Detroit Grand Prix

JSPhotography

Went to practice on Friday. Roles race was today. Great day for GM in the motor city. Corvetts took first and second in GTP and a Camaro took first in GT. Here are the winners and a couple other shots. Let me know what you think.

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FearNothing321

I enjoyed this set. I'm hoping to return to the 24 Hours of Daytona next year.

JSPhotography

FearNothing321 wrote: »

I enjoyed this set. I'm hoping to return to the 24 Hours of Daytona next year.

Thanks, I liked the Grand Am stuff much more than the Indy or Indy Lights cars

mercphoto

Number 1 needs a slower shutter. Number two is a good composition and view point. Four is my fav, love the flame. Five just doesn't work. I understand the concept, but there is nothing in the background to make the concept work.

JSPhotography

Thanks Merc. I agree with you on all points. I think I am going to try and crop 5 down to just about half the background sign and the car to see how that looks. I really scrambled to find good shots of the #9 Corvette in #1. He was on the track much less than everybody else. It has been a good exercise to shoot and then go back and put up the eventual winners. We will see how it goes with the Indy cars today.

kscooper

Nice work ,especially on 2, 3, and 4. Not knowing the track - where were you set up?

P.S. - Hope that they get the race in today . . .

JSPhotography

kscooper wrote: »

Nice work ,especially on 2, 3, and 4. Not knowing the track - where were you set up?

P.S. - Hope that they get the race in today . . .

Thanks, 2 came from the top of stands set up in front of a tight right-left. The others are from the same corner but down on the track. There was an openning for the safety crews and the "gate keeper" let me get in pretty close becouse it was a practice day. Still wish I had credentials but I'm pretty happy with what I came up with not having them.

Gary752

mercphoto wrote: »

Number 1 needs a slower shutter. Number two is a good composition and view point. Four is my fav, love the flame. Five just doesn't work. I understand the concept, but there is nothing in the background to make the concept work.

with Merc's comments on #1

#2 would be perfect had you left a little extra room in front of the car for it to move into, and had you used a polorizer to remove the glare from the winsheild. But nice shot! I had a nice shot of Al Holbert's Lowenbrau car simular to this back in the 80's (film days).

#3 would have been better had you used a higher f-stop and slower shutter speed and panned with the car to blur the background. Again leave more room in front of the car.

#4 I like this shot! Not only did you capture the fire, but you got some smoke as well.

#5 Doesn't do anything for me. Had you gotten closer to the opening and shown more of the cars and track it might have worked better.

All in all, if this was your first time shooting this type of race, you did a good job! If you plan on shooting these types of races more often, I would practice your panning technique before hand. I learned mine from standing on the sidewalk in town and practiced on cars driving by. What I have found that worked for me was pre-focus on a spot on the track in manual, and pointed my feet at that point. Then turn at the waist towards where the cars would be coming from and follow them by turning with them at the waist. When the lens is perpendicular to my feet, fire off the shot, and keep turning my body at the waist untill I'm well past the point where I took the shot. Cars usually were in great focus and the backgrounds were streaked and blurred.

GaryB

JSPhotography

Thanks Bro

JSPhotography

I'm thinking on #5 I needed to use a small amount of rear curtain flash to add some definition. Then maybe the concept would work better.

No body commented about the photographer in #6. This was just a humerous photog shot, me looking through one small openning while another photog looked through another at the same subject.