Aussie MotoGP, Phillip Island, 17-19 Oct 2014, Photos

[EJK]

Absolutely stunning photos! Mind if I ask aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings?

[Damien_Toman]

Absolutely stunning photos! Mind if I ask aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings?

Thanks . I shoot from 1/250 to 1/1600 depending on angle, lighting and the depth-of-field I am after. ISO from 100 to 3200 mostly. Apertures from max (depends on lens) to f10 usually.

I like 1/320, ISO 160 and F8 when it is possible, for panning shots. 1/1000-1/1250 for fast approaching shots.

That shot was 1/1250, ISO 200, F5.6, on a Canon 5DMKIII with a Canon 400mm f5.6L prime on a manfrotto heavy duty monopod.

My NZ racing photos, like that, are $20 including GST - much cheaper in quantity.

Damien

[EJK]

Thanks . I shoot from 1/250 to 1/1600 depending on angle, lighting and the depth-of-field I am after. ISO from 100 to 3200 mostly. Apertures from max (depends on lens) to f10 usually.

I like 1/320, ISO 160 and F8 when it is possible, for panning shots. 1/1000-1/1250 for fast approaching shots.

That shot was 1/1250, ISO 200, F5.6, on a Canon 5DMKIII with a Canon 400mm f5.6L prime on a manfrotto heavy duty monopod.

Damien

I was gonna say, you must have real steady hands. I was out shooting on the hill to Akaroa this morning, mostly playing around 1/500, ISO 200 and F5.6.

I have no idea how you get that crisp vivid colour. Any suggestions?

[Damien_Toman]

I was gonna say, you must have real steady hands. I was out shooting on the hill to Akaroa this morning, mostly playing around 1/500, ISO 200 and F5.6.

I have no idea how you get that crisp vivid colour. Any suggestions?

Yes, the shot you took looks like it suffered from either camera shake (most likely) or not in focus. Panning takes practice and even at 1/500 you will still have issues. Try 1/800 till you get more practice. That will still show movement in the tyres and background.

Focus is a complicated area with the latest DSLR's. You need to set for fastest reaction to change and define the focus area to the broad centre of the lens (not dead centre point or whole screen). The best cameras for sports focus are also expensive with a large number of bi-directional focus points. The fastest focussing lenses are also expensive with USM (Canon Ultrasonic motors built in) or equivalent from Nikon etc.

Adobe Lightroom is a great tool for tweaking your RAW image to boost sharpness and colour in specific areas. Only shoot RAW. Jpeg is a waste of space! Use jpegs for the final tweaked image and upload to the Internet. If you tweak a jpeg (8-bit) it seriously deteriorates - RAW much less so (14 bit on 5DMKIII).

Damien

[Damien_Toman]

Cool bike in your photo. I remember those Kenny Roberts colours very well as I lived in London at the time and watched him race many times at the GPs and Transatlantic Trophy races .

[Damien_Toman]

Yes, that really is Mamola, Roberts, Lawson and Spencer in the same race shot at Donnington Park, England, in the early '80's:

https://flic.kr/p/rDnEGV

Taken on Ilford HP5 B&W film and developed at home .

Damien

[Bender]

Yes, that really is Mamola, Roberts, Lawson and Spencer in the same race shot at Donnington Park, England, in the early '80's:

https://flic.kr/p/rDnEGV

Taken on Ilford HP5 B&W film and developed at home .

Damien

Stunning photos there.

[EJK]

Yes, that really is Mamola, Roberts, Lawson and Spencer in the same race shot at Donnington Park, England, in the early '80's:

https://flic.kr/p/rDnEGV

Taken on Ilford HP5 B&W film and developed at home .

Damien

Wow legendary shot! haha got your own dark room at home huh?

[Damien_Toman]

Wow legendary shot! haha got your own dark room at home huh?

I still have all my old darkroom equipment though I've not used it for years. I also have a film SLR compatible with all my lenses loaded with B&W film. Digital is much easier.

[Katman]

I still have all my old darkroom equipment though I've not used it for years. I also have a film SLR compatible with all my lenses loaded with B&W film. Digital is much easier.

I used to do my own colour enlargements as well.

Consistency was always the problem though. Keeping the chemicals at precise temperatures is far more critical than with black and white.

No two prints of the same shot ever seemed to come out with the same colour cast.

[Damien_Toman]

I used to do my own colour enlargements as well.

Consistency was always the problem though. Keeping the chemicals at precise temperatures is far more critical than with black and white.

No two prints of the same shot ever seemed to come out with the same colour cast.

Yes, colour prints are hard. I've the kit for that too, but mostly did B&W prints. I processed many colour transparencies and colour negative films. The transparency kits produced great results - "Barfen" was the brand. I also purchased film in bulk cans and rolled my own canisters . I have scanned my old negs and transparencies but sometime might set up the darkroom again and use some of that expensive old printing paper I have in store .

[steveyb]

Mate, you really need to be sending some of these to mags and websites and making some $! They are as good if not better than the professionals.

[Damien_Toman]

Mate, you really need to be sending some of these to mags and websites and making some $! They are as good if not better than the professionals.

Thanks . I have tried, maybe not hard enough, but found little interest. Some NZ bike mags did not even reply when I offered local bike racing photos. I did tweet the Petrucci photo to the man himself - he is now a follower of my tweets for photo updates.