NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Pocono

moose135

I was up in the Poconos this past weekend for the NASCAR event at Pocono Raceway. Here are some shots of the Sprint Cup series practice, qualifying and race.

1 - Brad Keselowski's car is pushed away from pre-race inspection Sunday morning.



2 - Joey Logano on track during Friday's practice session.



3 - Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. return to pit road during practice.



4 - Dale Earnhardt, Jr. signing autographs before Friday qualifying.



5 - Danica Patrick on track



6 - Tony Stewart's crew bring his car out to pit road before the race Sunday morning.


7 - That will leave a mark!



8 - "Dusty" from the movie Planes was flown into the track Saturday afternoon, landing on the Long Pond straight. It was on display on pit road Sunday morning - Dane Cook, the voice of Dusty, was on hand as the Grand Marshall. As pre-race festivities began, the plane taxied off pit road and through Turn 3 - it was supposed to take off during the pre-race ceremonies, and perform the fly over following the National Anthem. Unfortunately, shortly after heading down the track, we saw it being towed back toward the pits, and was pulled off onto an access road. Apparently they had some sort of problem, and it never flew.



9 - Jimmie Johnson's car had a special "Planes" paint scheme.



10 - Danica Patrick before Friday's qualifying session.



11 - Quick work by Ryan Newman's crew.



Thanks for looking!

perroneford

Nicely shot, and beautifully processed.

Would you be willing to answer a few questions about your workflow? I am revamping mine this year, and am curious how you are doing things.

Thanks.

moose135

Thank you! My workflow is fairly basic. I shoot in raw, and use Adobe Bridge to review and select photos to process. I then open in Adobe Camera Raw for most adjustments - primarily working my way down the adjustments in the "Basic" tab. I'll start by cropping/leveling the image, then I'll use the eyedropper to check/correct white balance, then adjust the exposure as needed. I like to dial in a little bit of contrast - usually around 25 - 30 on the slider. Highlights/Shadows and Whites/Blacks to taste. I also like to bump up the Clarity and Vibrance some - 20-25 on those, and add some saturation as well. From there, I open in PS6 to clone out dust spots and sharpen - I used to use USM, but have been experimenting with Smart Sharpen. I don't see enough of a difference between them to recommend one over the other. Hope this helps!

perroneford

Yes, thank you. Quite similar to my current workflow. Except I use Lightroom which essentially combines Bridge and ACR into one app, and adds some bells and whistles.

Given that your workflow is quite similar to mine, I have to conclude that your shooting is excellent which accounts for the excellent results.

Again, nicely done.

moose135 wrote: »

Thank you! My workflow is fairly basic. I shoot in raw, and use Adobe Bridge to review and select photos to process. I then open in Adobe Camera Raw for most adjustments - primarily working my way down the adjustments in the "Basic" tab. I'll start by cropping/leveling the image, then I'll use the eyedropper to check/correct white balance, then adjust the exposure as needed. I like to dial in a little bit of contrast - usually around 25 - 30 on the slider. Highlights/Shadows and Whites/Blacks to taste. I also like to bump up the Clarity and Vibrance some - 20-25 on those, and add some saturation as well. From there, I open in PS6 to clone out dust spots and sharpen - I used to use USM, but have been experimenting with Smart Sharpen. I don't see enough of a difference between them to recommend one over the other. Hope this helps!

M38A1

perroneford wrote: »

Given that your workflow is quite similar to mine, I have to conclude that your shooting is excellent which accounts for the excellent results.

Again, nicely done.

^^^^^ Ditto
These are REALLY nice in my opinion. And great access helps.

moose135

Thank you both! And the secret to the great access - a weekend pit pass that anyone can purchase. I do like to be a little creative when shooting down there, though.

Neozyn

Excellent shots. A big NASCAR fan. Thanks for sharing your workflow.
All the best!

Canon 5D MKII - HDR
http://www.jeffisabelle.smugmug.com/

jmp2204

I'm liking these shots !!!