700 online photos from Canterbury MotoX champs

[Talkiet]

Hi everyone, I was at the Canterbury MotoX champs on Saturday and Sunday and have a heap of photos online for viewing (and hoepfully the occasional purchase!). There are about 400 shots from saturday and a little over 300 from Sunday. I have about another 700 shots that didn't quite make the cut to get online (duplicates, a little out of focus etc).

I'm afraid I don't have a nice categorisation system or searchability by bike number - you'll have to browse.

I also have a large number of shots form minimoto on Sunday - those kids are amazing... I remember being that young but I don't remember being that fearless!

There's a mixture of nice crisp head on photos and more dynamic panning blurred shots. In most cases of the panning shots, only a part of the rider is perfectly in focus - sometimes I've chosen to include the photo based on it's impact, rather than being a crisp snapshot.

Example: http://www.nzsnaps.com/photos/168013490-M-1.jpg

Saturday pics at:
http://www.nzsnaps.com/gallery/3079163

Sunday pics at:
http://www.nzsnaps.com/gallery/3082833

I'd welcome any comments and constructive criticism - it's the first time I have shot Motocross.

Please note that my photo site is hosted in the US, and the online print prices are in $USD. The print quality from the US lab is excellent, their packaging is amazing (and shipping is cheap!), and they usually take about 10 working days to deliver stuff.

I am offering a local package as well which includes the following. (All shots in the package must be of one rider - or include that rider in a group)

- 1 x 19*13" print
- 1 x A4 print
- CD with up to 6 full sized JPG files (without watermarks) for personal use

All this for $65 (NZD this time!) + shipping (or free pickup in Chch)

Feel free to email me at neil@nzsnaps.com, or feedback through this thread / PM.

Cheers - Neil Gardner
www.nzsnaps.com

[DrewBroadley]

Hey, this forum aint big enough for the both of us... I should lose some weight :/

[takitimu]

Nice shot's, I'll have a better look tonight when I have more time, but your panning technique is very good indeed & a 1D mkII as well, what lens were you using ?, looked like the tracking was going well ( obviously not a 1D mkIII )

[Talkiet]

Nice shot's, I'll have a better look tonight when I have more time, but your panning technique is very good indeed & a 1D mkII as well, what lens were you using ?, looked like the tracking was going well ( obviously not a 1D mkIII )

Thanks for the feedback... One of the reasons I went to the MotoX was to practise my panning and I'm getting pretty happy with the results... I used a 70-200F2.8L (non-IS) for some of the shots, but most of the panning shots were actually with a 24-70F2.8L... It's easier to pan with a shorter lens, especially if you are using quite long shutter times... Most of the pan shots were 1/100, some at 1/80, and just a few at 1/50 or so.

There's even one on the site shot at 1/10 (Yes, one tenth of a sec :-)

Focus is rarely an issue with pan shots as the aperture is so small just about everything is in focus - it's just that the background is motion blurred.

Cheers - Neil Gardner

[takitimu]

Thanks for the feedback... One of the reasons I went to the MotoX was to practise my panning and I'm getting pretty happy with the results...

Drag's are good for practice to, if you pop into the "BT wins again" thread there are some links to Steve Bruhn's photo's from AMA, you might get some ideas there, though the light mid-summer US helps .

Here's one of mine of Ricky Carmichael @ Pittsburgh last year

http://www.pbase.com/sgidude/image/69849201/original

P.S. 1/10 is damn good with a 24-70, 1/40 @ 372 with 1.6 crop is fun to.

http://www.pbase.com/sgidude/image/68691640/original

[Talkiet]

Hi Taki... I see you also shot the 2004 Rally of NZ ... I even think I recognise the spot you were shooting from - I was there that year as well (LOTS of pics on my smugmug account)... I also shot the Timaru round of the Jetsprint champs for the last couple of years... Jetsprinting is a relatively easy sport to shoot the pan type shots,but I only started experimenting with the really low speeds after this years event which was a shame...

Another sport good for slow speeds is Drifting... My favourite drifting shot was the last shot I took at Ruapuna after a day of shooting relatively fast speeds.

http://www.nzsnaps.com/gallery/2908393#156569929

1/50 second, and his eyes are _tack_ sharp... Everything else is beautifully distorted.

Cheers - N

[takitimu]

I also shot the Timaru round of the Jetsprint champs for the last couple of years... Jetsprinting is a relatively easy sport to shoot the pan type shots,but I only started experimenting with the really low speeds after this years event which was a shame...

For sure, I did the Featherston Jet sprints, it's alot of fun, those boats have some serious poke.

Another sport good for slow speeds is Drifting... My favourite drifting shot was the last shot I took at Ruapuna after a day of shooting relatively fast speeds.

http://www.nzsnaps.com/gallery/2908393#156569929

1/50 second, and his eyes are _tack_ sharp... Everything else is beautifully distorted.

Cheers - N

Sweet shot's, you're so lucky being in the South Island, it's Pukekohe ( 4 hours ) or Taupo ( 8 hours ) drive for me to a track, though to be honest since I got the bike, I've been riding not taking photo's .

Nigel