Go for it !!!! C & C please

I know the bike sequence is shit but hey it was in 2004 with a 300d and it was a fair hike from where i was standing(it still got published)

Last ones for u davo(that was a fucking awesome day in the braking area man)

They are some very nice shots man. Love that bike sequence. Great timing!

ahh the memorys...

good times mal good times

hot up breaking area at winters for sure

Heres a few from random events.

C & C is always welcome guys and gals

awesome photos!

Here a pretty cool shot i got of my mini foxy "MAX". Pitty about the background tho

C&C guys

ahahaha cool dog shot, love the read ones also

No one wants to C and C me ??? Come on let me have it !!!!1

Hell no!
I'm sick of getting abused for it!

Some more !!!!

Let me know what you think

mad pictures man

i want that shirt for my dad would suit him well

1. cool wheelstand but bad shit into the light, maybe put it in monochrome or b/w will look nice

my fav is no. 4 looks nuts

Thanks for the comments guys.

I really like these ones.

The RX7 is probably one of my favourite shots. Amazing Light. Look at his eyes

I like the atmosphere in the shot of the V8 Roadster with the tents in the background etc. Particularly like the exposure in that shot with the ghostly sky and glimour off the wheels etc. Note the stuffed chickens floating off the rear spoiler assembly.

The Torana shot was just a randon that grabbed me the other day when i was sorting.

What you guys think.

Please c and c

This was unreal

RE: PM I'm going to C&C - If you want to give me shit for it then you can fuck off - I am not doing it for me, Mal PM'd me and asked me to.

I'll do the last 2 sets of shots.

Set #1 (24/06/07)

#1 - Sweet shot, pretty decent panning unfourtunately not the best time for panning as the vertical movement leads to minor vertical blurring. A small issue that is easily fixed; that said, if you really want a shot with panning then some minor blurring is a small price to pay. I like the lighting in it, I think it looks kinda cool going in to the light.
Comp is decent with the space left in front of the car (you should always show the path about to be taken) only issue is that you cut the ass of the car off.

#2 - Good shot, nice clean lines, good color, good close crop. The lighting is a bit glarey but that is impossible to avoid on a shiny surface like that. Only other thing is that more should have been left in front of the car in the crop but that is just nitpicking.

#3 - Cool shirt! Nice DOF, nice character. Only issue is the blown out hair and washed out color. If it is RAW decrease exposure and increase contrast and you're set.

#4 - Nice close action shot but I keep being led to the back wheel as opposed to the driver. The lines and colors of the car match the driver which makes him kinda static and hard to hold your eyes on. I find my eyes dancing around the shot a fair bit as the wheel doesn't strike me as the intended focal point.

#5 - The stuff at the bottom of the shot gives me the shits but the rest is good. Perhaps just a closer crop to get rid of it. EDIT: Colors are a little washed out too, maybe some contrast. I do like this shot though.

Set 2 (most recent)

#1 - I really like this shot. Great use of slow shutters combined with flash. Great atmosphere.

#2 - Technically well executed, poor comp though. Too central and static.

#3 - I really like this shot. It reminds me of Mad Max! With a different crop (leaving more at the front and less at the back) this shot would be a beauty. I just love the bare harsh backdrop combined with the bare harsh power of that car.


Harry

ay mate nice picz love the bike picz where the dude is falling off looks heaps good do you know how fast he was going when he fell off

Thanks for replys everybody. Harry thanks for the awesome critique. I really value any input which will help me improve. You pointed out many areas which I simply didn't notice and I can now address. Thank you so much.
Lighting is something that is sometimes quite hard to control in Drag Racing where you set up the F number and shutter for for a nice head on shot exposing the front correctly and as sure as hell something will happen in the other lane side on with shit light. You still just shoot it and Hope.

Thanks again for everybody's input.


To Chopped4215, those Top Fuel Bikes generally run in excess of 200mph at the finish so my guess would be 150mph(240kph) or so

Love the shot of the blue torana but as Harry said it needs a better crop with less space behind and below the car. Last shot of the rx7 looks great, the smoke and lighting look cool.

No Probs mate,

RE: This last set.

#1 - Looks good to me, nice comp with his body, nice and close too, good DOF.

#2 - Great panning but PSI already mentioned the crop is not too flash.

#3 - Brilliant shot, i love the comp, love the action and atmosphere, that harsh, late and orange lighting looks great.

Harry

Though I might show a few street bike pics. Added a couple of nice bike promo girls as well.

C and C please

lots of nice pics mate well done

Try using a really small aperture for your bike launches, like f4 or better still f2.8. Will naturally blur the background getting rid of some of the distractions.

Great shots though. It is hard to capture a sense of movement at the drags without panning.

Theres almost no point in doing that because as soon as they take off, you snap them and with the possie that he gets it'll most likely blur the whole picture. But I do see what your saying.

hey blacktrackmal!! just wondering if that pick of the white xw launching is a recent photo??

OK, but I don't see what you're saying.

How will it blur the whole picture? Are you saying the AutoFocus system won't be able to keep up because of the increased Depth Of Field of such a large aperture? If that was a problem, which I extremely doubt, then just manual focus, the position of the bike will be near identical every run.

Check out these 3 photos: One, Two, Three. He must be using a large aperture to get that much of the photograph in focus. If he was to use an aperture like F2.8 of F4 then sure the shutter speed would be pretty high given the amount of light in these locations but, depending on camera, this shouldn't be a problem.

Don't get me wrong, they are great photos but I find the backgrounds a little distracting.

Mal, what camera are you shooting with? And what about lenses? Would you be able to post EXIF data for the 3 photos I mentioned before? Or even just shutter-speed, aperture, ISO, exposure comp.? What's the fastest shutter speed your camera will do?

Cheers, Adam.

No mate, it was many moons ago. 2004 Winternationals




Adam thanks for the interest. I use a 30D and those shots were taken on a 70 - 200. I normally shoot 200 ISO during sunny conditions and 400 if overcast a little. I mostly shoot Aperture Priority during the day on F5 or F5.6. This will always result in shutter speeds well over 1000 - 1500 etc. While I shoot Full Manual at night time I am not confident enough yet to shoot full manual during the day unless i am intensionally panning such as in the shot below.

which 70-200mm version?

What aperture is the 70-200? F4 or 2.8? or is it a kit lens?

If it was me shooting I'd pick the smallest aperture the lens will take, set the ISO to 100 which will help slow the shutter speed and see how you go.

If you are panning like the shot you posted I'd be inclined to set the camera to Shutter Priority and 1/125. This will give good blur without the risk of manual exposure.

What I've done for night shots at the drags when I couldn't use flash, or was so far away that flash wouldn't carry is set the camera to the highest ISO I know wont produce too much grain, then pick Av mode and the largest aperture I can.

If you can use flash then I'd just be sticking to Tv mode and 1/180.

That's just my $0.02, take it as you will. Give it a try, if it doesn't work for you then it doesn't. Let us know how you go.

Hi Guys I would love to hear people opinion on 2 shots i just posted in the event section.

The pic of the bikes is shot at 1/20th F4.5. I personally enjoy shooting with shutter speeds like this because it is challenging, however in your opinion is the background and the other bike too distracting ? It gives a nice sensation of speed and action. I think what I am asking is, am I getting excited because I pulled off a shot that I normally find challenging which is actually crap or not.


Second pic of the Mazdabator I am liking also. Again a nice panning shutter speed of 1/50th(andF5.6) gives a blurred background and slightly blurred front wheel and front guard etc. I wanna know does a slight blur of the main focus point(in this case the car) of a photo an issue for your guys. I also cropped it a lot different to what i would normally putting the subject into the corner. I like the disappearing into darkness look. So do you like the shutter or would you prefer a sharper subject with a stationary and maybe distracting background? and do you like the crop ?

Ta ppls, please don't hold back. I want the truth

Regarding the bike shot above, the subject is reasonably sharp though the blown highlights in the background are a bit distracting. Obviously exposing for something black will generally do this so it's sort of a trade off.

As for the 2nd, for me personally there's too much of the car out of focus. Damn clean RX-3 though.

Night drag photography seems tricky.

Yea Im not a pro (lol if you look @ my drag photos you woul know) but when i look @ the bike photo my eyes are led to everything else happening in the photo. I like your photos though mate. Keep it up

I think something as simple as zooming in tighter on the bike is a good method and yeah, agreed. Top shots Mal!

Haven't updated in so long

C and C please guys

Loving the shots of Surfers, could tell where that photo was taken from straight up...

Upton photo looks the part as well....

Thanks for the comments Carl

Uptons bike is very photogenic.

I was quite happy with the surfers shots also. First attempt with a tripod at night.

anyone else got some tips or critique.

Just a few comments, drag shots are nice but I don't really like the night-time flash thing BUT what can you do when the sun goes down!

Surfers shots are nice and I like the old school cars with what must be a very wide lens (Your EXIF data has been wiped you bad boy).

As for the shots of the old house, it feels to be lacking in really any focal point for me, good framing with the tree and fence etc but I don't know, perhaps it's lack of colour is like an anti-climax when you finally hit it.. PS it pink or something

x2!!!

those shots are brilliant!!!

Thanks for the feedback guys

The old cars were shot at 10mm which works out at 16mm I think on the 40D.

I agree about the old house, I think I shot it to shallow even though it was on F10, I have been wanting to go back and re shoot it for a couple of days but the damn rain and bad light is stopping me. Hopefully Tommorow might be better.

Heres a couple of new ones. Brisbane City from Mount Cootha on a pretty average cloudy rainy night, my two puppies shot at f1.8 focussed around the eyes and a couple of seaworld shots.

Wow that 'wheel of Brisbane' really lights up that area! I think if it clears up tonight I might go for some shots

do you know Kurt Dhnaram?

i love the style of shooting but have to say the new watermark is distracting and detracts from the overall presentation.

keep up the great work!

Without the watermark he'd leave himself open to rip offs but. Unfortunately it's a fact of life these days.

Oh totally agree!

Just feel there are other less intrusive ones out there.

But seriously cool shots either way

Hi Guys n Gals

Would love some feedback on these ones


ta
Mal

love the end one man, even if you resized it a little bit more it would look better

post one thats 800 x 533, i want to see

That night time citty shot is the bomb diggity,

taht last photo is mint

I concur, it is very nice.