Paul Bonhomme, Red Bull Air Race, Perth 2008. (best viewed larger)

Finished 1st in Perth and 2nd overall in 2008.

 

Thanks for looking. (please view 'larger').

 

Cheers, Mike

Great capture Mike..I can almost hear this guy's engine revs. Have you tried darkening the exhaust cloud, it would emphasize the power of this shot more....only a suggestion...Regards

Mike this is wonderful. Excellent composition, good placement and crop. The detail is amazing. You can see the pilots face! I also really like the way you have framed this. Well done.

Fantastic capture! Best Wishes.

Great shot - I love the sense of movement. Must have been an amazing day out!

Wow, this is excellent. I have never tried to shoot anything like this, I would imagine it would be difficult and require quick thinking to get a perfect shot like this one. Great Job Mike!

I always find fascinating the different ways that people look at pictures. When I look at flying machines like in your excellent picture for instance I have similar feelings to the ones I have when I watch birds flying. The three-dimensional freedom that both have or offer is truly exciting. Thanks for sharing Mike.

Beautiful image, great composition. Regards, Jean-Marc

wow, this guy almost entered in my room...

The larger version, indeed looks great!! I like the way the subject fills the frame diagonally! Nice framing too!!

 

Best regards,

 

Vamsi Krishna

Thank you all very much for your detailed and kind comments; they are much appreciated.

 

My ‘old’ Nikon D70 and Nikkor 80-400mm zoom make for a very slow focusing system; one that is far to slow to follow the fast paced action of the race. My solution was to switch to manual focus and to pre-focus on a point that I knew the contestants would pass through. Due more to luck than good management, my location was equi-distant from a number of gates, so I was able to maintain the same focus point for all of the near gates. This shot was taken as Paul Bonhomme approached the start gate at the beginning of his second run around the track.

 

Thanks again.

 

All the best,

Mike

 

Hi Keith , thanks for your good idea about the smoke. I will see if I can darken it without it looking too obvious.

 

Cheers,

Mike

 

I feel dangerous when I look at this picture. The background does it job. Very well done.