Life in the fast lane

[SmartWombat]

Which involves strange seats, and odd sleeping positions.

[jar_e]

Lovely shots. My personal fav. is the second one, definately loving the patterns and colors. Great shots all around, and I love how they wear that face mask thing, it adds a certain 'mysteriousness' to the shots!

Nice shooting,

Jared

[Chunk]

I think the Red Bull shot is great. Third one is too...would backing away a bit have been possible? I would like to see a bit more of the fire extinguisher and it might make that post seem a little less substantial.

[OldSchool]

Great captures -- sharp and full of color. I really like the first and third. Just curious, are you trying to stay within a given crop ratio? If not, you may try removing some of the right-side of the first photo.

Cheers,
Tim

[lidarman]

Jeese, Why do those folks have pick to be behind poles and straps?;) I love the tire crew shot, but that strap bugs me.

[readingr]

Another good set of photos - its a tuff life on the GP circuit and even harder for the photographer to get to these places. Kudos for getting this close to the action

I really like the last 2.

[SmartWombat]

Thanks, Rich.

I didn't have the balls to go and undo that retractable tape in the divider between RedBull and Toyota
It bugged me too, but I didn't want to get thrown out of the pit lane !
I thought about it twice, and decided against it.

Here is the view from the other side, after the Toyota pit stop.
I was between the blue and red tape barriers, with a full fuel rig behind me

[SmartWombat]

Hey, thanks!

Backing away might have been possible, as well as zooming out.
But I was in a flap!

Next time I get in the pit lane (yeah right, like that will happen) I'll think longer and harder about the composition. This is very much a snapshot between the refuelling stops (which was why he was resting) and standing in between two teams with live fuel rigs I was rather nervous about walking around.

I'll do better next time, and remember the advice that's been passed on here so many times - take more than one shot, landscape, portrait, wide, close, as many different interpretations as possible, particularly if you'll not go back there again!

But in the heat of the moment, and the sheer excitement of the live F1 pit (I'm a fan as well as photographer) all that good advice went out the other ear

[SmartWombat]

Thanks, Jared.
I'm beginning to get more in tune with the 20D and another few sessions might have me spotting the silly mistakes.
Like forgetting to rest from 1600ISo after shooting inside the dark garages.
Like switching IS mode to 2 (pan) from 1 (still) when going form garage to track.

[SmartWombat]

Thank you,Tim. The reason for posting here in Critique is to get some !!

These are all out the camera, untouched by human hand.
I have a batch option in Canon's DPP to convert the CR2 raw files to jpeg.
Then a saved batch job in Thumbs+ to USM and reduce to size.

I've been trying to think more about the composition, and in many cases failing
Definitely in the pit lane once the action starts it's all on instinct, and a bit of luck.

Looking again (and not too late at night) I see what you mean about #1.

[SmartWombat]

Thanks Roger.

My wife got onto the pit lane wall with her walking stick ... her reaction? WOW !
She's the real fan, sits in her wheelchair in the rain and cold for hours waiting for a chance to talk to the drivers.

[Chunk]

These are all out the camera, untouched by human hand.

This reminds me of a sign we made for the galley on our submarine. "This Food Untouched by Human Hands. (Our cooks made it)"

[drg]

One thing you have certainly captured is the highly compressed and cramped world of the F1 circuit! The odd positions, the barriers, safety railings, tape etc. I think add something as they tell a story. It just could be it reminds me why I like auto racing. We can't forget the riot of colors that this road show is either!

The crew sitting on the tires is really a good shot! There a bit of silly humour that I see (could be me and an American point of view) but the label on the tape of "FLEX" is good for a chuckle or two particularly considering the view of the Crew's backsides.

The closeup of the napping crewman is also a favorite. You should crop a frame on to some of these and put them in the galleries.

I see you have a posting in another forum I must go look at now!

-CDP dr g

[SmartWombat]

You should crop a frame on to some of these and put them in the galleries.

Well there's one thing I need to learn far more about !
Improving the composition when cropping the photos for display.
Would you care to join in the Critique forum and suggest crops to improve the photos?
I'll learn in the process, I hope, along wiht the lurkers who don't comment

Which ones do you think would be best to put over in Critique for the purpose?

[drg]

I'll see if I can get this new machine to save anything in a format that I can work with and post later.

Mostly new computer hardware in the past couple of weeks and some of it hasn't been set up right yet!

There are some beginning guidelines to cropping and framing such as:

Choosing a size for cropping such as a ratio like 3:2 or square is a starting point. The deciding how to acheive that.

You can just drag a selection over the image and slide it around till you eliminate unwanted elements and commit to the change (just don't change the ORIGINAL).

A frame shouldn't overpower the photo. It should at least help to define the movement of the eye and compliment if not accentuate the photo through such things as color and if possible texture. There's a big difference in what works on the screen versus what works in the real world. That one thing I truly appreciate about these forum dicussion is to see what work here for others, and what doesn't.

I've got two similar posting goings right now and I'll try and consolidate this p.m.

-Hurriedly, - CDP dr g

[drg]

I choose three different ways to look at these photos.

One is a natural advertisement (though humorous which I tried to play up with a banner), one I viewed in terms of an asymmetical image and the third is a snap portrait.

The RedBull image I straightened, cropped to focus the eyes on the RedBull logos and where they were located and tried to use the flex tape in the context. The border which is part of the idea of cropping in the marketing sense creates a brand i.d. with the colors chosen for the border/frame. This is focus (focus on the subject by removing unwanted noise/clutter) cropping.

The West crewmen sitting behind the railing I straigtened and tweaked the perspective about 2 degrees in the lower right quadrant, and cropped to get symmetry alont the top and bottom with the perpindicular to right about the same width. This is enhancement by making it more viewable by enhancing the good points and by editing eliminating distractions.

The crewmen sleeping/resting made me think of the title, "Communicating with Morpheus".
The portrait I think of as an enhancement to make it a specific kind of photo, in this case a portrait. The frame is a rather complex action which I sort of played with as opposed to "designed rigorously".

All three sets of changes were with the idea to improve and focus.

You can crop to focus, to enhance, and yes, to salvage. None of these certainly needed salvaging.

Not everyone will agree with my "choices". Much of cropping is editing to bring out the picture that is there. Particularly with event/live action. The photographer can do amazing things thru the lens but sometime we need to tweak it a bit.

There's a lot about proportion and color selection that starts to rely heavily on art and graphic design. Let's leave those for another time.

I do hope you don't mind the liberties I've taken and they illustrate some ideas and techniques in the area of cropping and editing.

-CDPrice dr g

[SmartWombat]

Wow, thanks !

I like what you've done with the first one. I can see where you got the logos from the image, it's a nice touch. Someting I wouldn't think of doing myself, but might have a try with some others in the future. Definitely gives it something different ftom my usual prints.

You might have seen I cropped #2 myself (earlier up the thread) but chose to cut the TV connector box rather than leave it intact. Was that a conscious decision, to leave that shape complete and the TV on it? Or was it just dictated by the proportions you felt were necessary?
The horizontal crop we're almost identical, so it made me wonder what I'd missed on the vertical decision.

I actually do think of #3 as a rescue job, because of the placement of that pole holding up the barrier. If I ever get back in the pits again, I'll be more aware of environmental issues like that, rather than just shooting as much as possible because I may never get back there. It's a natural reaction I suppose, but I've got ot get over it!

Thanks agian for giving me another view of the pictures.

[villenadecorte]

Paul-
Great shots. I love them all as-is- my nitpicking are tight cropping on the one with the bars, and the out of focus guys in the pit (the one from the opposite side).
Being a huge F1, Indy (Cart over IRL), and especially FIA fan (the 98 Mercedes GT Warsteiner car being my absolute favorite, blowing up the Laguna Seca track....)
these shots amp up my need for speed

Thanks for sharing these!

Rebekah
VillenaDeCorte

[drg]

You might have seen I cropped #2 myself (earlier up the thread) but chose to cut the TV connector box rather than leave it intact. Was that a conscious decision, to leave that shape complete and the TV on it? Or was it just dictated by the proportions you felt were necessary?
The horizontal crop we're almost identical, so it made me wonder what I'd missed on the vertical decision.

I just liked the TV box for some reason. One of the choices that may add some context to the photo.

The only difference on the vertical is to try and balance the space above the railing with the concrete at the bottom of the picture. This was partially as a result of the slight correction in the rotation of the photo.

I am glad you approved and I enjoyed getting to play with some photos like this!

-CDP