Photos from Skerries Races

GristlyEnd

A few pics from the races today. Still a lot to get through. (Image edit: Images have been brightened up)

It's my first time shooting bikes so C&C appreciated.

Calina

Love the top one DarrenG

Spyral

nice but a bit dull, maybe perk them up in photoshop ?

Borderfox

Nice shots love the second one

GristlyEnd

Spyral wrote:

nice but a bit dull, maybe perk them up in photoshop ?

Dull in what way? do you mean contrast? they have been processed in CS3 and I purposely toned down the colours.

311

The last one is my favourite ,they all turned out well though:)

GristlyEnd

Thanks all. Here's another one with different processing. Do you think it's better?

Borderfox

Much better

mdebets

Great pictures Darren, I just add a few of my own.
I was supprised when I came home, that I actually had a few nice ones and not just empty streets

mdebets

I must say I like Darren's original colours, probably try it on some of my other pictures from today.

Borderfox

Love the second one at an angle mdebets very nice

ThOnda

mdebets - the second one and the last one. Those are the pictures I like to see from any races

sineadw

Hey Darren are you going back out today? I might try to make it out.

Great shots all round. Mmmmm... bikes..... You might try panning a bit Darren, give the feeling of movement. I'm sure that's very difficult at those speeds though. I can almost smell the petrol and hear the engine screams Oooo I miss it! What did you think of it anyway?

bovril

Nice shots Darren, stuck mine up too on my flickr. Found it incredibly hard shooting the bikes because of the speed. The weather didn't help either, one minute is was very very bright, the next minute it was dull. I thoroughly enjoyed it though and it's something I'd like to shoot more of.

Sinead, I tried panning.. good luck to that is all I can say. I had to delete about 500 shots straight off because they were of the lovely Skerries bushes!!

GristlyEnd

Looking back over my images I have to say they are a bit dark. I'm in the process of removing a layer from my PSD files and will be replacing the images soon on flickr.

sineadw - I did try loads of panning. I will put up an example later but the majority of them are soft. It was my first time to go and see bikes racing and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will have to attend some more.

311

DarrenG wrote:

Looking back over my images I have to say they are a bit dark. I'm in the process of removing a layer from my PSD files and will be replacing the images soon on flickr.

sineadw - I did try loads of panning. I will put up an example later but the majority of them are soft. It was my first time to go and see bikes racing and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will have to attend some more.

I tried panning last year at skerries ,but the track is too close and the bikes are far too small.
Youd probably need a track like mondello for bike panning ,so you can anticipate their approach:)

Fajitas!

Great work Darren.

Second one is my favourite.

GristlyEnd

Here's a panning shot. I wasn't very succesful.

Fajitas!

Make them dark again!!!!

311

I don't think it's possible to get a fast panning shot ,with a short lens . I tried but the lack of tunnel of a zoom ,meant everything was out of focus.

I found that in order to get a good swing at panning ,you'd need at least 150mm or so.

Edit ,your panning looks great darren

mikeanywhere

DarrenG wrote:

Here's a panning shot. I wasn't very succesful.

Very nice mate, well done!!

thebaz

there nice and crisp, probably too sharp for my liking, i'd probably have used a slower shutter speed , to show a bit of movement

City-Exile

Great shots, Darren!
Really impressive.
For some reason, when I saw "races" in the title, I was expecting horses or people, or both.

sineadw

Ooooo the pan shot looks great! Where were you standing? I had my crappy P&S up at the NW a few years ago and managed to completely fluke a few pans as I was standing on the apex of a hairpin and I could see (and hear ) them coming and they'd slowed down enough that it wasn't just a noisey blur. I think I'd try to get somewhere like that again.

I wouldn't advise going to another one, you'll get addicted!

GristlyEnd

The panshot was taken just before the Dublin corner. I knew they would be slowing down there but didn't count on how good their brakes are

il gatto

Great work OP. I don't think people realise how difficult it is to photograph road racing unless they've tried it. It's a whole new level of speed. When you're standing on a ditch, literally feet from a bike at those sorts of speed, panning just isn't an option. You get the odd lucky shot and you're better off not wasting too much time trying it.
Skerries is good as it's actually one of the slower circuits. The Ulster G.P. at Dundrod has the fastest average lap speed of any race track in the world. I hope to get to Walderstown this Sunday. The big bikes do 180mph+ on the main straight:eek:
If anyone is interested in a good book, Stephen Davison's "Ragged Edge" is a fantastic collection of road racing photos.

Mark#1

So DarrenG & mdebbets, what cameras/lenses were you guys using at Skerries?

My dad is a pro photographer who used to take me to the races back when he was using his new Bronica medium format camera.

I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to get shots as good as those that you guys are posting here, specially the focussing.

Mark

GristlyEnd

Mark#1 wrote:

So DarrenG & mdebbets, what cameras/lenses were you guys using at Skerries?

My dad is a pro photographer who used to take me to the races back when he was using his new Bronica medium format camera.

I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to get shots as good as those that you guys are posting here, specially the focussing.

Mark

I was using a combination of my Nikon D200 with a 300mm f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 and using manual focus most of the time. I would pick a spot (usually between races when someone walked by to be exact) and shot away when the bikes came. Even at the corners the acceleration is unreal so you still have to be quick.

Stephen

Anyone going to Faugheen (South Tipp) for the races at the end of this month?

mdebets

I was using a Canon 350D with a Sigma 24-70 f2.8 and a Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6.
I found the ones coming around the corner fearly easy, as they slowed down quite far.
For the others on the streight, I started continous shooting when I heard the motorbike approaching and stopped when it was past. I then hoped that at least a few of all these photos contained a full motorcycle and not just an empty street.
I was mostly using AF. I tried a few with pre-focusing, but they didn't quite turn out too sharp