USGP F1 2006 Photographs

Hi,

 

I went to the F1 in Indianapolis this year and took a bunch of pictures with my

newly acquired Canon 20D. This was my first major sports event and first racing

event of any sort so I wasn't sure what to expect and I must say I was

overwhelmed at the track to see many people and so many pro photogrpahers with

their L's...

 

Anyways, I spent most of the time getting used to the high speed of the action,

searching for a good spot and trying to get that elusive perfectly panned

photograph. (I had the general admissions ticket to the infield by the way).

 

I haven't had the time to process the RAW images yet but I have uploaded some

of the jpegs (after some quick and dirty processing in Picasa) on my photo.net

profile

 

http://www.photo.net/photos/himanshu

 

I would appreciate any comments or suggestions to help me improve my skills in

sports photography. I will soon upload more pictures once I process the RAW

files.

 

Thanks for looking,

Himanshu

It is good to see pictures from the speedway. I haven't been there for a race since the 1977 Indy 500.

 

Overall, your pictures are very good. I never liked it when I had to shoot through a screen, so I prefer the inside of a corner to the outside. The sharp corners also slow down the cars enough that it is easier to get a shot. When the speeds got above 180 mph in the early 70's I found that I had trouble panning with the cars. I would wait for a yellow light to get good portraits of cars. I like the shots more when I can see the front of the car. The very best shots are when you can get two cars side by side. This requires a wider view than most your shots. It also doesn't happen very often. In the 74 race, there was only one lead change that occurred on the track--all of the others involved pit stops. (Rule changes since then have made the Indy car races more competitive.)

 

You have an excellent start. I look forward to seeing more of your racing pictures.

Thanks Ron,

 

I have now posted some 20 odd pictures from the Friday's practice in a separate folder in my profile. I was more free to move about on Friday and had better vantage points, hence I have many pictures where I have a clear view of the car without the fence, sometimes 2-3 cars in the same picture.

 

There were quite a few lead changes in this race but I didn't have a chance to see any of those, I could only hear the announcements! I am just glad that Schumacher won :-)

 

Hopefully I will take better pictures next time I have a chance...

 

Thanks,

Himanshu

Good start to your car racing photography Himanshu. I would be interested to know what lens you used on your 20D. Did you have any accreditation or didn't security check cameras? Most venues here in Australia prohibit "professional cameras" and any lens 300mm or above.

Hi Neil,

 

I am glad you liked the pictures. The lens I used was a 70-300mm consumer zoom. I didn't have any accreditation or special pass. The security wasn't checking the equipment at all, I saw a lot of amateurs with huge tripods, L lenses and what not... so I am guessing it was fair game for everyone as far as equipment goes... now the places you can shoot from... that's a different story altogether :-) There were about 1-2 places in the whole track from where I could get a partial view without the fence in the frame... (i.e. for a ground pass)

Thanks for the information Himanshu. I know what you mean when your viewing options are limited trackside; but in some ways I think it adds an edge to your photography when you have to overcome such handicaps. Regards, Neil