baltimore yesterday for work and found myself at the inner harbor and its a photogs dream with this huge glass aquarium building that is all lit up. I had my camera and realized I'd forgotten a battery. :cry
Two weeks ago I got what I'm considering my 2 best shots to date.
I'm being sentimental and I know these have some flaws but I'm still pretty psyched with these. #94 won the first moto and got knocked down in the first turn of the 2nd. By the time he got up he was 10 seconds down easy and these are experts.
When he came around after the 1st lap he was already in mid pack. He came into this turn really hot and almost lost it but he didn't, and I got the shots.
Both shots are pretty soft. Honestly, they are not your best shots to date. You've done much better before.
I've got to second that motion. Don't mistake action in your photo for quality. The focus just isn't there on either of these. Having apicture that is tack sharp with good colors but a somewhat boring action is much better than something like these two where the action si great but the pics aren't. Don't let our criticism of these pics get you down though. Keep it up.
I've got to second that motion. Don't mistake action in your photo for quality. The focus just isn't there on either of these. Having apicture that is tack sharp with good colors but a somewhat boring action is much better than something like these two where the action si great but the pics aren't. Don't let our criticism of these pics get you down though. Keep it up.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. The guy shows a lot of promise. He does get some great captures. But he is also not critical enough of himself, unwilling to throw some shots into the trash can, like these two that we're commenting on.
I think Erbeman will agree with me that until you get more critical of yourself you won't start producing a consistent set of great images, and will instead have a wide-range of quality, from the low to the high. Raise your bar! Be more critical of what you capture! Don't keep a bad shot simply because that rider happened to win that particular race, you never know that from the photo!
Gents your input and comments are well received so no worries there.
I'm at this point thinking I was getting "crisper" shots with the D40 on a more regular basis than I am with the D300.
With the D40 the colors just jumped off the subject. Not so much with the D300.
A friend had made a few tweaks on the D40 but I was mostly shooting Sports.
With the D300 I'm shooting in Manual mostly but my brain turns to mush when I read that manual. I follow this advice
"Just some things to remember with the camera...
Go into the menus and pick 51 point 3D Tracking for the dynamic AF setting"
but the rest I'm pretty much leaving as is.
No worries on the critique of the berm busting #94. I guess best shot isn't the best way of putting it, maybe best moment. The story leading uo to it, his first moto win with a 2 stroke over a pack of 4 strokes, the rider himself, the 1st turn 2nd moto crash, the charge through the pack, I get a little too caught up in it..
So no worries. I'll tell you I'm deleting a LOT of shots at this point before I upload, but some of the borderline ones I almsot feel like I owe it to the guy to not delete it. I know HE would want it..Its a pickle no doubt.
Can you guys have a look at this and tell me what you think?
"I just learned about a few settings today and these might have some potential for your MX photos - if you haven't played with them already.
Both of these are done through the menu system. First is "Menu/Shooting Menu/Active D-Lighting." Default should be "OFF", try setting to "HIGH" or "NORMAL."
Second is "Menu/Shooting Menu/Set Picture Control." The default should be "Standard" (SD). Try setting this to "Vivid" (VI). And then go further by pressing the selector to the right to bring up the "vivid" sub-menu. The bump the "Saturation" to +3.
I believe the first option, "Active D-Lighting" helps with contrast - bright sunny vs dark shadows. Could help in the harsh light of day probably when most of the riding and shooting is done, especially with all the bright gear, sunlight reflecting off shiny helmets and goggles, etc, vs the dark tones of the track, black tires, and so forth.
The downside is that ADL reduces the number of frames that can be captured in CL/CH mode.. Mine was showing r09 before, and r06 after I made that adjustment, so I lost 3 rapid fire shots. This might be due to the post-processing time it takes the camera to do dynamic exposure internally. I need to experiment some more though, because I swore last night I was fiddling with settings and saw r15 or r19 or something. At least I thought it did. See the view finder, bottom right in parenthesis when pressing the shutter button down half-way. What does yours show? That number is the number of frames it can buffer in rapid succession.
The second one, Set Picture Control = Vivid, Saturation+3, bumps the color saturation up. I'm thinking this might really help make the colors pop. With the brightly colored bikes and bright gear, and the heavy earth tones of the track, I'm wondering if that might really help bring them out. If +3 is too much, maybe try +2 or something.
Using the increased saturated vivid does not appear to reduce the number of frames that can be captured in CL/CH mode.
Of course, you can adjust saturation of colors in post processing, but my theory is the camera has more information to work with so it may be able to to a better job actually knowing the lighting conditions, and all the other camera settings that are going as the photo is taken. Besides, if you can have it done in the camera, that's less time having to mess with software. I'd rather take pictures than post-process."
any recomendations on cheap decent photo processing software for PC?
Do you only need to do relatively simple global edits, such as RAW conversion, levels and curves, contrast, etc.? Or do you need to do localized edits (dodge, burn, etc.) or layers? If its the more simple stuff then consider springing a few more bucks for Lightroom. Its a RAW converter but its also your organizing tool and so much more.
Go into the menus and pick 51 point 3D Tracking for the dynamic AF setting"
Try the 9-point. You are using AF-C, right? Is your release set to 'focus' ?
"Menu/Shooting Menu/Active D-Lighting." Default should be "OFF", try setting to "HIGH" or "NORMAL."
Use low, or normal.
Try setting this to "Vivid" (VI). And then go further by pressing the selector to the right to bring up the "vivid" sub-menu. The bump the "Saturation" to +3.
If you want to bump in the camera, use either vivid, or bump the sat in 'standard' or 'nuetral'. But don't use +3 in vivid.
Comments
A former sports shooter
Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mercphoto?ref=hdr_shop_menu
http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman
D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
9zero6 | Upper Peninsula Overland
I always thoght Goat was over rated and never reached his full potential. The sport has been around a long time and I'm sure will some how manage to get by without Goat Breker.
but I had to pass today. the old laundry and house work thing. I've still got 3 races worth of pics to sort and upload.
took a few yesterday I'm really happy with. #94 put his well used RM250 2 stroke out in front of the 250A class ahead of a flock of well groomed 4 stokes ridden by a few guys who are good enough to have qualified for the Unadilla National MX last year.
We've also got the "national champ" from the Dominican Republic showing up locally as I believe he's spending some time with family and friends in the Bronx.
whatever he is the guy can really ride.
here is one of the very fast small guys from last weekends open practice. with all of the hints and advice from this thread I've surmised that in good light, light from mostly clear skies, 800 shutter and f stop of around 7.1 has been giving the best results. of course this one is 640/6.3
I've found that shooting S priority, seeing what the camera wants to choose as the F stop, and then switching to manual and going one higher on the F stop has been a pretty good rule of thumb.
one of the very best things about shooting MX has been the interaction with the kids. a lot of times when the real small guys are on the track I put the camera down and look for a spot where I just might be of some use.
some of these hills are pretty big for a 5-6 year old on a PW 50.
and they never flinch. they may be scared inside but they all give it the best they have. some may be better than others but they all try just as hard.
I posted myself at the top of a hill I thought might be a potential problem spot last week, and sure enough a PW50 comes trudging up it and just at the very top the engine couldn't close the deal.
another 2 feet and he'd have made it. :cry
I'm sure the sight of my hand grabbing the middle of his handle bar and pulling him the extra 2 feet up was a welcome relief as opposed to rolling backwards down the hill to impending doom.
the "thanks" that came out from the visored helmet from all 40 inches 50 pounds of him was for me the highlight of the day.
I wish I'd have worked harder on this and even coached him. the cutest kid in the world and he was just talking to the dog like another person. saying hi and then bye.
at the last second I grabbed the camera and shot but he was already ending the conversation. a little more face from both parties might have been an epic.
Here some from PortPerry ONT on saturday before the 3hrs of rain.
2.
3.
4.If you notice the guy in the red hat that is BCSPhotoguy ,it was nice to meet a fellow photog from DGrin.
Canon XSI
18-55 AF IS
55-250 AF IS
Canon 430 EXII Flash
Nikon D3 & D3s
2xSB-900 Speedlights
Tokina 12-24 f4, Nikon 50 f1.8, 28-70 f2.8,70-200 f2.8 VR, 1.7x TC , 200-400 f4 vrII
...more to come!
Hello all professional photographers, I am an interested reader of this exellent forum with a lot of tips for a beginner like me. Today I am using a Pentax K10D and I have just recently bought a Sigma EX 70-200 2.8 and WOW what a difference on the photos now with this lens. Previously I used a 75-300 4.5 - 5.6 cheap lens that I at first thought was good. Below are some images from the last training session (my son rides mx)
Please give some feedback, I am always interested to learn more and to get tips of how to take better photos.
1.
2.
3.
4.
#1 is a great pic.
#2 you needed to find a different angle to shoot from on that jump so you didn't get a half naked hillbilly in the background! Haha
#3 is ok, a little boring, maybe a lower angle and cropped tighter would make it more exciting
#4 not bad, angle is good, looks a little soft, meaning not totally in focus. Hope this helps a bit
http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman
D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
Thanks for sharing. I like #2 the best.
http://andygriffinphoto.com/
http://andygriffin.smugmug.com/
Canon 7D, 70-200mm L, 50 and 85 primes, Tamron 17-50, 28-135
http://andygriffinphoto.com/
http://andygriffin.smugmug.com/
Canon 7D, 70-200mm L, 50 and 85 primes, Tamron 17-50, 28-135
Hey Bond. Hard to believe this was your first post. These are some very nice shots.
#1 is really nice, it would have been nearly perfect if the helmet wasn't at the very top with no room left.
#2 Nice capture but I agree with Erbeman that the guy really harms an otherwise nice photo
#3 is the least interesting unless it is someone you know
#4 is my favorite - I'd be very happy with this one!
Keep shooting and posting. I love seeing these MX pics and I'm sure you will continue to improve.
Andy
http://andygriffinphoto.com/
http://andygriffin.smugmug.com/
Canon 7D, 70-200mm L, 50 and 85 primes, Tamron 17-50, 28-135
welcome to the club and and the thread. these look pretty good to me, I'll second Erbemans comment that #3 is kind of average but these are some pretty good looking shots. I'm always tellinh myself I'm going to try and pay attention to backrounds but always find myself ignoring my own plans and shooting a jump with a flag stand in the backround, stuff like that. Some of the trees in your backround are a little distracting but what can you do sometimes? If the jump is in favorable light and the trees are there you either live with the trees or whatever or you aren't shooting that jump. I've done a lot of shooting the past few weeks with the exception of this past weekend, it rained and I've got a bum shoulder so I stayed home. Needed a break.
I went to Baltimore yesterday for work and found myself at the inner harbor and its a photogs dream with this huge glass aquarium building that is all lit up. I had my camera and realized I'd forgotten a battery. :cry
Keep up the good work and good luck to your son.
I'm being sentimental and I know these have some flaws but I'm still pretty psyched with these. #94 won the first moto and got knocked down in the first turn of the 2nd. By the time he got up he was 10 seconds down easy and these are experts.
When he came around after the 1st lap he was already in mid pack. He came into this turn really hot and almost lost it but he didn't, and I got the shots.
He finished 2nd for a 1-2 for 2nd overall.
Comments appreciated.
A former sports shooter
Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mercphoto?ref=hdr_shop_menu
I've got to second that motion. Don't mistake action in your photo for quality. The focus just isn't there on either of these. Having apicture that is tack sharp with good colors but a somewhat boring action is much better than something like these two where the action si great but the pics aren't. Don't let our criticism of these pics get you down though. Keep it up.
http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman
D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
I think Erbeman will agree with me that until you get more critical of yourself you won't start producing a consistent set of great images, and will instead have a wide-range of quality, from the low to the high. Raise your bar! Be more critical of what you capture! Don't keep a bad shot simply because that rider happened to win that particular race, you never know that from the photo!
A former sports shooter
Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mercphoto?ref=hdr_shop_menu
I'm at this point thinking I was getting "crisper" shots with the D40 on a more regular basis than I am with the D300.
With the D40 the colors just jumped off the subject. Not so much with the D300.
A friend had made a few tweaks on the D40 but I was mostly shooting Sports.
With the D300 I'm shooting in Manual mostly but my brain turns to mush when I read that manual. I follow this advice
"Just some things to remember with the camera...
Go into the menus and pick 51 point 3D Tracking for the dynamic AF setting"
but the rest I'm pretty much leaving as is.
No worries on the critique of the berm busting #94. I guess best shot isn't the best way of putting it, maybe best moment. The story leading uo to it, his first moto win with a 2 stroke over a pack of 4 strokes, the rider himself, the 1st turn 2nd moto crash, the charge through the pack, I get a little too caught up in it..
So no worries. I'll tell you I'm deleting a LOT of shots at this point before I upload, but some of the borderline ones I almsot feel like I owe it to the guy to not delete it. I know HE would want it..Its a pickle no doubt.
Can you guys have a look at this and tell me what you think?
"I just learned about a few settings today and these might have some potential for your MX photos - if you haven't played with them already.
Both of these are done through the menu system. First is "Menu/Shooting Menu/Active D-Lighting." Default should be "OFF", try setting to "HIGH" or "NORMAL."
Second is "Menu/Shooting Menu/Set Picture Control." The default should be "Standard" (SD). Try setting this to "Vivid" (VI). And then go further by pressing the selector to the right to bring up the "vivid" sub-menu. The bump the "Saturation" to +3.
I believe the first option, "Active D-Lighting" helps with contrast - bright sunny vs dark shadows. Could help in the harsh light of day probably when most of the riding and shooting is done, especially with all the bright gear, sunlight reflecting off shiny helmets and goggles, etc, vs the dark tones of the track, black tires, and so forth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtWDS1va_Dk
The downside is that ADL reduces the number of frames that can be captured in CL/CH mode.. Mine was showing r09 before, and r06 after I made that adjustment, so I lost 3 rapid fire shots. This might be due to the post-processing time it takes the camera to do dynamic exposure internally. I need to experiment some more though, because I swore last night I was fiddling with settings and saw r15 or r19 or something. At least I thought it did. See the view finder, bottom right in parenthesis when pressing the shutter button down half-way. What does yours show? That number is the number of frames it can buffer in rapid succession.
The second one, Set Picture Control = Vivid, Saturation+3, bumps the color saturation up. I'm thinking this might really help make the colors pop. With the brightly colored bikes and bright gear, and the heavy earth tones of the track, I'm wondering if that might really help bring them out. If +3 is too much, maybe try +2 or something.
Using the increased saturated vivid does not appear to reduce the number of frames that can be captured in CL/CH mode.
Of course, you can adjust saturation of colors in post processing, but my theory is the camera has more information to work with so it may be able to to a better job actually knowing the lighting conditions, and all the other camera settings that are going as the photo is taken. Besides, if you can have it done in the camera, that's less time having to mess with software. I'd rather take pictures than post-process."
thanks in advance.
amadeus
any recomendations on cheap decent photo processing software for PC?
PSE 7....The BEST $70 you'll ever spend.
A former sports shooter
Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mercphoto?ref=hdr_shop_menu
If you go the PSE route, spend another $12 for Elements+.
Try the 9-point. You are using AF-C, right? Is your release set to 'focus' ?
Use low, or normal.
If you want to bump in the camera, use either vivid, or bump the sat in 'standard' or 'nuetral'. But don't use +3 in vivid.
Did you get that info from rockwell's web site?
http://www.knippixels.com