British Superbikes - Brands Hatch

[Rasclart]

Went here on sunday for Raceday, was an awesome day. Gorgeous weather and great atmosphere. Hard to find a spot without fencing and peoples heads for panning shots. So plumped with Druids.

This is my first shot at Motorsport photography as well, look forward to improving though. I made one MASSIVE error, missus used it in the Pits at around 8am and bumped the ISO up to 800 and I didnt check/realise so ALL shots were shot at ISO 800 So when enlarged suffer.

These are straight out the camera and resized for web and uploaded and squashed AGAIN by photobucket, need to process them all later on PS and upload High res to Flickr. But thought I would post them. To most they are probably crap but I am pleased with the results for my first time

They were taken on a D80 with a Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 and some were with the Nikon 50mm prime

 

[Bazzon]

love the 7th one i have done that before, fuking ISO pissed me right off.

 

[Tony Hunter]

Nice pics,looked like a good day out

 

[Rasclart]

Yeah was a great day out. Managed to get my Arai helmet removable side pods signed by Toseland and Sykes so that was a bonus

 

[dk]

were you using servo focus? Some of them seem a little out of focus, not sure if thats the compression or the focus wasn't quick enough if its on one shot etc.

What speed were you taking them with, I normally do around 250 and below to around 50 with panning.

Like the shots of the bikes from behind focused on the exhausts.

And I know how you feel about the ISO, I shot a whole day in bright sunlight at 800 after forgetting too, thats why I love the auto ISO on the 50d, it works really well, always seems to choose what I would so I don't have to worry about getting it wrong again.

The thing about bikes is practice, need to take loads panned so you get to flow and can catch them at a slower shutter to get that perfect blur.

this is one of my favourite bike pics from goodwood.

my first bike shots were at brands in 06 for the WSB

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/davidkn/wsbbrands06/?start=80

Also, does the lens have IS, think you need to turn it off when panning if it does.

 

[ukaskew]

Looks like you used some pretty brave shutter speeds, what did you try in the end? I like 4 and 5, they would have looked really dull taken 'normally' but you've injected plenty of speed into them, love that only the last rider is in focus because of the panning blur.

High ISO would have made life difficult in more ways than just getting some unfortunate grain on your pics, as it would have caused havoc with your slow shutter speeds on what looks to be a fairly bright day. So I imagine when you have another go at a reasonable ISO it will be quite a bit easier.

Looks like a good day though, I absolutely love shooting bikes so will probably do a lot more next season, weird considering I can't actually stand the things.

 

[Keydogg]

Unlucky with the ISO, we have all done it! Maybe not for all day though

All I would say is whatever you are resizing them with is really making your pictures look crap, jpeg artifacts all over the place.

I agree with DK about the focus, where you using the centre point for focus in servo mode?

Good effort though!

 

[Lagerlout]

Some nice shots there fella.... I too must hold my hand up to shooting at ISO800 in the midday sun in Cyprus. Not a mistake you're likely to make twice though dude!

 

[Andy.]

Really like the pit lane shots. Very vibrant colours.

 

[MaLicE]

auto iso is for lazy c***s tbh... i dont see what is so hard to understand and set it yourself? what is the point in having a slr if your sticking it on r****d modes all the time lol... (not a dig at chris btw)

and chris... give yo biatch a slap lol, same reason women shouldnt be allowed to use the tv remote they allways f**k it up lol, my mum managed to get in to the service menu on the plasma the other day... i dont know how and i havent been able to get back to it lol... but she managed... "i pressed buttons till something happened" ... women

 

[dk]

auto iso is for lazy c***s tbh... i dont see what is so hard to understand and set it yourself? what is the point in having a slr if your sticking it on r****d modes all the time lol... (not a dig at chris btw)

and chris... give yo biatch a slap lol, same reason women shouldnt be allowed to use the tv remote they allways f**k it up lol, my mum managed to get in to the service menu on the plasma the other day... i dont know how and i havent been able to get back to it lol... but she managed... "i pressed buttons till something happened" ... women

piss off alice, its not like i'm shooting on auto, its only the iso for christs sake, its not like i don't know how to set it, i just bloody forget so why shouldn't i let the camera do it for me if its actually a good system and works.

 

[MaLicE]

because the first time you come to some shade and the camera decides it need to bump it up to 800iso so you get a picture you can see stuff in when infact you wanted it in shade u will feel like a doughnut... and not as a snack

 

[dk]

i tend to keep an eye on it and if it chooses something i don't like i just set it to manual, so its not 100% auto, but I'd say 95% of the time it is spot on, remember i'm just a casual photographer, i'm no trying to win any awards, it gives me pleasure, its not my living.

 

[MaLicE]

so if u can keep an eye on it then u can remember to change it you contradicting donkey kong

 

[dk]

theres no discussing with you, its your way or the highway, just accept people have different views, in no way did i contradict myself, with the camera constantly changing the iso for me it keeps me looking at it, i find that if i set it myself i forget, its that simple, just get over it.

 

[Rasclart]

the photos look awful threw photobucket nothing looks in focus but larger the bikes are. Will upload the high res at work tomorrow. It was continous focus mode and I didn't use only the central focus point

 

[dunganick]

Like the still life type shots more than the action shots. As said little less adventurous with the shutter speeds and some panning work and you will have it sorted.

I think i can see myself in 2 of the photos, assuming the once with the two togs in the background can be seen was taken in the last race? From the lighting it looks like they were.

Will be adding my fav pics thread in a bit.

On another note, most Pro togs would use Auto ISO in 85% of situations, unless the camera is being confused by something (dark/light coloured object) shooting into sun etc....

They would also shoot TV for motorsports almost all the time. Manual modes are for people who have time on their hands. motorsports photography doesn't often facilitate this.

 

[Rasclart]

Looks like you used some pretty brave shutter speeds, what did you try in the end? I like 4 and 5, they would have looked really dull taken 'normally' but you've injected plenty of speed into them, love that only the last rider is in focus because of the panning blur.

High ISO would have made life difficult in more ways than just getting some unfortunate grain on your pics, as it would have caused havoc with your slow shutter speeds on what looks to be a fairly bright day. So I imagine when you have another go at a reasonable ISO it will be quite a bit easier.

Looks like a good day though, I absolutely love shooting bikes so will probably do a lot more next season, weird considering I can't actually stand the things.

I used between 100 and 200 I think I was a bit slow, not fluid enough and not allowing enough time to pan. So hard to track them though they move fast LOL

 

[Rasclart]

Like the still life type shots more than the action shots. As said little less adventurous with the shutter speeds and some panning work and you will have it sorted.

I think i can see myself in 2 of the photos, assuming the once with the two togs in the background can be seen was taken in the last race? From the lighting it looks like they were.

Will be adding my fav pics thread in a bit.

Yeah last supersport. They are a lot more in focus photobucket has compressed them so much they look bad granted they are not perfect but better than that

 

[dunganick]

I would recommend a Smugmug or Flickr account.

 

[jamesp24]

Great pics.

 

[Rasclart]

Already got one mate

I used PS to do Save for Web to send across to someone, then thought I would whack them in Photobucket to put on here for the time being.

will get them uploaded tomorrow

 

[dunganick]

Get it done,

Heres one of mine from that race (just infront of you on the inside of Druids), frustrating lighting, but worth it (hense colours are slightly wrong)

 

[Rasclart]

Awesome love it mate. What lens was that. I was at 200 and could not get that close.

 

[dk]

I would recommend a Smugmug or Flickr account.

agreed, i have just made the transition from photobucket to flickr, lovely to be able to upload 6mb files although when you have 500 to upload it takes a while lol.

 

[dk]

Awesome love it mate. What lens was that. I was at 200 and could not get that close.

at a guess its cropped as the distance at each end is a little too perfect.

My pic of the two bikes above was from where you were i think and i was using a 200, as he was on the inside it was probably a lot closer though.

 

[dunganick]

Its a 100-300, that shot was shot at 150mm and then cropped. Its almost impossible to pan accurately enough to frame that well.

Its also shot at 1/320, but cropped nice and tight means it doesnt look too still.

Was a great last race. The last few laps were excellent.

I take it you were shooting through the gap between catch fences?

 

[Keydogg]

Duga that is an absolutely stunning shot mate, I need to get back to the circuit!

 

[Alexander]

great pics mate. i was driving around brands hatch when all the bikes were leaving. an amazing site, just bikes every where!

 

[Rasclart]

Its a 100-300, that shot was shot at 150mm and then cropped. Its almost impossible to pan accurately enough to frame that well.

Its also shot at 1/320, but cropped nice and tight means it doesnt look too still.

Was a great last race. The last few laps were excellent.

I take it you were shooting through the gap between catch fences?

Yes mate some where that gap is and some (Not posted yet) were done on the inside of the druide corner, As you go over the bridge I was up on the steps half hanging over as too many people were in the way LOL

I didnt shoot the last main race, only the supersport as we had Grandstand tickets we just watched the final race from up there. Was more interested in the racing than the photos for that race.

 

[JJ!]

Nice still pics, but as mentioned the moving pics are a little out of focus. Great attempts though, bloody tricky things to photograph so fair play to you.

As for the ISO, I use auto ISO too, mainly when I am in lower light conditions with varying cloud cover, but the D40 performs superb up to ISO 800 so its not usually a big issue. Anything daylight I usually stick with 200.

 

[Rasclart]

LOL they look more out of focus due to Photobucket compressing them. They arent 100% but a lot better than that!

 

[JJ!]

Friggin photobucket!!

 

[Rasclart]

Cropped and uploaded to Flickr. They need tweaking but I dont have the time at the moment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twistywizard/sets/72157608013345000/

 

[Leeshez]

Stunning piccys.

 

[Lagerlout]

I have a flickr account now! Although I'm not sure what it's all about lol Much less 'lossy' than photobucket it seems, which can only be a good thing!

 

[Rasclart]

Whats your username cracker will add you!

 

[Lagerlout]

Have a guess lol

I actually created it ages ago... but only uploaded one picture for some reason...... I'll use it from now on... There's some funking brilliant photography on there!!!

 

[Rasclart]

LOL no idea I tried your username with no joy

 

[Lagerlout]

I've just sent you one.... The account was set so I didn't show up in searches for some reason.