Banger Racing

[John 2]

Now my computer is operational once more, I have begun to process some more of these. One thing that has struck me about them however, is that although I have captured the event, I haven't really portrayed the furious action that took place. The images are fairly static. I intend to go back and try again. Consequently, C&C and any suggestions welcome.

Fuji XT1 plus 23mm f1.4 & 55-200 zoom.

[Polar01]

I think some of the problem is where you have to be, which is up high shooting down, what if you were able to be at the end of a straight shooting the start of the straight as they come around the turn. It should give you more of a angle using a long lens.

Cheers: Allan

[Kodiak]

Bright and crisp… just the way I like it!

Though the horizon is tilted on the second shot, this could be your artistic intent
and works very well here as it accentuates the drama. Good stuff, John!

[Mark von Kanel]

You need to be lower John. suck up to the officials and see if you can get a pit pass.

[Shadowman]

Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until an accident occurs, otherwise they're just going in circles. Nice captures.

[Stagecoach]

Positions available to shoot from is the answer here John. How about some panning or zooming in to get detail?

[Nicks Pics]

If you had wanted to try something fancy you could have done some thing like use a slow SS and followed one of the cars to blur the background, but I for one, would not have likely gotten great results trying something like that.

[truonda]

These are two really great captures, John!

Might I suggest applying selective coloring to one of the cars in the second image?

Cheers

[John 2]

Thanks all for your comments. I agree, the position wasn't ideal but the chances of getting down to track level are zero due to it being walled in and it would be suicidal. Even the track stewards take to heavily fortified platforms (top right, first image). Panning is a possibility but the fence makes that difficult however I might try combining all of your suggestions and try it from a higher viewpoint over the fence with a long lens.

Kodiak, the tilt is deliberate. I had been reading a couple of posts on here that discussed "Dutch Tilting". I hadn't heard it called that before and gave it a try. It does add a dynamic.

[rpcrowe]

Looks like a fun activity to shoot and I do like the images. The tilt of the second image bothers me a bit because it seems like the spectators are tilting over and ready to fall onto the track.

I like either a closer crop of this image such as this



Or I would have liked to see a shot with a longer focal length and/or wider aperture to take advantage of a shallow DOF. Perhaps with the lead car in focus and the following cars going OOF. That would have also placed the fence in varying degrees of focus...

I usually try to provide a space in front of a moving subject. However in this case, the above crop seems dynamic to me.

IMO a tiny bit cropped off the top of Image #1 would eliminate the distraction of the spectators along the rear fence. A longer FL or wider aperture might also have taken care of that...



Of course, cropping is a very personal decision and there is really no right or wrong, just what the viewer or photographer prefers...

Did you use the eye level viewfinder or LCD for these shots?

[NorthernFocus]

The first shot look a bit more dramatic IMO. Richard's crop even more so. Yes I'd try a long lens to flatten the perspective making the cars look even closer together. Tight shots of one car bearing down on another etc.

[John 2]

.........................Or I would have liked to see a shot with a longer focal length and/or wider aperture to take advantage of a shallow DOF. Perhaps with the lead car in focus and the following cars going OOF. That would have also placed the fence in varying degrees of focus...

I usually try to provide a space in front of a moving subject. However in this case, the above crop seems dynamic to me.

IMO a tiny bit cropped off the top of Image #1 would eliminate the distraction of the spectators along the rear fence. A longer FL or wider aperture might also have taken care of that...

Of course, cropping is a very personal decision and there is really no right or wrong, just what the viewer or photographer prefers...

Did you use the eye level viewfinder or LCD for these shots?

Richard, thanks for that. I like both the crop and your idea for the first image. Makes the difference because it not only eliminates the crowd problem but concentrates on the action more. That in itself helps the dynamic. Oddly enough, this weekend I photographed a bike road race and by far the most successful images use your idea of the longer lens and differential focus. More of them at a later date. Not sure about the crop for the second image though. Eye level VF for both of these.

[John 2]

The first shot look a bit more dramatic IMO. Richard's crop even more so. Yes I'd try a long lens to flatten the perspective making the cars look even closer together. Tight shots of one car bearing down on another etc.

I agree Dan (+see the reply to Richard). Sometimes you don't see these things straight off. This was a first and is becoming a learning experience.