Jeff Gordon @ Brickyard 400

Fantastic panning Rich!

I like the way the colours of the car make it jump out of the subdued & blurred background. Really catches the eye. You've nailed the car well too.

 

One point I would like to make however, is that the car is soo close to the centre of the frame to make the photograph truly effective. Ideally, you should be looking to give the car space to "move in" to the the frame or put it on the extreme left so that it "moves out" of the frame.

I like the light: the background in the shade and the sun on the car and the road. Good panning too!

 

Witolda - I have to agree with you! I'm not very fond of this picture, but it was the best I could come up with at the time. :-) This is probably a better example. I attempted over 100 panning pictures that day and was able to keep only 5.

Rich,

 

In terms of dynamics, the second shot is much better - the car looks as if it is going somewhere, and very quickly at that :)

 

Panning does take a lot of practice, and I find it helps if I use a shorter focal length than I actually need. That way if I don't quite get the positioning right, I still have the option of cropping. Another tip is to use a line on the track or a scrape on the wall as a marker to help set up the shot. (I *HAVE* to produce photos at race meetings, so I need as big a safety margin with each shot as I can possibly get...)

 

BTW, are these two taken from on top of the pits garages? There's only one track in the UK I can do that (Rockingham) and it is one of my favourite places to get shots :)

Witolda - Great tips - thanks. Very quickly yes - they were running at about 181mph at the time. This was my first time trying the panning and I'll use your advice for the next race. Not sure how familiar you are with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but on the inside at the start finish line there is a 10 story building called the Pagoda that houses the track owners and officials. I was lucky enough to be on the 3rd level of the Pagoda as the guest of a race sponsor. If you like there are more pictures (good and bad!) here.

 

I was at the Races at the California Speedway this past weekend and attempted to acheive a great shot like yours shown here. Panning is something I need to practice on. Looks like you have it mastered! Great shot!

Well done! Vibrant cars are a definite plus! Great to have a few connections. Have a good season.