My First Time At The Race Track [S&T + C&C]

[Mark Elberson]

First off, thanks to Peter, Bill and Benjamin for giving me some really great advice!


Here are a few pictures that I took on Saturday at the New Jersey Motorsports Park ("http://www.njmotorsportspark.com/). The day started off with pouring rain so I didn't think I was going to be able to even take my camera out of the bag but the rain stopped and the sun even came out for a little while.


All shots were taken with an EOS 50D & EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS


Here's what I got:


***EDIT***


Updated Pictures Posted Below

[Itheone]

Sweet shots Mark.


Try bumping up the contrast and saturation in PS,it will make the pictures pop a little.


Pete

[Mark Elberson]

***EDIT***


Updated Pictures Posted Below

[alexniedra]

Great shots, Mark! Very nice panning shots.


With what Pete said - the contrast really helps them. It gives them a bit more energy.

[Bill W]

Mark looks like you had good day.....some nice captures and looks like you had good access to the track.


But if I may add my perspective.....the first pic is a nice angle, good background but the wheels are stopped.


Pics 2-4 are cropped too tightly but still showing good motion.


IMHO, #5 is the winner, you've captured the motion w/your panning, left room showing the direction of the motion w/your cropping and kept the Porsche crisp.


As advised, a little touch up in PS will make 'em hop.


Did you try any pics below 1/100th? If so....plz post a couple so I may see the results. How many shots did you take?


Have fun in the darkroom.....


Bill

[Oren]

Very nice overall, great job.


The problem with the PS editing though is that you have blown up the highlights in the first picture - take a look at it.

[Oren]

Hmmm... have you just edited it? casue now they both look the same and I could swear the first one was better in terms of highlights.

[Mark Elberson]

Mark looks like you had good day.....some nice captures and looks like you had good access to the track.





Thanks Bill. It was definitely a great track for public access. I can't wait to go back when there are some pro's racing!






But if I may add my perspective.....the first pic is a nice angle, good background but the wheels are stopped.





I agree. I really liked the perspective and how the car in the background was slightly out of focus. If could do it again though I would have shot it at a much slower shutter speed to add more of a feeling of motion.






Pics 2-4 are cropped too tightly but still showing good motion.





Again, I agree with you. The ones that are cropped so tightly are where the
car was in the right part of the frame and I thought they looked better
cropped than having "no where to go".






IMHO, #5 is the winner, you've captured the motion w/your panning, left room showing the direction of the motion w/your cropping and kept the Porsche crisp.





Thanks :) I really liked that one too. Considering this was my first attempt at both panning and shooting cars on a race track I was pretty pleased with what I came home with. I learned a ton too and really feel that next time I'll do much better.






As advised, a little touch up in PS will make 'em hop.





I re-posted the pics with changes to both contrast & saturation. Any better?






Did you try any pics below 1/100th? If so....plz post a couple so I may see the results. How many shots did you take?





Almost everything was at around 1/100 or 1/160 but I did get a good grab at 1/60. I'll post it below. Let me know what you think.


I took 296 pictures and narrowed that down to 35 exposures which I thought were worth keeping. I took forever to delete and process the RAW files!


f/16, 1/60, ISO 100, 100mm


/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.26.13/2009_2D00_06_2D00_20_2D00_15_2D00_47_2D00_53.JPG

[Bill W]

Yup....much better on the original photos.....bring the high lights back down a bit on the VW and Porsche.


The Mustang 77 looks a little soft and again the the highlights, e.g. rear triangle window, rear and front wheel well tops, are too harsh.


Looks like we could get some keepers at 1/60th w/some more practice though.....the panning motion looks good to me.


I found my shutter speeds of 100 to 160 were where most of my keepers came from also.


Well you shot about the same amount I did at LRP...but you definitely have gone thru them much quicker than I did.


Were you able to get into the paddock area?


Once again Mark, IMHO, excellent results, especially for your first try.


Regards


Bill

[Mark Elberson]

Bill,


I think we can definitely get some keepers at 1/60...especially with some more practice :) I did a little more PP to "try" to fix the blown highlights. PP is not my forte though so I can't promise it will be too much better. Any tips or suggestions are very much appreciated by the way.


I was able to get into the Paddock area. The place was a ghost town due to the inclement weather and I guess also because it was just a Club racing event so it was just amateurs.


Thanks again for your kind words and helpful suggestions!


1) f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 640, 400mm


/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.26.13/1.JPG


2) f/11, 1/100, ISO 100, 190mm


/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.26.13/2.JPG


3) f/11, 1/100, ISO 100, 190mm


/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.26.13/3.JPG


4) f/11, 1/100, ISO 100, 190mm


/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.26.13/5.JPG


5) f/16, 1/100, ISO 100, 100mm


/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.26.13/6.JPG


6) f/16, 1/60, ISO 100, 100mm


/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.26.13/4.JPG