Lizards at Mid-O

[Bob Chapman]

Here are a few of the Lizards at Mid-Ohio. ...unfortunately, no beautifully lit Speed World Challenge stuff in this bunch, but I generally tried to pick from locations/angles that haven't yet been featured in others' Mid-O posts, just to add variety.

1)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/flms/20070719_a_8205.jpg

2)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/flms/20070720_g_8654.jpg

3)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/flms/20070720_i_8873.jpg


or this one... #44 in same turn (http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/flms/20070720_i_8895.jpg) (Personally, I like this one better because Pechnik's helmet is sharp, but JT's gonna whinge about the rear tire being partially occluded.)


4)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/flms/20070721_d_0052.jpg

5)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/flms/20070721_f_2872.jpg

6)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/flms/20070721_f_3089.jpg

7)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/flms/20070721_g_0605.jpg

[Chris Woolman]

Nice shots! The Flying Lizard team is my favorite ALMS team. It was nice to see them win again, but the Ferraris did make it a little easier this time around.

Chris

[Doug DeVetter]

Can I have an "Amen!"

Very nice, as usual (and different, as usual). Although I generally like the "thru the trees" shots, #3 doesn't make my jaw drop like the others do. Maybe if there was light on the leading fender where it's sharp???

Also, #1 in the flyinglizardms.com gallery is a GREAT shot. Smooth as butter.

[Nick Koske]

Nice shots Bob. I like the head on of the #45. I love the colors you get, what type of PP (if any) do you do??

[Chris Clark]

Wow. Really great shots Bob. You Sir, are a panning machine.

I really like #6. I tried something similar, probably from the same photo hole, but not as tight. I was using my 70-200. They didn't turn out nearly as well as yours. Bravo.

-Chris

[Dennis Murray]

6 is a great angle and story.

7 is pretty cool too with the really contrasting levels of light.

[Bob Chapman]

Although I generally like the "thru the trees" shots, #3 doesn't make my jaw drop like the others do.

Fair enough, but there were no trees between me and the car.

Maybe if there was light on the leading fender where it's sharp???

I tried once to make the earth spin backward, but I'm not God.

:)

[Bob Chapman]

Nice shots Bob. I like the head on of the #45. I love the colors you get, what type of PP (if any) do you do??

Curves, contrast, saturation. Occasionally, selective color. A number of photographers run their images through batch processes for this. I've not yet succumbed to this timesaver for color/contrast processing. Eventually, time will dictate that I follow suit.

[Bob Chapman]

Wow. Really great shots Bob. You Sir, are a panning machine.

I really like #6. I tried something similar, probably from the same photo hole, but not as tight. I was using my 70-200. They didn't turn out nearly as well as yours. Bravo.

-Chris

#6 wasn't from a photo hole. It was from a break in the fence/guardrail. Shot with a 500mm on my Nikon body, yielding 750mm. It's slightly cropped from there. I initially looked at the shot through my 70-200, but chose to go long instead.

Thanks for the comments.

[Doug DeVetter]

Fair enough, but there were no trees between me and the car.
:)

Wow. That's just shadow surrounding the car (except at the rear)???

[Bob Chapman]

6 is a great angle and story.

7 is pretty cool too with the really contrasting levels of light.

Thanks!

Regarding 6, I tried the shot during GT qualifying on Friday, and I knew I wasn't going to be happy with the results, even as I was shooting. I thought about it overnight and decided to try again near the end of the race. Frankly, it's a shot that needs a lot of fans in the background to make it work really well.

After GT qualifying, I was frustrated and wandered over to the walk-over bridge thinking I'd just pack up for the day. On a lark, I decided to try some freaky pans as the protos went uphill during their qualifying session. It took a couple laps for me to figure out how to shoot it, and I instantly knew I had to try again during the race to get the GT cars (i.e. the Lizards). However, cloud cover during proto qualifying worked in my favor on Friday, IMHO, by keeping the overall contrast down a bit. Here are a few examples for comparison...

1a)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/20070720_i_9014.jpg

2a)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/20070720_i_9028.jpg

3a)
http://www.autosportimage.com/auto_photo_net/2007/mid_o_alms/20070720_i_9038.jpg

On #3, I was kneeling to bring the Armco into play. The only problem with that is it took the hanging limbs in the foreground mostly out of play and gave me too much blown-out sky.

[Richard Owen]

#2 is so incredible, where can I see more?

[Bob Chapman]

#2 is so incredible, where can I see more?

Thanks, Richard.

Flying Lizard Motorsports (http://www.lizardms.com/gallery/index.html)

[Gerrit Vanderlinden]

The most beautiful livery of all racing cars in my opinion...this meaning that I always like pictures of the Flying lizards :D

But #2 and #7 are in a league of their own, with the rest just plain awesome :)