NHRA points meet from Summit....

[Chris Clark]

Alternative title: "Clark leaves Mid-Ohio":)

First time at the Drag races. We had crappy light all day, and I didn't bother to arrange any credentials, so I did the best I could with what I had. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do, no keyhole, no esses, I felt like a fish out of water. Anyhoo, here are a few from my first adventure outside of Mid-Ohio:

1.
http://www.turn2imaging.com/WebImages/nhra001

2.
http://www.turn2imaging.com/WebImages/nhra002

3.
http://www.turn2imaging.com/WebImages/nhra003

4.
http://www.turn2imaging.com/WebImages/nhra004

5.
http://www.turn2imaging.com/WebImages/nhra005

6.
http://www.turn2imaging.com/WebImages/nhra006

7.
http://www.turn2imaging.com/WebImages/nhra007

I wasn't super happy with any of these, but I am moderately pleased for the first time there. Hope to go back soon and do better. Any suggestions?

-Chris

[Dustin Finn]

My only issues would be some images suffer from the need of more DOF. It's tricky, this is a nice angle because you see the front of the car and the diagnal gets more of the car in the frame - but because the car is not Parallel to you - you need more DOF to carry the rear end. Unless - I am missing the creative element that "its showing speed" by having portions of the car in and out of focus. If its creative - then I just don't care for it and prefer more DOF and just forget what I said :)

When you say crappy light - what was it...? it looks like nice difused light here. I am not sure I want to shoot anything in mid-day sun.

Just some thoughts... its like my 3rd post - but thats what I am thinking.

[Drewe Zanki]

Love them all, but #2 and #4 stand out the most...

[Erik Anderson]

#4 stands out as the best for me.

[Chris Clark]

Thanks everyone for the replies. This was mostly a learning trip for me and the biggest thing I learned: when the cars are going 260mph.... you don't need to pan at 1/15th of a second to show motion,:o It was fun shooting something different, can't wait to do more.

My only issues would be some images suffer from the need of more DOF. It's tricky, this is a nice angle because you see the front of the car and the diagnal gets more of the car in the frame - but because the car is not Parallel to you - you need more DOF to carry the rear end. Unless - I am missing the creative element that "its showing speed" by having portions of the car in and out of focus. If its creative - then I just don't care for it and prefer more DOF and just forget what I said :)

Dustin,
Thats exactly the "look" I was going for. Having the front of the car sharp and the rear of the car soft is a by-product of panning at stupid-slow speeds while the car is travelling an a path that isn't parallel to the front of the lens. Or something like that......

I was mostly trying to pan really slow. Most of these were shot at 1/15 upto 1/30 or 1/40th. The short DOF is really just a byproduct. Looking back, I probably wouldn't have shot so slow.

Thanks!

-chris

[John Thawley]

Dustin / Chris -

This is NOT a DOF issue. When you pan at an angle, the front of the car is traveling faster than the back of the car in relationship to your lens and camera movement. Hence, you can only pan in sync with one section of the car.

At a slower shutter you are employing a smaller aperture. So, if it were a DOF issue, there would be no problem.

What Chris is / was striving for is to catch the front end sharp with the rear trailing.

The only way to get the entire car sharp is freeze it. So.... a quick shooter and a small aperture. I don't know why you would want to do that, though. You can always find them parked. :)

JT