American Le Mans @ Road America

[Itheone]

Here's a quick few from yesterday, didn't get to proccess most of them yet.


All taken with my trusty 40D and 100-400L
































The rest of them can be seen on my website: http://www.adprphoto.com/lemans


Thanks for looking, C&C always welcome and appreciated.

[TucsonTRD]

I like the photos and I wish I had been there to see and photograph the racing.


Here is my unprofessional opinion of each...


1) The second car (OoF one) takes away from the lines/curves of the subject car


2) The blue and white objects from the spectator side of the wall are distracting


3) This is my favorite photo, it doesn't have much of a sense of the speed, but I like the simple background and the car stands out in the photo.


4) The ambulance steals some of the attention.


I hope my critiques don't seem too negative. For me, I like to hear the negatives so I can try to look out for them next time. These photos are definitely better than what I would have walked away with.


Braden

[Sheiky]

Really nice set of shots!


I agree with Braden on a few points, however the background thing. I'm not sure if you get to chose your position, but often your limited to a few shooting locations at a racetrack. But yeah the 100% electric truck sign can be very disturbing[:P]Who on earth wants 100% electric trucks? []


Photo 1 would have benefitted from taking it just a second later I think. Then the second car would have it's own lines instead of lines going from 1 to the other.


I'd like to add just a few tiny suggestion. I'm not sure if you cropped at all, but try to get your subject out of the centre in at least a few shots, by cropping or by framing. If you keep space in front of the car, the speed that you are trying to show has a point of direction. It gives you a whole different perspective on such a shot. At least personally I prefer some "movement" space with action shots.


Also try out a close-up on a car detail or car part. I tend to like panned shots where you only see the driver and a part of the car. However it must be obvious that this was your intention and not a mistake of cutting off a spoiler or something []



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All taken with my trusty 40D

I rent this one every time I go to a major sporting event. I absolutely love it and I prefer it over the 7D. Maybe when I get a good deal I will buy one for backup sometime.


Jan
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[TucsonTRD]

Sorry, I just realized I mis-numbered the photos. I'm sure you can figure it out based on my descriptions though.

[Richard Lane]

These are really great shots. I love the colors, contrast, spot on focus, and panning.


Photo 1) I love seeing more than one car or athlete in a frame. It really shows that it's a race. I would also like to see some space or air between the two blue cars, or from a higher vantage point.


Photo 2) His Helmet doesn't match his car. [^o)]


Photo 3) This is a great shot, but since he is approaching you, you loose some of the sense of speed, but I still love this head on shot.


Photos 2,4,5) I love the panning and sense of speed from the side, but the backgrounds are a bit distracting due to the low wall and all of the RV's in the Pits. Perhaps it's also a limitation of the narrower aperture of the 100-400mm f/5.6 Lens. Probably a wider aperture lens; like a 300mm f/2.8L or a bazooka like the 400mm f/2.8L would obliterate the background more, but those are big bucks for sure.


Jan makes another good point, I also like to leave some space for the car, plane, bird, or whatever to exit the frame.


You should be telling me how to get these shots, they're gorgeous.


You really nailed the cars, beautiful work!





Rich

[Itheone]

Thanks for the comments guys.


Road America has a ton of great shooting locations, I have only managed to proccess a small amount of photos I took and these seemed like they were worth posting.


I kind of like the panning shots with a busy background because it gives you the sense of speed and shows the amount of panning that was necessary. Here's a few with a clean background, to me they seem boring:























And a few with multiple cars showing:

[Richard Lane]

<span style="font-size: 11.8056px;"]I kind of like the panning shots with a busy background because it gives you the sense of speed and shows the amount of panning that was necessary. Here's a few with a clean background, to me they seem boring:


<span style="font-size: 11.8056px;"]

I like the first set of photos better too, the cars are also cooler looking, and the shots are more exciting. I also think the color, contrast, panning, and lighting are all better in the first set. T<span>he cars in the first set are also sharper, andI prefer the lower shooting angle in the first set, as compared to the first 3 photos in the second set.


The second set is missing that sense of speed or relativity in the background. I do like the last one in the second set, because the cars look like they're going to come right through the screen, and it puts the viewer right in the action.


I know you can't always control the background, but I do think the first set with a wider aperture would be great, but I can certainly see how the zoom can be very handy in a race like this.


Again, great shots.., I really enjoyed them!


Thanks for sharing,


Rich

[Sheiky]

I agree with you on the boring backgrounds, however I like the idea of the space in front of the car in the first shot.


What settings do you usually shoot at?


Watch your saturation as your reds seem to lose detail on some shots, best seen in the cars in the background. At least I think so, but now I look better the overall saturation seems pretty good. I don't know what's up with the reds[:P]

Photos 2,4,5) I love the panning and sense of speed from the side, but the backgrounds are a bit distracting due to the low wall and all of the RV's in the Pits. Perhaps it's also a limitation of the narrower aperture of the 100-400mm f/5.6 Lens. Probably a wider aperture lens; like a 300mm f/2.8L or a bazooka like the 400mm f/2.8L would obliterate the background more, but those are big bucks for sure.

I bet he would need some heavy ND filters to accomplish this. I personally have never tried it, but it sounds like a good idea. Keep the busy background, but blur it some more....seems like a good idea [Y] But if it's easy...I don't know.


Jan