SuperMoto in Reno

Higgmeister

I usually don't post in this forum because I usually don't shoot sporting events. Thought I'd give it a try; first motorsport shooting.

Here are a few that I got processed tonight.


Canon EOS 20D ,Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/250s f/8.0 at 100.0mm iso200

Check out the back wheel to the middle rider. Quite common to skip like that.

1/250s f/8.0 at 100.0mm iso200

I think he thought he was a jet plane (race number is 747).

1/350s f/6.7 at 100.0mm iso200

The racing was a blast to watch and I'm looking forward to watching it next year. I have more shots, just this is all for now (tired and must go to bed).

Thanks for looking and comments always welcome,
Chris

gus

As you pointed out... the outside bike in the 2nd. Thats a wild ride.
You did well...

ian408

Nice motion blur

The skipping wheel just increases the pucker factor a little
bit (as does the sliding front end).

Ian

Higgmeister

Humungus wrote:

As you pointed out... the outside bike in the 2nd. Thats a wild ride.
You did well...

Thanks. I had never seen SuperMoto before and wasn't quite sure what to expect. The bikes are a compromise since it's 80% street and 20% dirt with jumps and whoop-de-do's. It's a blast and they were running in our downtown area (imported the dirt section). I'll be definitely doing this again.

Thanks again,
Chris

Higgmeister

ian408 wrote:

Nice motion blur

The skipping wheel just increases the pucker factor a little
bit (as does the sliding front end).

Ian

I pucker when I see these guys and gals doing this. I'm happy being a spectator and would not want to actually run in a race like this. I was purposely using a slow shutter speed for the motion blur which meant that quite a few shots are not very sharp. Well worth it in my book for those that did come out.

Thanks for the look,
Chris

gsgary

Great shots, there can be some great action and spills in supermoto

Gary

maczippy

Nice work Chris!

Twas a blast huh?

Andrew

Seamus

As I said in Andrew's post, this is a sport that I really like. It is televises on Eurosport and is great craic. You got some great shots Chris


Shay.

Higgmeister

Thanks Gary, Andrew and Shay,
for the comments. I didn't follow the sport this year, but now that I have a taste for it, I'll follow it next year. No major spills on this track. It was fairly tight with a couple of longer runs that got them up to about 60mph. There were two larger jumps, one that they were able to get some great air on.

I shot about 500 pictures and am really happy with the few (30-40) that came out, especially since it was my first time for this kind of shooting.

I lurk here and have learned a lot that I was able to put into practice for this event. I just want to say thanks to all those who post and critique here (sports forum) as it helped me get some worth while shots.

DoctorIt

Great shot of Jeff Ward (#1)

I want a supermoto bike!

Higgmeister

I ended up with quite a few of him that are tack sharp. I guess he knew where I was prefocusing and went on that line:D.

I wouldn't mind having one either, but wouldn't know what to do with it once I got it. Never been much of a racer type on bikes. I play with the touring style now and don't much like the feel of the center stand scraping pavement around the corners (wife usually hits me in the back of the helmet when I do that). Then again, going down at 70 in a corner will also make someone change their mind on how they want to ride (had an RD400 that was tricked by Yamaha, way radical).

Thanks for looking,
Chris

charliestout

A Suggestion For Bikes During The Day
While it's pretty common to shoot at 2.8 for motorsports, I've made an interesting discovery. Opening a lens up wide open like that lets in gobs of light, and permits high shutter speeds, but it's often the softest setting on the lens. Even at 100mm, a shot at 2.8 isn't going to give you much depth of field - check the photo of the bike w/ the rear tire skipping. The stuff in the foreground isn't as sharp as it could be.

I'd suggest stopping down to F8 or so, especially if you have the advantage of daylight. It doesn't hurt to crank up to 200 or even 400 iso in the daylight, because digital noise has a tendency to disappear in all the light. You can still get a shutter speed of 1/500 or greater, which will be enough to stop the spokes.

Additionally, you'll get a much sharper image, which can often provide dramatic results!

I just discovered this last Saturday as I shot an outdoor MX race for the first time in the daytime! (I've been shooting at night for the past month) and was stunned at the results from shooting at F8! Give it a try next time!

Higgmeister

Hi Charlie,
Welcome to Dgrin. Let's see some of those shots you mentioned. We are a friendly bunch here and like to share.

I absolutely agree with you. If you look at the pictures, just below each one is the exif data. Most were shot at f8. I was using a shutter speed between 1/180 and 1/500 depending on what angle and shot I was wanting. I was using my iso speed to balance out the DOF and shutter speed I was trying to obtain. Granted, I didn't have to change it all that much, but it's part of the magic triad (speed, volume and sensitivity).

I appreciate your info. The hardest part for me was trying to get the motion blur and sharpness of the rider in the same shot. Not an easy task.

Thanks for looking and glad you commented,
Chris