Monza training, Le Castellet & Spa-Francorchamps - 4 Hours Endurance Race

[tommiejeep]

MF, great series. Love the 'behind the scene' theme.  Having spent a couple of hours watching , a rather boring, German Grand Prix yesterday I kept thinking that I would rather be your Bearer ( and I am getting tired of humping heavy Gear) .   Interesting , I took, my 16-35 f4Gvr on a trip to Turkey a couple of years back and did not use it at all.  I think it goes on the market.
Many thanks for these and may be more to come ?
Tom

[MFloyd]

Thomas, Golunvolo and Tom, thank you again for your support.

We are about at the end of this story, but there might be more to come at the end of this month (surprise). Statistically speaking: from Tuesday evening through Thursday noon (1 ½ days), I took around 850 pictures, of which more than 300 were eliminated straight on i.e. bursts of 3-4 images at 8-12 frames/s of which one is kept. So that left me with 550 pictures uploaded to Lr. Of these, 50 are considered printable, and you have seen already 30 of it.  I was quite surprised about the high "retention" rate, which normally does not exceed 5%. I was also surprised about the low level of pictures taken, which would have normally been twice as high, and for which the sole explanation I have, was that I only concentrated on two cars, and one team.

For Tom: the Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 is a great lens.  In another thread: "16-35 vs. 18-35" http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,2691.45.html you can see the exceptional definition, up to the corners. To my surprise, there were very little UWA situations, at least less than I expected.  But this will not be a reason to leave the 16-35mm home, next time.  And I found the chosen combination (16-35, 28-300, 300mm) ideal, but one should know that I'm not owning one single lens belonging to the Holy Trinity (14-24, 24-70, 70-200mm).  The only criticism I have on my choice, is the need for wider aperture in the midrange (50-200mm range), not because of the lack of light, but to keep down the DOF, as backgrounds are, in most cases, not desirable.

Anyway, I have a further look, and see if I have some more to show 😊

[tommiejeep]

Thanks MF  .  Not saying there is anything wrong with the lens although I would not call it great.  I actually sold my 14-24 2.8 which I did think was great because it just did not suit what and, how, I shoot.  I shoot multiple systems and use primes more than zooms.  I thought the VR would be beneficial for low light , static images but I am an action/people shooter so really do not use VR that much these days.  I am more likely to raise the speeds and iso.  I actually use the 24-120 f4G vr quite a bit for walkabout when I have no idea of what I will shoot.  I will probably think about the 18-35 G.

I am much more at home with a 300 2.8  but have primes from 15mm up, MF and AF.
Cheers,
Tom

[HCS]

I decided to add some snapshots. Although, there is no chance that one of these will become "the picture of the year", they add some atmosphere, some smell and taste 

They complete the story. There is so much to see around any sort of racing and it makes for a peek at things that TV watchers hardly ever get to see. I love every image you've posted, especially knowing it is really hard to get good pictures at an official circuit.

[PeterN]

Thank you so much for sharing. I thoroughly enjoyed how you captured the atmosphere and speed. Thank you for sharing your technical notes as well.
It is an excellent source of inspiration for my trip to the Goodwood Revival meeting in september. Although I will focus mostly on the people, shooting the races is a must too. So thank you!

[MFloyd]

Some last goodies to close off this topic:


31


32


33

Thanks to Peter and Hans and all the other for your support. I'm at your disposal for any question you might have 

[Peter Connan]

Some beautiful images here MF, and as others have said, it's really nice to see the "behind the scenes" shots.

I have one question though: what happened with image #11? Something seems very strange there?

[MFloyd]

Some beautiful images here MF, and as others have said, it's really nice to see the "behind the scenes" shots.

I have one question though: what happened with image #11? Something seems very strange there?

The picture was taken at 1/8000, completely frozen but with an ugly background: some partial editing was made to have the wheels turn again and to "speed blur" a part of the background; the asphalt strip hasn't been blurred, tough, which gives this strange impression.  But you are the first to notice ....   

[Peter Connan]

Or perhaps only the first un-gentlemanly enough to comment?

Thanks for the clear and candid explanation.

[MFloyd]

You are too kind Peter. Indeed, NikonGear is a very civilized and polite forum.  I never make a secret of the postproduction tricks I apply to my pictures. I made some aviation calendars for professional pilots: they like to see every nut and bolt of their favourite planes; but they still want to see the plane in motion. These are the roots of my speed trickeries. But, they never have the charm of a genuine speed blurr, I must say.

[Peter Connan]

I also like speed blur, but am not clever enough to introduce it afterwards.

Which is why I seldom have anything to show...

[MFloyd]

In an hour from now, heading to Le Castellet (France) for a 4h Endurance Race, where I will follow the same SMP Racing team.

[Mongo]

love car racing - its in Mongo's blood. you have had the opportunity to do what is the envy of many ..... and you did it brilliantly.

Love the sharpness, vibrant colour, sensation of movement captured by your technique (including the tilting of the shots and panning) and lastly, love the degree of contrast in these images which make them a standout. Very nice work and thanks for letting Mongo live the experience (albeit vicariously) of a racing photographer for a few moments.

[HCS]

Thanks to Peter and Hans and all the other for your support. I'm at your disposal for any question you might have 

Thanks, but that's way too much props. You did the heavy work, i (we) just looked and commented.

However, i do feel you should put some radial blur on the wheels in #31, otherwise it looks weird.

[MFloyd]

Yes, there were some broken links, and I reinstalled the wrong #31 version 😒. I make this good upon my return 😊