MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

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tcorzett
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p.1 #1 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

It was a GREAT weekend at Laguna Seca for the US Red Bull Grand Prix this year... and it wasn't even 114deg! I finally had credentials for this race, which made things MUCH more fun. Enjoy the photos:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

]

-Todd...

Jul 24, 2008 at 02:44 AM

Balgie
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p.1 #2 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Beautiful pics, looks like you were all over the place.

Jul 24, 2008 at 02:50 AM

dj dunzie
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p.1 #3 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Awesome. Particularly the corkscrew shot (looks almost fisheye! great stuff) and the last Hayden and the Spies shots. More than up to your usual high standards Todd... very nice series.

Jul 24, 2008 at 03:02 AM

JDiPierro
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p.1 #4 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

You don't know HOW jealous I am. I want to shoot a MotoGP event someday. Amazing photos!

Jul 24, 2008 at 03:35 AM

pappawheely
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p.1 #5 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Great shots Todd, I like them all.

Jul 24, 2008 at 04:54 AM

Pehpsi
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p.1 #6 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Very nice work indeed.

Jul 24, 2008 at 07:46 AM

agosling
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p.1 #7 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

One thing I like about you Todd is that you never disappoint.

Jul 24, 2008 at 12:07 PM

Rags Hef
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p.1 #8 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Nice. You don't see that side of the corkscrew much

I ditto the above.

Jul 24, 2008 at 02:59 PM

XFBO
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p.1 #9 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

agosling wrote:
One thing I like about you Todd is that you never disappoint.

+1

I was hoping to see your work from this round Todd!

Just out of curiousity, how many shots do you come home with each day on a GP weekend? Keepers?

Edited on Jul 24, 2008 at 04:47 PM

Jul 24, 2008 at 04:47 PM

Chuck Fry
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p.1 #10 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Great work as always Todd! I love Laguna Seca.

Jul 24, 2008 at 05:50 PM

tcorzett
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p.1 #11 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

XFBO wrote:
Just out of curiosity, how many shots do you come home with each day on a GP weekend? Keepers?
Personally, the number of 'keepers' is really arbitrary and depends on the photographer's standards. I tag photos that I want to work with further, but often do not tag shots that would be 'keepers' if I was shooting a track day or something of that nature. When I get multiple shots of a rider (for example a 2-shot burst in a corner) I will only tag the better of the two photos.

I'd say on average I shoot about 2000 shots per day... I tag the ones that I find acceptable... which tends to be around 10% (200 per day). Over a course of a weekend I get 15 gallery images and maybe one portfolio shot.

Honestly, If I'm shooting at a 'keeper' rate of over 10% I am either 1) Not pushing myself photographically speaking, or 2) Not being picky enough with my selection process. If I wanted every shot to be sharp I could blast away at high shutter speeds and using looser compositions... but that's not my goal. Once I get a few safety shots of each rider I'm all about getting a bit more extreme with the compositions and shutter speeds.

For example... the lead shot of Rossi is one of maybe 5 that turned out from maybe 200 shots. IMO, it's not about how many shots it takes to get what you want... rather getting the shot you want. If you all could see the crap that comes out of my camera in a normal weekend... but that's another thing about being a good photographer... proper image selection.

-Todd...

Jul 24, 2008 at 07:16 PM

Option1
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p.1 #12 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

As others have already noted, that's a great shot of the corkscrew Todd! It really shows that stomach churning drop. The other pics are all, of course, excellent.

Also thanks for the words of wisdom about keepers, etc. I am constantly working on becoming more aggressive in throwing out shots, but then I decide I'm being overly-critical and swing back the other way - etc, etc, etc.

Neil

Jul 24, 2008 at 07:49 PM

sidewazzz388
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p.1 #13 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Tood good work. I saw you running around out there but didnt want to bother you while you were working.

Your last shot is killer

Edited on Jul 24, 2008 at 09:22 PM

Jul 24, 2008 at 09:22 PM

Matt82
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p.1 #14 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Great stuff, really like the Jorge shot with what appears to be Nicky in the background.

Jul 24, 2008 at 10:10 PM

lurker
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p.1 #15 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

really like this one, but with less tarmac

Jul 25, 2008 at 03:54 AM

David_Bickle
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p.1 #16 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Nice set.
#2 and #4 are my favorites.

Jul 25, 2008 at 02:01 PM

tcorzett
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p.1 #17 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

sidewa388 wrote:
I saw you running around out there but didnt want to bother you while you were working
Next time feel free to say Hi. It's not a bother (unless I'm like trying to shoot the start or checker-flag)... in which case I'll just ignore you

Option1 wrote:
Thanks for the words of wisdom about keepers, etc. I am constantly working on becoming more aggressive in throwing out shots, but then I decide I'm being overly-critical and swing back the other way - etc, etc, etc.
I NEVER delete a photo... I just don't process them all. There are many times when I find that the 'non-keeper' photos are wanted by clients.

-Todd...

Jul 27, 2008 at 05:14 AM

Rags Hef
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p.1 #18 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

tcorzett wrote:
sidewa388 wrote:
I saw you running around out there but didnt want to bother you while you were working
Next time feel free to say Hi. It's not a bother (unless I'm like trying to shoot the start or checker-flag)... in which case I'll just ignore you

Jul 27, 2008 at 04:51 PM

tcorzett
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p.1 #19 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Rags Hef wrote:
Really? You keep a couple of thousand pix per shoot day on a hard drive somewhere? Wow. Do you shoot raw or jpg.
Yes, I keep EVERY photo that I take... currently there are 296,282 photos filling 1.12TB of space. I shoot mostly JPG, but will shoot RAW+JPG when it's a benifit. For deadline work it's just too time consuming to process RAW files and I have a fairly good grasp on exposures for what I'm shooting.

-Todd...

Jul 28, 2008 at 04:38 AM

Terry D
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p.1 #20 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Nice shooting Todd. I love the tight crops... wish I could shoot inside the fence.

Terry

Jul 28, 2008 at 04:43 AM

Stripper
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p.1 #21 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Todd,

These are really fine. The shot of Nicky with his own graphics in the BG is really a great shot. Can't wait for these dudes to show up in Indy,

JohnC

Jul 28, 2008 at 10:00 PM

Option1
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p.1 #22 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

tcorzett wrote:
Rags Hef wrote:
Really? You keep a couple of thousand pix per shoot day on a hard drive somewhere? Wow. Do you shoot raw or jpg.
Yes, I keep EVERY photo that I take... currently there are 296,282 photos filling 1.12TB of space. I shoot mostly JPG, but will shoot RAW+JPG when it's a benifit. For deadline work it's just too time consuming to process RAW files and I have a fairly good grasp on exposures for what I'm shooting.

-Todd...

Yeh, I should have explained my statement better when I said "keepers". In truth, the only shots I ever actually delete are the complete stuff ups - my thumb, my foot, my nostrils, the sky, the ground.

The rest I just don't process. In essence, by "keepers" I meant those I actually do post processing on. I only shoot RAW.

Unfortunately, judging by the very few views and comments I get here, I probably should delete everything though.

Neil

Edited on Jul 28, 2008 at 10:13 PM

Jul 28, 2008 at 10:12 PM

Matt82
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p.1 #23 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

tcorzett wrote:
I'd say on average I shoot about 2000 shots per day... I tag the ones that I find acceptable... which tends to be around 10% (200 per day). Over a course of a weekend I get 15 gallery images and maybe one portfolio shot.

What is your definition of a keeper? A shot that is in focus and not blurred/half in the frame/or botched in some other form or fashion? Or just one that looks nice to you?

Edited on Jul 28, 2008 at 10:15 PM

Jul 28, 2008 at 10:13 PM

tcorzett
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p.1 #24 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Matt82 wrote:
What is your definition of a keeper? A shot that is in focus and not blurred/half in the frame/or botched in some other form or fashion? Or just one that looks nice to you?

Honestly, I don't have a definition of 'keeper'... and actually think it's a term that shouldn't be used for comparisons (as a 'keeper' is different for everyone). Technically I keep everything

Because I shoot so much, it is actually easier to tag the 'acceptable' images (ie the ones that look nice to me) for further processing, rather than removing unacceptable ones. Many times I'll have 2 or 3 shots that would all be 'keepers' (based on the in focus, not half in frame), but I only process one of them further (the best one). So for the most part, I only process what I think is nice (and isn't a duplicate)... about 10% of the total take. Since these are the images that I do things with, I guess I would label them as 'keepers' if you needed a definition.

-Todd...

PS - it also depends on the event... this weekend at NHRA I shot 3255 shots and processed 526... so it's up to 16%.

Edited on Jul 29, 2008 at 04:46 AM

Jul 29, 2008 at 04:38 AM

Matt82
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p.1 #25 · MotoGP @ Laguna Seca (Photos)

Ah, it sounds like you get more keepers than I do based on the in-focus, in the frame where intended, etc. I am new to all this and don't have a true sports camera (40D), so that might be part of it but I'm sure technique and overall knowledge are the major culprits as to why I don't get as many good shots as maybe I should. Last year with a Rebel XT I got a bunch of garbage shots, but I learned from it and got a lot more decent shots this year, but still have a bunch that need to go in the trash bin. Maybe due to the new camera or due to me improving some over the year, I don't know. I was just interested in a comparison between a pro and a hack like myself as far as # of good, useable shots overall so that i had a figure on what to hope for and set as a goal in the future

Your shots are great.

Do you shoot in burst mode or single shot? Full manual mode or shutter (?) priority? I have been using burst mode and full manual mode, but I am not sure if that's the best set up. I'm guessing you shoot in RAW? Any help is appreciated. Thanks,

Edited on Jul 30, 2008 at 01:40 AM

Jul 30, 2008 at 01:35 AM


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