Brian Lalor
04-25-2007, 09:10 AM
I participated in a BMWCCA autocross this weekend with the Boston chapter at Ft. Devens. It's an abandoned Army (?) airfield now owned by the town and rented out to clubs while they try to figure out if they'll make more money by turning it into a shopping mall or convention center. It's a nice facility and I had a lot of fun running down cones with my MINI. While shagging cones in the morning, I took my 350D and Sigma 70-300mm lens out with me. I walked around some more in the afternoon when I wasn't working or driving. Surprisingly, having more time to think and plan my shots resulted in some marginally better pictures. :D
http://static.flickr.com/174/472015327_4ec9944f6c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/472015327/in/set-72157600123819338/)
I wish I could have just gotten the rest of the bumper on this (R?)S4 ...
http://static.flickr.com/202/471999106_557fb07ca8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/471999106/in/set-72157600123819338/)
Again, slightly clipped. :mad: I dig the metal flake powder-coated wheels she's got, tho.
http://static.flickr.com/202/471998758_74c3154842.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/471998758/in/set-72157600123819338/)
Playing with DoF.
http://static.flickr.com/200/472015839_7f7192d7b8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/472015839/in/set-72157600123819338/)
Poor little guys didn't even know what hit 'em.
I think I learned a lot in the few hours I was out there. When working with a longer lens, it's tough to strike a balance between getting nice wheel-blur and not having the whole scene blurry due to shake. 1/80s was about as fast as I could go without freezing the wheels, but my keeper rate was pretty low at 300mm. I've got a monopod (which I forgot at home...), but that wouldn't fly while actually trying to work the course. I also had some difficulty with exposure when taking a burst of shots. I had a polarizing filter on which may have contributed to the problem, but when panning from left to right I found that some of the shots got very overexposed toward the end of the pan/burst. Not sure what was up with that...
Comments and critique invited, of course. These are not some of my better shots, but I haven't had many chances to take pictures of cars in motion like this. :)
http://static.flickr.com/174/472015327_4ec9944f6c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/472015327/in/set-72157600123819338/)
I wish I could have just gotten the rest of the bumper on this (R?)S4 ...
http://static.flickr.com/202/471999106_557fb07ca8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/471999106/in/set-72157600123819338/)
Again, slightly clipped. :mad: I dig the metal flake powder-coated wheels she's got, tho.
http://static.flickr.com/202/471998758_74c3154842.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/471998758/in/set-72157600123819338/)
Playing with DoF.
http://static.flickr.com/200/472015839_7f7192d7b8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/472015839/in/set-72157600123819338/)
Poor little guys didn't even know what hit 'em.
I think I learned a lot in the few hours I was out there. When working with a longer lens, it's tough to strike a balance between getting nice wheel-blur and not having the whole scene blurry due to shake. 1/80s was about as fast as I could go without freezing the wheels, but my keeper rate was pretty low at 300mm. I've got a monopod (which I forgot at home...), but that wouldn't fly while actually trying to work the course. I also had some difficulty with exposure when taking a burst of shots. I had a polarizing filter on which may have contributed to the problem, but when panning from left to right I found that some of the shots got very overexposed toward the end of the pan/burst. Not sure what was up with that...
Comments and critique invited, of course. These are not some of my better shots, but I haven't had many chances to take pictures of cars in motion like this. :)