V8 Supercars - Winton Vic 2015

[werdan]

Hi all

I went to Winton last Sunday to watch the V8 Supercars for the first time in a couple of years. It was fantastic. The sky was blue the whole day and the near-winter's sun was at my back almost the entire time. It made for some great shooting.

I've shot racing off-and-on for many years now and it has always been a bit hit-n-miss. With the advent of digital and the improvement in camera tech, things are just getting so much easier.
Back in the 80's when I got into photography,the 1st gen auto-focus on my Minolta 7000 just wasn't very reliable. In the 90's the 2nd gen auto-focus on my Minolta 8000 wasn't any better.
The only way to get an in-focus pic of a racing car travelling at full pelt, was to choose a spot on the track (preferably a feature like a stone or bit of rubber) and then pre-focus on that. When the car came along, you'd pan with it, keeping the car in the centre of the view finder. Just before it got to the stone, you'd squeeze the shutter release. If you were lucky, once the mirror had gone up, you'd see the car had past the stone. If you never saw the car in focus, hopefully that meant the film did. You never really knew though, until a day/week/month later when you processed them. Now days, my Sony A99 is quick enough to track the cars in real time. The translucent mirror also doesn't flip out of the way, so the viewfinder doesn't blackout during the shot. It is an absolute pleasure!

Exposures were also a juggling act. I used to leave the ISO at 100 on my first digital SLR, a 7D (again Minolta not Canon) because of the noise at higher ISOs. I'd then use Aperture-priority mode and set the aperture to wide open to get the fastest shutter-speed out the camera.

This year I set both the shutter and aperture manually and only left to ISO on auto. The results were fantastic!

For panning shots where the cars were going straight past me, I shot at 1/350th sec. This blurs the wheels and background but as the lens is moving with the car, the car looks sharp.

1/350th @ f8 ISO320

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/433.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17931398271)

1/350th @ f8 ISO125

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/434.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17308162444)


Then for the corners where the cars are coming towards me or going away from me, I wound the shutter speed up to freeze the action instead

1/500th @ f8 ISO125

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/435.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17744494589)

1/750th @ f8 ISO160

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/436.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17927704102)

1/3000 @ f8 ISO1250

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/437.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17743173260)


I also tried some slower ones with the aperture stopped down to f11. The extra DOF didn't help that much as the cars aren't that wide (deep?) when going past.

1/350th @ F11 ISO320

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/438.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17310261573)

It's also interesting to keep your eye out for people working around the track and in the crowd as you can get some nice pics.

The hunter..

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/439.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17742871068)

Minions..

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/440.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17927660662)

Pit-stopping do to lack of fuel.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/441.jpg (http://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=17308167604)


We truly live in a glorious age. :)

[Pickles2]

werdan, GREAT shots mate, ya gotta be happy with them.
I used to do a bit of motorsport photography myself in the eighties/nineties, with a 35mm Pentax LX (all manual), and I know EXACTLY what you mean about "pre-focussing", depth of field, getting just the right speed to freeze the car, but get the background & wheels blurred etc. It was not easy. I was talking to a pro one day, & He said with a 36 film roll, sometimes just ONE good shot would come out "just right"!
I remember being at Phillip Island & I got a shot of Brock doing 200K+ down the main straight, I had the shutter speed at 1/60th, pre focussed, panned, & the car came out PIN SHARP, but background was totally blurred. Magic shot,.....even Brock thought so, got an enlargement done which He signed!!
So I know what you mean, the digital stuff makes everything easier,....but your shots are great, I'd be happy with any of 'em.
Well done, Pickles.
NB:I love V8 Supercars too, not so happy about Foxtel though, haven't persuaded myself that I need it,...yet.

[theresanothersteve]

...NB:I love V8 Supercars too, not so happy about Foxtel though, haven't persuaded myself that I need it,...yet.
We already had Foxtel, but I must say I love their coverage. You get to see every race, without adverts. Nothing worse than 3 people dicing for the lead and Channel 7 cuts to an advert. When they get back, 2 of them have touched and the race is under safety car. More ads and they come back just as a car running 5th crosses the line first...

[Pickles2]

We already had Foxtel, but I must say I love their coverage. You get to see every race, without adverts. Nothing worse than 3 people dicing for the lead and Channel 7 cuts to an advert. When they get back, 2 of them have touched and the race is under safety car. More ads and they come back just as a car running 5th crosses the line first...
I know what you mean!!
I go back to the seventies. During the Ch 7 Bathurst telecast, there was a THREE HOUR disruption to the middle of the telecast for "World Of Sport", where Ron Casey, Jack Dyer, & Co waffled on about the footy!
Pickles.