Motorcycles In Close Pursuit.

[John 2]

Three from my local track.

1.


2.


3.

[Sergio M.]

Good capture of all three riders on a diagonal in #1.
I like the color and composition on all and the nice panning on the third.

Sergio

[Shadowman]

Very nice series.

[Friso]

Very nice serie. Number 2 is for me the best.

[IzzieK]

In sport, air or land, the best shots are on the turns (banking). These are no exceptions. All good shots and very colourful. You really shine in this area...love it!

[KimC]

Beautiful, colorful series!

[DEAN01]

All are very strong shots, number two especially so. Good work, John.

[dje]

Good capture of all three riders on a diagonal in #1.
I like the color and composition on all and the nice panning on the third.

Sergio

+1 from me. Top shots John.

Dave

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful blur implying motion of the tires with all other action stopped very nicely.

For me, the first one doesn't stand up to the quality of the other two because the background seems to be blurred during post-processing and doesn't look natural.

[skitterbug]

Good shots! So who won the race!?

[FootLoose]

Nice work, John. I like the 2nd shot because two of the riders have "anonymous" faces, hidden by the dark visors and reflections, in contrast to the visible face of the middle rider. He almost seems to be looking at the camera.

I wondered about the background in the first shot, too. Is that distortion the result of heat haze, either from the weather of the heat coming off the machines, or processing artefacts?

[Dave Humphries]

Hi John,

For me, the first and third are spoiled in PP by a bit too much contrast and a massive amount (and radius) of over sharpening. In #1; the latter has imparted a weird effect to the background heat haze from the bikes and the tarmac in the foreground.
(just look at the white halos round the tyres against the tarmac!)


I agree that the rider of "71" helps a lot with his clear visor in shots 1 and 2.

You have done well, by various means I suspect, to subdue the backgrounds and keep them as uncluttered as possible.

I also like the composition/cropping on them all.

HTH, Dave

[John 2]

Mike, Greg, Dave, guilty as charged. The BG was distracting and bright (whites and oranges). The backgrounds have been toned down in an attempt to kill some of the clutter. The artificially applied heat haze in the first, was an experiment after reading an internet tutorial on how to produce it. Dave, it was a bright sunny day and the contrast is what it is I'm afraid.

Sandy, no idea. The event was just a photo opportunity to me I'm afraid.

[Mike Buckley]

FYI: My initial clue about the post-processing in the first one was was the grassy area inside the curve in the track and that was before I clicked the image to review the larger size. Considering that rider #88 is entirely in focus, it seems to me that that area should also be in focus but is partially blurred. Moreover, the transition from grass that is in focus to grass that is blurred is not smooth as would have happened if optics had caused the blur. When I then reviewed the image in the larger size, it seemed that the background looked as if it had been captured through textured glass.

[John 2]

Ah yes. Thanks Mike. I've learned how to use the gradient tool since then (one from the archive). One of the benefits of C in C is that you get a different perspective. Particularly useful for images you are not entirely sure about yourself.

[thegman]

Good series John, #2 is best for me, probably due to less PP. All good though, and that's why we are here, to learn and improve.

[John 2]

Thanks Gerry. The images are about 2 years old. I would probably do a better job today.