First drag racing shots of this summer

Olympus8MP · May 23, 2007

Here are the first set of drag racing shots from this summer's racing season. The light was getting kind of low, so some of these are not as sharp as I would like. I plan on taking a whole lot more, and improving my panning. Any tips?

EDIT:

Shots were edited for cropping.... New crops are below...

d1a1s1 · May 23, 2007

I like #1...did the Dodge win?!

Rum_Bacardi · May 23, 2007

2nd and 4th one need more croping

Sw1tchFX · May 23, 2007

Yes, please tell me the SRT won.

d1a1s1 · May 23, 2007

Sw1tchFX said:
Yes, please tell me the SRT won.

I dont know, thats a modified mustang against what looks like a stock SRT. Im thinkin the Ford took it but ya never know...

Steph · May 23, 2007

I have no idea how difficult those pictures are to take but I find the backgrounds distracting. Have you ever tried panning with a slower shutter speed to blur the background even more and give a feeling of greater speed?

Olympus8MP · May 23, 2007

I do believe the SRT won. I can't remember the race real well, but I seem to remember that Mustang was not running well that night. There were some really fast cars there that weekend. There were two new mustangs there running 10.97 and 11.20 with turbos, and a 9 second corvette that pulled massive wheelstands, to name a few

. By the time they were up, however, the daylight had gone and I couldn't get photos.

Hopefully the rain will hold off this weekend and I can use what I learned to capture better photos.

These pictures were taken with a relatively low shutter speed, but some of the cars are already moving in excess of 100+ MPH by the time they're in range for a picture, so a speed of 1/125 or faster is necessary for keeping the car sharp. I'll give it another go real soon.