Looking For Feedback (Motorsports)

rmerina · May 10, 2016

Have been shooting quite a bit now that I am living in San Diego and just started posting some stuff on Flickr. Below is a link to some stuff I shot this last weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

SpeedVentures 2016-05-07

Please be CONSTRUCTIVE

--Rick

EDIT: OK - here are some pictures.

SpeedVentures-120.jpg by Rick Merina, on Flickr

SpeedVentures-276.jpg by Rick Merina, on Flickr

SpeedVentures-366.jpg by Rick Merina, on Flickr

SpeedVentures-388.jpg by Rick Merina, on Flickr

SpeedVentures-432.jpg by Rick Merina, on Flickr

SpeedVentures-239.jpg by Rick Merina, on Flickr

TheNevadanStig · May 10, 2016

If you want specific critiques, you'll get much better luck actually posting up to about 4 shots here, instead of a link.

tirediron · May 10, 2016

rmerina said:
Have been shooting quite a bit now that I am living in San Diego and just started posting some stuff on Flickr. Below is a link to some stuff I shot this last weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

SpeedVentures 2016-05-07

Please be kind - this is the first time I have openly requested critiques.

--Rick

I had a quick look; overall looks like a decent set. Focus and exposure seem good, panning isn't bad and colours & processing are decent. If you want detailed critique, then as mentioned above; post 1-4 images in the thread. On that note, asking for critique and then saying "be kind" is rather self-defeating. Often (usually?) the most valuable parts of a critique are the parts that tell us where we need to improve. That can be hard to hear when it's used in reference to a piece of work that one really likes, but it's almost always beneficial.

rmerina · May 10, 2016

tirediron said:
I had a quick look; overall looks like a decent set. Focus and exposure seem good, panning isn't bad and colours & processing are decent. If you want detailed critique, then as mentioned above; post 1-4 images in the thread. On that note, asking for critique and then saying "be kind" is rather self-defeating. Often (usually?) the most valuable parts of a critique are the parts that tell us where we need to improve. That can be hard to hear when it's used in reference to a piece of work that one really likes, but it's almost always beneficial.

Thanks - you are right. Constructive is probably a better word, though I guess I havent ever seen anyone ever put down for their work on here so I guess that shouldnt have ever been a thought in my head.

Anyways.... I updated the original post to include some pictures.

Thanks!

TheNevadanStig · May 11, 2016

The first thing I noticed is that all of the on track shots are crooked.

KC1 · May 11, 2016

Saying they are crooked assumes the track was running perfectly perpendicular to the cameras line of sight, that's almost never the case, the real world isn't that simple.
Nice pictures, 1 is my favorite, but a much closer crop will really help it.
The parking lot picture could be left out, its just cars in a lot.

rmerina · May 11, 2016

KC1 said:
Saying they are crooked assumes the track was running perfectly perpendicular to the cameras line of sight, that's almost never the case, the real world isn't that simple.
Nice pictures, 1 is my favorite, but a much closer crop will really help it.
The parking lot picture could be left out, its just cars in a lot.

Thanks for pointing that out to the other reviewer. Quite a bit of the crookedness was from cropping. You see, Auto Club Fontana is a VERY boring track to photograph so I might have been trying to add something slightly more interesting. #1 I cropped in that way because you can see there is movement in the lean angle of the car and I was trying to show some drama and include the track to show where it was coming from. What would you cropped differently out of curiosity?

Thanks

SCraig · May 11, 2016

rmerina said:
Thanks for pointing that out to the other reviewer. Quite a bit of the crookedness was from cropping. You see, Auto Club Fontana is a VERY boring track to photograph so I might have been trying to add something slightly more interesting. #1 I cropped in that way because you can see there is movement in the lean angle of the car and I was trying to show some drama and include the track to show where it was coming from. What would you cropped differently out of curiosity?

You might see it that way but people viewing the photo may only see the leaning light poles and billboards. Tracks do have elevation changes, which can indicate a "Lean" sometimes, but not light poles and billboards.

I seldom look at the horizontal lines when straightening my shots for that very reason. I normally look at vertical lines because they are less likely to be susceptible to elevation changes.