Car Hill Climb Event

[John 2]

Spent a glorious afternoon in sunshine in the north Yorkshire Dales watching a competitive hill climb. Thought it would be a good photo opportunity but the surroundings were very pleasant also. I find the problem with these is that it is difficult to avoid the cars looking a bit static and so the last one has been post processed to try and add a dynamic element. The panorama is 5 x vertical shots stitched in CS6.

Nikon D7000
70mm - 300mm Nikkor

[Donald]

The panorama is a lovely scene.

As for injecting dynamism into the car pics, I'm not qualified to advise on that, but from viewing images of fast cars posted by others, developing panning skills seems to be the golden key!

Not sure how fast these cares were going and whether you would have been able to get side-on shots rather than more head-on angles, so that you could try panning. But, that being said, these are not poor shots, in my opinion. We can see movement in the wheels and I'm not left with the sense that we're looking at an object that is not moving.

[dje]

Very nice pano John. Lovely countryside and those clouds really enhance the image. The car shots are very good too and I do like the treatment you've given the last shot.

Dave

[John 2]

Thanks Donald, thanks Dave. Donald, you are right. The panned side shot is the norm. I was trying for something different but I guess there is always the danger that it looks contrived.

[Donald]

I was trying for something different ....

In which case the fact that they may look static (which I don't think they do) is a minor point and the fact that you were deliberately trying something different should be celebrated. That's the best way of stretching ourselves and finding out what is possible.

[John 2]

........ That's the best way of stretching ourselves and finding out what is possible.

I agree Donald. Thank you.

[RustBeltRaw]

The second shot is solid, though journalistic. It'd be good event-coverage material. Three and four look overprocessed to me, but for different reasons. The tone curve adjustment in three (massive dose of highlight recovery?) takes the snap out of the car's lines and creates some weird tone transitions (middle of the shadows are lighter than the edges). In the fourth shot, the driver's skin has a weird color, and the after-effect blur doesn't work for me.

Sorry, that was rather brutal.

On the upside, I like the angled horizons (in-camera?), and I think number 4 has real potential if the PP is toned down. Seeing the driver's eyes adds a very good connection. Though my inner suspension engineer bids me tell you that he needs to dial in a little more negative camber and stop leaning his body into the turns.

[John 2]

Brutal is fine if it's constructive Lex - and you are being constructive. There has been a lot of processing because I was almost shooting into the light and so much selective use of the shadows/highlights tool in CS6. One of those situations where the best view point was not the best from the point of view of the available light. I will return to the original and adjust the background layer to tone down the PS work in the last image and see what it looks like.