MotoGP - Laguna Seca

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Chaitanya Deosthale

New member
Hi,

These were a few shots which I had taken at this year's US MotoGP event at Laguna Seca while standing in the Grand Stands. This was my first attempt of capturing a racing event and thus, I must have made plenty of mistakes. I sadly used the 18-105mm lens instead of the 70-300mm lens which I have.

The pictures haven't been edited in Photoshop except for some cropping and some sharpening. Any pointers and tips would be appreciated!!!

Thanks!!

Typical Settings:
Shutter speed: 1/160 to 1/320
Aperture:f/25
ISO: 200 - 400

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fotojack

Senior Member
As someone who has taken hundreds of motorcycle shots at racetracks, I see absolutely nothing wrong with the shots you've shown here. Even with the 18-105 lens, these are good shots. I'm wondering about the shutter speed, though. I typically used 1/500th to really freeze the action, but.....nothing wrong with 1/320th either. As for the aperture setting.....f/25? seems a little excessive, but maybe you were going for motion blur and not background blur. For better DOF, I would use f/8 or even f/4. But hey...that's all personal preferences, right? :)
Nice job on the shots. Keep it up. :)
 
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Sambr

Senior Member
fotojack said:
As someone who has taken hundreds of motorcycle shots at racetracks, I see absolutely nothing wrong with the shots you've shown here. Even with the 18-105 lens, these are good shots. I'm wondering about the shutter speed, though. I typically used 1/500th to really freeze the action, but.....nothing wrong with 1/320th either. As for the aperture setting.....f/25? seems a little excessive, but maybe you were going for motion blur and not background blur. For better DOF, I would use f/8 or even f/4. But hey...that's all personal preferences, right? :)
Nice job on the shots. Keep it up. :)
Click to expand...


Wow I didn't know that about you Jack - why don't you post so photos I would love to see some of those bike shots :)
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
These are some of my older shots from last year. I have hundreds of other shots, but they're on a hard drive somewhere....I'll have to dig them out. :)

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fotojack

Senior Member
Here's 5 more. I believe the first shot shows my truck in the background. I'm shooting at track level at one of the corners I used to work at as a corner marshal.

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KWJams

Senior Member
Nice shots, It is difficult to control your foreground from the grandstands but you have to watch out for stuff in your way. Peoples heads, fences, poles and stuff like that. Nothing worse than when panning to blur the background and you end up with blurred images in the foreground.
 
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Chaitanya Deosthale

New member
fotojack said:
As someone who has taken hundreds of motorcycle shots at racetracks, I see absolutely nothing wrong with the shots you've shown here. Even with the 18-105 lens, these are good shots. I'm wondering about the shutter speed, though. I typically used 1/500th to really freeze the action, but.....nothing wrong with 1/320th either. As for the aperture setting.....f/25? seems a little excessive, but maybe you were going for motion blur and not background blur. For better DOF, I would use f/8 or even f/4. But hey...that's all personal preferences, right? :)
Nice job on the shots. Keep it up. :)
Click to expand...


Thanks, Jack. I have some images with a background blur, but I guess because of a better DOF, they didn't turn out alright. I'll share it over here pretty soon. Thanks for the pointers. So, if I do want to go for background blur, a lower aperture setting is what I need to play around with?

Also, is there anyway to get rid of the stupid barricade, that kind of messed up most of my shots.
 
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Chaitanya Deosthale

New member
KWJams said:
Nice shots, It is difficult to control your foreground from the grandstands but you have to watch out for stuff in your way. Peoples heads, fences, poles and stuff like that. Nothing worse than when panning to blur the background and you end up with blurred images in the foreground.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, Ken. I will keep that in mind, the next time, i go to Laguna Seca. I need to get the tickets in the corner grandstands. That way, with a better zoom lens, I could get rid of the barricade.
 
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KWJams

Senior Member
Also watch the back ground --- took a couple hundred shots at a flat track motorcycle race last summer and never noticed the neat row of blue porta-potties in the back ground :(
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
KWJams said:
Also watch the back ground --- took a couple hundred shots at a flat track motorcycle race last summer and never noticed the neat row of blue porta-potties in the back ground :(
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ROFLMAO!! I nearly pi**ed myself when I read this! LOL Too funny! I shot about 50 shots one time at the track, and did the same thing! LOL :)Live and learn, eh! :)
 
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Chaitanya Deosthale

New member
KWJams said:
Also watch the back ground --- took a couple hundred shots at a flat track motorcycle race last summer and never noticed the neat row of blue porta-potties in the back ground :(
Click to expand...

LOL, Probably the reason why I buy the tickets for the GrandStands right in front of the podium, that way they don't have Blue Porta-Potties in front of the stadium #embarassing
 
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