Dragracing Pictures from Sweden

[polymoog]

Hi I hope this is the right place to post this, thought I'd show some pics I took at a few dragracing events held here in northern Sweden this summer.

All comments/criticism welcome

Equipment : Pentax *ist DL + Sigma 17-70 / Sigma 70 - 300
Adjustments : various minor alterations in PS, mostly shadows/highlights and increased sharpness

 

[photo28]

Nice shots! All are focused very nicely and have amazing detail. How fast were they going... was it hard to take the shots? I love the backround, and how you can actually see the "speed" of the car (how it is blurred).

 

[polymoog]

Nice shots! All are focused very nicely and have amazing detail. How fast were they going... was it hard to take the shots? I love the backround, and how you can actually see the "speed" of the car (how it is blurred).

Thanks To be honest, with the right shutter speed anything moving can look fast ;-)

These pics were mostly taken around 60 - 100 foot out, speed is hard to judge ... the different cars etc go at different speeds as well, some accelerate faster than others.

Yes it can be hard to get good shots, I often end up not using the majority of these kind of pics because of blurriness/bad composition ...

 

[Heck]

Well done... Some heavy hitting cars there.. All these shots are begging for a little color saturation just to make them pop more IMO. Thanks for the share.

 

[That7guy]

JEz look at the tires on that stingray! :stun:

Nice pics...

 

[bullitt453]

Nice panning shots! Makes me want to get back to the strip! Every time I've been, I've been participating in the racing and have never had the chance to take some photos. Now that I sold my little street/strip Mustang, I might head back out there for some pics!

 

[polymoog]

Thanks for all the replies

Heck - I actually turn the saturation right down in the camera b/c I feel it is too strong otherwise, I'll increase it slightly next time, thanks for the comment

 

[250Gimp]

Nice shots!! The panning is great and your timing on some of the launches is perfect.

I would suggest that you put space between photos and number them please. It makes it easier to follow and to comment on individual shots.....such as the Stingray launch!!

Cheers

 

[ISI_Stang06]

WOW!!! i love these pics, im also someone who loves the world of drag racing, to see so much power released in such a short amount of time.

i always go to the local drag strip but can never figure out how to get pictures like these.

which lens were you using?
did you have it in auto focus?
what exactly where the settings you were using?
if you dont mind me asking

 

[epp_b]

This one is excellent. You managed to get some motion blur in the rear wheels and in the background while keeping the car sharp. I was taking drag racing photos a few weeks ago and I know, first-hand, those are very difficult ones to capture!

 

[polymoog]

Nice shots!! The panning is great and your timing on some of the launches is perfect.

I would suggest that you put space between photos and number them please. It makes it easier to follow and to comment on individual shots.....such as the Stingray launch!!

Cheers

Thanks, sorry, I'll number the pics next time

 

[polymoog]

WOW!!! i love these pics, im also someone who loves the world of drag racing, to see so much power released in such a short amount of time.

i always go to the local drag strip but can never figure out how to get pictures like these.

which lens were you using?
did you have it in auto focus?
what exactly where the settings you were using?
if you dont mind me asking

Thanks For all of these pics I had permission to stand down with the press photographers by the wall, which is mostly an advantage although there are some good shots to be had from the stand as well.

If I'm not all wrong it was the Sigma 70 - 300 in all of them. I always use auto focus for these kind of shots, have rarely used manual actually except for tricky close ups ...

I always have the camera in Manual mode, b/c the cameras light measuring is not at all reliable, ISO is set manually as well, white balance in these pics was Auto. It's just a question of testing to get the desired effect, believe me I have many wasted pics, but it is worth it if you get some that turn out OK

 

[polymoog]

This one is excellent. You managed to get some motion blur in the rear wheels and in the background while keeping the car sharp. I was taking drag racing photos a few weeks ago and I know, first-hand, those are very difficult ones to capture!

Thanks, yes it is hard to get photos like this, I was lucky here because it usually never works out !!

 

[photo28]

How fast did the jetskiis go?

 

[polymoog]

How fast did the jetskiis go?

They're not jetskiis, they're modified snowmobiles ... they can go under 9 sec and reach top speeds of around 230 kph