Pulling contests at the fairgrounds

[Marie Hass]

I admit it. I love tractor and truck pulls. I love everything about them. Here are a few shots.

What would be the most optimal settings for night competitions like this? I shot at 1/100, ISO 3200, 55mm (only took my kit lens), F5.6, no flash (wouldn't have been effective from the grandstands). I was sitting in the covered grandstands shooting out into the lit lanes. I tried a lower shutter speed and panning, but did not get any clear shots.







Thank you for looking and commenting.

Marie

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Marie,

With what you had and the fairgrounds, I think you've done quite well. You made informed decisions that paid off.

I do see some pan induced background blur in the second shot (by which I mean that's a good thing), so it was worth it. I would say essential and a slightly slower shutter speed is necessary, because even now, I thought that was a truck with "Lucas Oil" on the side before I realised that's on the hoarding behind it. The vehicles and hoarding are so close together, relative to camera to subject distance that there's no way aperture induced DoF is going to provide sufficient separation. Maybe you just need more practice panning?

On the third, you could probably (if shot RAW and not a significant crop) increase the exposure and/or 'Fill light' on the lane with the blue truck in, but you'd need to take steps to avoid the foreground going over exposed in that process.

[blueturtle]

Marie These are good for the conditions. If you did not shot shoot the third one in raw, a curves adjustment layer will help bring the truck up quite a lot. I just tried it in PSP and will work.

What was going on with the truck in the second photo? Sparks????? It was mid day when I shot some at the county fair this year so no sparks, but lots of dust and black smoke

[Marie Hass]

Thank you, Dave, for taking the time to c&c. What you call hoarding, I think is what we call the sled? The truck pulls the sled and within a given distance, the weight slides forwad to the point where the truck can no longer pull the weight? Do you have these in the UK? Horses also do it, but I did not get to any competitions this year. Yes, I was trying for something more dramatic when panning, but I think I needed to be off the the grandstands and using a tripod or monopod. On #3, I could probably add a dodge and burn layer, or try what blue suggested and do a curves adjustment layer.

Hi, blue. Thanks for posting and commenting. I will try what you suggested. What you see as sparks are actually fireworks. They are were for show only. The cool thing about going at night, is that a lot of the trucks and tractors are all decked out in lights. If I had had my flash and the appropriate distance, I might have set it at second curtain sync for lighting effects.

Marie