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Archive 2016 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)

  
 
Widgic
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


I went shooting the Oakland round of the 2016 AMA Supercross round this weekend. Here is a summary of my day and a few photos.

I got there early (1:00 PM), just in time for the first round of timed practice. I headed out to the press room (very long and very narrow... old stadium), to drop of my gear bag and load up with the gear I thought I'd need. I went out to the track and walked around a couple of times testing shooting location: focal length needed, angles available.

This was also a good opportunity to match the areas allowed on paper for photographers with reality... Everyone having floor access was given along with his credentials a map of the course with areas highlighted in green that supposedly showed where photographers could setup to take photos (it's ok to walk between green areas even during a race as long as you don't stop or cross the track). Well in reality, it's a pretty fluid situation where the course marshals will err on the side of caution: i.e. you get more often than not kicked out of an area that is clearly green on your map. In the end, even though we could get as close as 10' from the track edge, the locations that were authorized were pretty limited and didn't give many chances for creative photos. I didn't try to head out in the stands, mostly because I didn't bring any lens long enough.

During the mid afternoon intermission I walked to pits and I was amazed how the Supercross business has changed in the past 10 years (I started attending Supercross races when Jeff Ward, Rick Johnson, David Bailey and Ron Lechien were battling each others!). I took some pictures of the bikes and a few of the riders.

Back on the track, it was just moving around shooting from various positions, trying to keep up with the schedule and leader board.

The weather held off for the whole day (it's El Niņo here... so we got lucky). It was overcast during the afternoon giving nice even lighting. When the stadium lights came on, I was surprised how strong (and harsh) the lighting was (2500 ISO / 1/1000th / F2.8 typical!)

Gear wise what I got was pretty close. Here is my gear list:

  1. Nikon D4
  2. Nikon D4s
  3. 70-200mm F2.8
  4. 300mm F2.8
  5. 16mm F2.8
  6. 24-70mm F2.8
  7. Monopod
  8. Blackrapid strap
  9. ThinkTank belt with various accessory bags


The only piece of gear that I didn't use was the monopod! For the on the track action, the 70-200mm and the 300mm were the go to lenses. The 24-70mm was good for the podium shot and the 16mm fisheye for starting line shots (altho a 17-35mm or 14-24mm would have worked better).

In addition to the photo gear, I had a good set of waterproof hiking boot (critical as you get to spend 8 hours on your feet, standing in the mud!) and a number of layers I could peel on or off to keep warm (the Monster Energy girls were wearing close to nothing and were freezing themselves - gave one one of my hard warmers...)

From an organizational perspective I was surprised that in the press room they didn't have rider roster and schedule hand-offs for everyone (maybe I just didn't find them!). So having someone handing off line ups for the semi, and finals was too much expect...

Overall good day! (I even got to chat with and shake the hand of The Man - Roger DeCoster).

Here are a few photos, the whole gallery is here.

As usual, c&c appreciated.

Denis
www.widgic.com

#1
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s2/v53/p1612768472-5.jpg

#2
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s6/v143/p1804519499-5.jpg

#3
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v43/p1624364062-5.jpg

#4
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s5/v123/p1653864617-5.jpg

#5
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s1/v47/p1714585828-5.jpg

#6
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s12/v175/p1739477482-5.jpg

#7
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s4/v62/p1714041629-5.jpg

#8
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v41/p1835926225-5.jpg

#9
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s11/v29/p1805576046-5.jpg

#10
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v42/p1789129221-5.jpg

#11
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s9/v89/p1650825914-5.jpg

#12
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s5/v129/p1808607854-5.jpg

#13
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s2/v70/p1644349011-5.jpg

#14
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s1/v22/p1667224937-5.jpg

#15
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s5/v118/p1840939788-5.jpg

#16
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s9/v87/p1766015159-5.jpg

#17
http://widgic.zenfolio.com/img/s11/v34/p1648337594-5.jpg



Edited on Feb 02, 2016 at 04:38 PM · View previous versions



Feb 02, 2016 at 04:14 PM
coreybell
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


Overall good day! (I even got to chat with and shake the hand of The Man - Roger DeCoster).
This right here... WOW!!

And great photos.



Feb 02, 2016 at 04:34 PM
Harry Hoffman
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


Very nice!


Feb 04, 2016 at 12:37 PM
innaeddy1
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


looks good, 1,4,9 stand out to me, and you could have looked all day for a lineup and not found one, they are no where to be found. The AMA sux for the media in that regard as a few other areas. Next time shoot from the first row in the stands during the practices and semis, then head to the floor for the mains, a 300 from the stands then put it up and just keep the 70 200 for the floor and a wide for the podium. Also get there earlier, like 9am.,either way makes for a long day on your feet. They will be heading east in a few, then ill be covered up with SX.

Andy



Feb 05, 2016 at 01:05 PM
Mataz426
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


Looked at the whole gallery and they looked excellent overall. I think your settings were spot on. When the light get low, auto ISO and shooting in manual totally makes sense Hell you really never had to push the ISO that high. I've never done it, but It's harder than people think, that's for sure. Great job


Feb 09, 2016 at 05:38 PM
Widgic
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


Mataz426 wrote:
Looked at the whole gallery and they looked excellent overall. I think your settings were spot on. When the light get low, auto ISO and shooting in manual totally makes sense Hell you really never had to push the ISO that high. I've never done it, but It's harder than people think, that's for sure. Great job


Thanks!

I actually try to shoot manual everything (except focus of course). So with the exception of the podium shots, everything was shot in fixed ISO / manual exposure. Here is the setup I use:


  1. Shutter speed I try to stay over 1/1000th (maybe as low as 1/800th) but try not to go too high either (a little blur on the wheels gives a better sense of motion).
  2. Aperture: If the light permits it, I try to go 3.2 on the aperture (because at 2.8 the depth of field can be too shallow to get the scene you are looking for all in focus). But that's a balance between ISO and aperture.
  3. ISO... As low as possible of course.
  4. WB - I usually do a manual WB and keep adjusting as the light changes. But this particular time I forgot to bring my grey card, so I went auto-WB. I always to a WB correction in post anyways.


Then when shooting, I keep adjusting my setup based on the lighting condition. This means that every time I change location or point the camera to a new direction, I just take a test shot then view it using the Highlight mode on the camera and try to adjust the settings so that I have very little white clipping (and black clipping to some extent too). With this approach, I usually get darker photos than using what the meter says, but these days, with the performance of the cameras (I shoot using a D4 and a D4s), in post it's much easier to push the exposure up to bring back the shadows than try to recover details in blown highlights.

If from a given position I need to cover two areas with different exposure parameters (like the inside of a turn and a jump for example), I just do a setup on each one trying to have only one dial to change to go from one to the other (speed or aperture). Then I just count the number of clicks I need to rotate the dial to go from one to the other and try not to screw up too much from there.

Finally, today it's easy to get a 36MP camera, get a wide angle, spray at 10 frames per second and crop the hell of of the images in post. And I see many people at all levels doing that: from the Dad With a Camera to the pro shooting for the local newspaper. Where it becomes a problem is when you need to shoot at high ISO, because then the grain will start to show, even at somewhat reasonable crop ratios.

So... I try to shoot as much as possible with longer focal length lenses so that I need a minimal crop in post. It's easier to do when shooting sports like motocross, because you know in advance the exact point where the action you want to capture will be (not the case in ball and stick sports for example). It's "easier" but by no mean easy! Still working on it.

Cheers.

Denis
www.widgic.com




Feb 09, 2016 at 06:16 PM
Mataz426
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


Well you know what you are talking about Many people taking photos aren't really interested in settings and all (Guess I'm picking on people) No, a lot of what you said, you're preaching to the choir. My thoughts are, if your not really filling the frame, shooting wide open can be fine. You definitely had ISO room to stop down (Widgic, common you can push that D4 / D4s. I agree about motion in the wheels for sure. Yeah manual you have total control, and you only need to keep an eye on the ISO in the viewfinder not to bottom it out.


Feb 09, 2016 at 06:40 PM
MikalWGrass
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


#6 is a favorite but all of the photos are great. Can you throw a bit of grain on the b&w to "dirty" it up a bit?


Feb 09, 2016 at 07:13 PM
Kell
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


awesome! Dungey is just killing it..past multiple champion but still peaking....hope he joins Team USA this year..they need him over there this Fall


Feb 11, 2016 at 07:49 PM
travis.c
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Supercross - January 30, 2016 @ Oakland Coliseum (photo heavy)


Awesome set of photos Widgic. I'm completely jealous that you live somewhere that you have this opportunity. The texture of the dirt is one of my fav. elements of these photos.


Feb 23, 2016 at 10:43 PM





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