Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

Sports Corner Rules
Sports Corner Resource
  

FM Forums | Sports Corner | Join Upload & Sell

  

Archive 2014 · Motorsports - first time covering

  
 
jcnemy
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Motorsports - first time covering


Hi - had the opportunity to cover down on some local racing within the World Racing League. Long story...but what started out covering one car led to opportunities requiring to cover down on the entire race.

Since I never shot any type of racing before - I just relied on the common-sense approaches to sports photography. I'm also lucky and thankful to follow routine motorsports postings from Marty Bingham, Jefferson, and others on this forum...so they establish a pretty good bar to achieve towards. I don't think I came close, however - I did learn quite a bit:

1. It's eaaaaasssssyyyyy....to take LOTS of photos! The one thing I noticed between most of them....they were mostly all the same shot. Now I did fear this, so I was lucky and had freedom of maneuver to select different shooting positions and angles...but still took to many 'stock' and repetitive shots. I strained my eye to get something outside the stock photo....just need more practice on what to look for....

2. Panning technique....ummm....need to work on that. Will be researching techniques on how to score that sharp car with the blurred back ground on tires

3. Be prepared for anything - luckily I had everything I needed.....but was not expecting other teams to ask for photo support but since learning from other missed opportunities....I had business cards in my pocket and quickly assumed the role of event photographer without skipping a beat.

4. Verified that the Nikkor 70-300/4.5~5.6 ED VR is a sharp lens...both on FX and DX bodies. It easily outperformed my Sigma 300/2.8. I know you don't get that subject isolation at f5.6...but it was a very flexible and sharp lens.

Overall - had a great time and as always - learned a lot to help in my future endeavors.

Thanks for looking and as always.....any and all C&C much appreciated!

JC



© jpc photo 2014


#1





© jpc photo 2014


#2





© jpc photo 2014


#3





© jpc photo 2014


#4





© jpc photo 2014


#5



Edited on Aug 13, 2014 at 04:42 PM · View previous versions



Aug 13, 2014 at 04:28 PM
jcnemy
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Motorsports - first time covering


Ok...had to rejuke most of these...so hopeful these 5 go smoother.....



© jpc photo 2014


#6





© jpc photo 2014


#7





© jpc photo 2014


#8





© jpc photo 2014


#9





© jpc photo 2014


#10




Aug 13, 2014 at 04:35 PM
Therese Lombar
Offline

Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Motorsports - first time covering


Nice work jcnemy! It is hard and a challenge to look for something different than the same old shots. I totally have my rookie stripes when it comes to photography compared to most the folks here. There is a motorsports photographer that I really look up to by the name of John Thawley, and I read this article of his at least every two weeks. I kind of think of it as my motorsports photography bible. You might enjoy it as well........... http://blog.photoshelter.com/2010/01/how-to-photograph-motorsports/


Aug 14, 2014 at 02:08 PM
Jefferson
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Motorsports - first time covering


... "There is a motorsports photographer that I really look up to by the name of John Thawley, and I read this article of his at least every two weeks. I kind of think of it as my motorsports photography bible." ... Therese Lombar

John Thawley shot much of the backgrounds used by Extreme Speed … and Scott Sharp.

http://jeffersonposter.smugmug.com/Category/Petit-Le-Mans-13/i-mDGQW6G/0/XL/EXS%20Paddock-7-XL.jpg

He shot most every AMLS race. He used to post here often and I picked up lots of insight and advice that I try to apply to what I shoot.

He shoots some pretty good “Swamp Buggy” shots from Fla. If you get a chance to see them.

A very good source of info. on motorsports.

http://www.johnthawley.com/motorsports/tgg6h18ojes0kyesoixecz0oa5w7j6



Aug 14, 2014 at 03:43 PM
SargentRay
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Motorsports - first time covering


Hello jcnemy,

Since you asked for C&C i'll chime in, please take this with a grain of salt it is just an opinion and i am in no way an expert in motor sports, but i do have a grasp on sports shooting in general;

1st i really like #1 shot, it is a great close up, technically challenging no doubt with this bright background and dark foreground. Great work here.
As for the rest of the set i can see what you tried to capture and for the most part it is well done as well. But i have to say there is quite a bit of noise pretty much all around and some blur more obvious of course on the panning shots. Have to say it is a difficult technique to master and i know of no one who can get tack sharp pictures on every attempt. Each time for any sports it is trial and error process, sometimes 1/80th sec will work sometimes it won't. Depending on focal length, usually with longer lens you don't have to slow shutter speed so much and on the contrary you do have to slow the shutter quite a bit with a wider angle lens. But with any lens following the subject's motion is key. You have to match the speed perfectly in order to have the subject as close to speed zero in the viewfinder as possible. Usually the photographer will pretty much get it right after a few passages of the subject but humans are not tripods so we often move up or down although we got the motion pretty near perfect. Also sometimes it is the subject itself that will move up or down due to road imperfection and this is almost impossible to match. (this is apparent in your #7 shot where up and down camera movement is visible). So it always boils down to matching the speed perfectly and smoothly thus many tries are needed for only a few "perfect" shots, this is true for any sports shooter no matter the skill level. So i have to say your shots are very valid in that respect considering the level of difficulty with this technique.

I have to admit i was surprised to read the Nikkor 70-300 was sharper than the Sigma 300 f2.8, i'll take your word for it since i never worked with either of them.

But it makes no difference for the last part of my criticism: What was most striking to me is just how little post processing your set seems to have had. I mean not only would have they benefited from some PP work i sincerely think they deserve it. Most of the little "defects" i see are rather easily fixable in post processing some others are lens quality and camera steadiness related perhaps but this will improve with practice and maybe getting better glass (or renting better lens) along the way. We do with what we have right ?

For example on your panning shots since you stopped down aperture to compensate for slower shutter speeds your sensor dust spots become more obvious and as a photographer it's the 1st thing we take care of when processing our work. Then comes noise, saturation and when possible we try to improve light with more or less advanced techniques.

But before thinking about post processing we have to decide before hand if we are going to shoot in RAW or JPG format. Both have their advantages and since i don't know which format you opted for nor what is your interest in doing post processing work at all i'll have to say generally speaking folks who don't wish to spend hours in front of the computer to improve their images are better off shooting JPG. It is more demanding when you're actually taking the pictures (you're in fact doing the same thing you would do in PP but using the onboard camera menus) with their limitations. On the down side once shot there's not much you can fix afterward in post processing, but with decent settings it is possible to do great work, some pros use JPG because they simply have no time for PP at all. Once shot their pictures are sent to their paper or magazine or published on the web quickly in order to have the scoop on an important event.

This being said if you decide to shoot in RAW format and thus get the many benefits of this format you do have to commit to some level of learning how to get the maximum of those files. One great benefit is namely the super versatility of this format where you can easily save an 1 or 2 f stop underexposed picture.

So no matter what is your choice unless you tell me you'll never spend more than 2 minutes on your pictures and will always send them to someone right after your shootings, there are always things to improve in a shot.
Most sports shooters working in RAW (like myself for the most part) will rely on a few (or many) PP techniques they will use over and over again simply because when you work outside there is no such thing as perfect light or at least not often. There's nothing wrong with using a little technique to enhance details or sharpness, to improve color saturation or to better existing light and contrast. i personally use 6 or 7 different techniques, but rarely all at once. But i know i can use them when it is appropriate to do so. You just have to be careful not to fall in the trap of over processing your images, it's easy to go overboard and make things worse.

Now all this being said it is up to you from this point on to choose just how far you want to go, you know, decide how much time you're willing to spend to learn how to improve your pictures by watching tutorials, asking questions and that sort of thing. I can tell you since i went digital almost 5 years ago i haven't watched much tv since, my TV now is my computer screen and not a day goes by where i don't learn something new.

I took the liberty of isolating one of you shots and applied a few simple techniques. I worked with your low res file but you will do much better with the original file with a little time and practice. The shot i chose had the most potential in my view as for the pure sports shooting aspect of things. If you do not wish people to modify your pictures please just let me know i'll remove them right away.

Here although some movement blur remains on the car it is pretty good. As for composing the shot, well with the original camera format there will always be useless space in this case the sky which brings no useful information to the shot. So i cropped it and created a little more space in front of the car in order to have it less centered and better convey the feeling of movement. (Photoshop clone tool once the canevas has been enlarged by 60 pixels to the left). Then i got rid of some noise with Image noise (available photoshop plug in). Then i re sharpened the car with a high pass filter set at a radius of 1px. I went on by adding a motion blur filter in order to enhance the feeling of speed. Easily done when there is already good motion blur on the picture (not as good to fake movement on a still shot altogether). Lastly i used a curves adjustment layer to put the car more in evidence (make it pop from the background) then i added a bit of a lighting effect (again a photoshop built in filter easily applied. And lastly i warmed the whole scene with a color balance layer. These last 2 steps helped render the light more complex and less flat. Total time 20 minutes, took me longer because i had to think about what i was going to do, but all this is possible in about 10 minutes once familiar with the process.

1-) Modified

2-) Before and after


Add another 15 minutes and you can take the photo one step further and create Hot Wheels on the car simulating white hot over heating rotors. This might be too much for some but it is just to show you the possibilities.
3-) Hot Wheels




When i started digital 5 years ago i remember at first i was really annoyed at shots i knew where just impossible to make without the aid of photoshop or similar programs. They were over retouched i thought at the time, and some actually were, but over time i realized good processing is what ultimately set good photographers apart from the rest. There's a fine line between honest un modified journalistic coverage pictures and equally honest retouched images to enhance the inherent message. If done with moderation i think there's comfortable room to improve a shot without being called a cheater or something.

In this case it is your shot, your picture and your vision of the scene. All photoshop did was to enhance everything just a little to make the message that much more obvious. In this case it was speed, and the modified version is screaming it instead of whispering it in my honest opinion.

Edited on Aug 15, 2014 at 11:46 AM · View previous versions



Aug 14, 2014 at 03:55 PM
Jefferson
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Motorsports - first time covering


When you want to shoot slow shutter speeds, stay around f/11 to f/8 ... and bring down your ISO. Way down ... for bright sunny days start at ISO 100 and maybe f/11 with a shutter speed maybe 1/200 ... Check ... 1/160 @ ISO 50.

In morning light ... good light ... 1/60 ... f/9 to f/11 @ ISO 100 to ISO 200 should work.
Shoot manual exposure mod and use the histogram ...

... and unless you have a deadline to make ... shoot RAW and a jpg if you want but soot that RAW for later.

Pick your shots ... show some vehicle dynamics ...
you want to see all the parts working ... the car parts ...

@ SargentRay
Glowing brakes and straight line speed don't go together unless something's broke ..

Jefferson



Aug 14, 2014 at 08:41 PM
SargentRay
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Motorsports - first time covering


Jefferson wrote:
@ SargentRay
Glowing brakes and straight line speed don't go together unless something's broke ..

Jefferson


Lol ya think ? No kidding just wanted to show some retouching possibilities, i thought it was obvious, maybe not.




Aug 14, 2014 at 10:10 PM
Jefferson
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Motorsports - first time covering


... ...


Aug 14, 2014 at 10:25 PM
jcnemy
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Motorsports - first time covering


I appreciate all the responses and information/ideas mentioned. Thanks for taking the time to view, comment, and pass along great information and advice!

@Therese Lombar - great article and hindsight 20/20....should have done a little research prior to heading out.

@Jefferson - thanks for sharing techniques on configuring the camera for panning...I tried various shutter speeds thinking 1/30 to 1/60 would be where I needed to be...but did not consider dialing down ISO to help get there. Also - I figured a higher aperture would help keep things in focus with more depth of field, especially since I was using manual focus set a point center-mass of the panning frame. Thanks for the technique recommendations and will work on those!

@SargentRay - thanks for comments on PP. Wow! I almost didn’t recognized my photo...I thought you were providing one of yours as an example and after realizing it was mine...I was floored. Yes - as I've mentioned on previous posts...post processing is not my strong area and continue to make improvements here and there. However - seeing the possibilities on one of my pics has me thinking I need to double my efforts on improving those skills.

I normally shoot RAW...but I tried different formats this day to experiment as well as get the required buffer rate to support shooting (note: after the fact...this was stupid....all it did was give me LOTS of throwaway-repetitive photos). I used Aperture for basic processing....crop, balance out hot/cold areas, a little saturation and definition and then out the door.

....but....

Your comments validate I need to spend more time getting the best out of each photo....especially addressing low-hanging fruit such as cleaning up sensor spots. I will have to maximize my available time since I won't have the luxury of taking days to tweak each photo - but there is a lot of room to gain the skills/knowledge to process much better than these posted here.

Thanks for taking the time to comment and totally understand your comments.

JC



Aug 15, 2014 at 09:08 AM
mmorey79
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Motorsports - first time covering


A few thoughts:
1. Great, wish I had skills like this for candids and off track stuff, my on track stuff is my one trick pony for the most part

2. Good, and keep in mind with this and the rest of the comments I'm guessing to some degree what may or may not have been possible and speaking my opinion, not rules, but I would have wanted to be 1/2 a second earlier and a good distance to the right and forward of your shooting position, you can see the load on the suspension in the 2nd and 3rd cars but not the lead car, the "lean" on the suspension is what imparts most of the "action" in a head on like this. Also you tend to catch the driver "looking through the turn" and their hands frantically sawing at the wheel, the guy in front just sort of looks like he's out for a drive and that's the first thing your eye looks at.

3. I think this look could use a wider lens's perspective but that's just spitballing

4. Maybe open it up to f8 or so for max sharpness and more DOF, the gas man looks a touch soft

5. I think this one is similar to #2

6. Like this one

7. Too slow and not a good angle for a pan shot at low speeds. 3/4 shots require more shutter speed, and the shutter speed has to be proportionate to the car speed and the amount of "background" it traverses relative to your position. In tight close quarters turns a race car can cover a lot of background during a relatively quick exposure time. Most racing I shoot 1/80th now, but it can vary wildly up to 1/250th for 120+ mph stuff. I started my panning at 1/250th and taught myself control down season after season until I got pretty good at hitting 1/60th and 1/80th shots of fast moving stuff consistently. Some blur is acceptable too though, so don't get scared off if it's not pixel sharp, remember your output format vs image file size

8. Much better, open that aperture up though and ditch that high ISO, and maybe get a CPL as well if you weren't shooting one, your sky is muted and the more open the lens is the more the bokeh of the lens smooths and enhances the motion blur, I typically shoot with an ND AND a CPL on 2.8 glass

9. See #2

10. This is what I'm looking for in #2, with cars chasing it'd be even cooler but it's a great shot of the dynamics

Overall I'd stick with working on standardizing and optimizing exposure, try and check those ISO levels down towards base and when light allows and especially for panning load up a CPL and maybe even an ND to dial the lens open and pop the sky/colors.



Aug 15, 2014 at 11:37 AM
SargentRay
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Motorsports - first time covering


I like your attitude JC, it is indeed your picture don't worry. PP just enhanced all you wanted the picture to say.

Keep it up and you'll be right up there with the big players in no time :-)



Aug 15, 2014 at 12:02 PM
jcnemy
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Motorsports - first time covering


A little late in responding here....my apologies...

@ mmorey79 - thanks for taking the time to comment on each photo. Awesome insights, recommendations, and observations...will take note on those panning techniques and try next time. Also - comments on suspension articulation and such spot on...will try to capture those unique shots on the track next time.

Also - I always try to minimize ISO levels...but I guess on some of those pans...I forgot I had higher ISOs set - so I need to better manage my equipment configs.

@SargentRay - thanks. Still kicking over some rocks to work ideas on improving my PP....I'm in a situation I'm shooting more than I can process....so in the mean time....I'm processing the best in my ability and will look into ways to get more 'pop' out of my shots. I can't kick the can down the road to long....got several events coming up where a little PP know how may make the difference.



Aug 18, 2014 at 03:01 PM
SargentRay
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Motorsports - first time covering


I can understand completely JC i myself was shooting more than 500 pictures at football at first, then when got time to PP everything i would burn myself trying to process the best 40 or 50 shots. Which i didn't realize many were redundant and added nothing to the story telling. Slowly this number went dot to 400, then 300 and towards the end out of the 175 shots or so i would process 20 at the most and could do it pretty much in a 4 or 5 hour span between 2 loads of football uniform wash (single parent).

Wish i could sent you a few photoshop actions to help you out. But without explanation (and practice) it would be pointless i suppose :-(



Aug 18, 2014 at 03:11 PM
mmorey79
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Motorsports - first time covering


jcnemy wrote:
A little late in responding here....my apologies...

@ mmorey79 - thanks for taking the time to comment on each photo. Awesome insights, recommendations, and observations...will take note on those panning techniques and try next time. Also - comments on suspension articulation and such spot on...will try to capture those unique shots on the track next time.

Also - I always try to minimize ISO levels...but I guess on some of those pans...I forgot I had higher ISOs set - so I need to better manage my equipment configs.

@SargentRay - thanks. Still kicking over some rocks to work ideas on improving my PP....I'm
...Show more

No problem, glad some of it helped, if you're looking for more panning insights I wrote a number of articles (and working on more) for my website about motorsports in particular, from gear to technique. You can see them at www.downshiftphoto.com under Gear Talk, the third article about technique might be worth a read in particular. Personally I shoot in shutter priority auto ISO during the day and full manual including ISO at night due to the exposure metering shifts that most motorsport venue's lighting can cause. But that also assumes you have glass that functions well wide open, though you could always consider shooting manual shutter and aperture with just auto ISO. What camera are you shooting with? I've always found most of the pop is easiest to get by adjusting your shooting settings and style rather than your processing, but certainly there's ways to process it there. Most of my stuff gets a minimal amount of slider adjusting and clicking.



Aug 19, 2014 at 09:37 AM
Therese Lombar
Offline

Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Motorsports - first time covering


This whole conversation is a breath of fresh air and gives me new hope! After shooting over the 9th & 10th I have probably spent at least 20 hours editing in Lightroom. Time for television? Ha! This girl lives in Lightroom and now will take up time reading downshiftphoto and any other articles you can suggest. Then reading SargentRay's photo numbers......again renewed hope!!! I'm the photo rookie at our local track, and often fall into the trap of comparison. (and probably not in a good way) I see this other fellow post thousands of pictures per event. I can't even fathom how he does it let alone has time for processing. Then I ask myself should I be shooting thousands of pictures? I think we have to shoot tons of pics, but is it necessary to share them all? Gosh I could be leading into a rant here. Anyway just feeling a whole lot better after reading this conversation. Thanks fellas!


Aug 19, 2014 at 02:47 PM





FM Forums | Sports Corner | Join Upload & Sell

    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.