# American Le Mans Racing



## onehundredoctane (Sep 17, 2012)

Took these while at Virginia International Speedway on Saturday, it was the first time American Le Mans has raced there so I was excited to take as many pics as possible! This is my *FIRST *time shooting cars in motion and trying to capture them while panning in order to get the car crisp and the back ground blurred. It took some trial and error to get it right, getting the panning smooth and steady along with figuring out what shutter speed is best. All in all I had a blast learning something new! I really wasn't expecting much out of my Canon T3 with the 75mm-300mm telephoto but I was pleasantly surprised to get what I consider some great pictures from a cheap set up. Please feel free to leave feedback good or bad as I'm always looking to improve in my technique until I can upgrade to a nicer camera.




^The ALMS Patron Tequlia Ferrari 458



^One of the Mazda USF2000 spec racers.



^This might be one of my favorite pics, showing the elevation changes at this part of the track as well as the down hill esses. This one was taken during a GT2 spec race.




^ALSM Battery Tender Lotus Evora, I love this car for some reason. . .



The ALMS Muscle Milk Prototype, these things are quick as all hell!


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## brian_f2.8 (Sep 17, 2012)

Good job. Who were you shooting for?


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## leeroix (Sep 17, 2012)

i love the last one... i have done a lot of work personally for that team...


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## onehundredoctane (Sep 18, 2012)

brian_f2.8 said:


> Good job. Who were you shooting for?



I was just shooting for the experience really, the only way to learn is by doing. . . right?  




leeroix said:


> i love the last one... i have done a lot of work personally for that team...



The HPD Muscle Milk team? Pretty cool! That car actually won the P1 class at VIR.


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## onehundredoctane (Sep 18, 2012)

Some more eye candy?



^The Alpina Porsche GT3



^Even though the Corvette is not in direct competition with the Prototype classes, I would like to believe that it's stalking the prototype car in this one!



Being a HUGE Nissan fan I was glad to see a Nissan powered prototype car.


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## onehundredoctane (Sep 21, 2012)

Some others I snapped during the GT3 Challenge and Cooper Tire Prototype Lites races.

LOVE the GT3 spec racers!


One of the Cooper Tire Prototypes coming up a section of the esses that lead up to the Oak Tree turn.


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## leeroix (Sep 21, 2012)

some of your shots i would try to drag the shutter more... use a monopod if you need to...really get the feeling of motion going...but all in all, pretty darn good!

yep, MM is just down the street from me... we do all the graphics for the team and they let me shoot whatever i want...
not to hijack but...



headon-1-2-mid by keips66, on Flickr


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## KmH (Sep 21, 2012)

OP. Do you use a CPL filter?


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## shorty97 (Sep 21, 2012)

.


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## shorty97 (Sep 21, 2012)

leeroix said:


> some of your shots i would try to drag the shutter more... use a monopod if you need to...really get the feeling of motion going...but all in all, pretty darn good!
> 
> yep, MM is just down the street from me... we do all the graphics for the team and they let me shoot whatever i want...
> not to hijack but...
> ...



That is awesome


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## onehundredoctane (Sep 22, 2012)

leeroix said:


> some of your shots i would try to drag the shutter more... use a monopod if you need to...really get the feeling of motion going...but all in all, pretty darn good!
> 
> yep, MM is just down the street from me... we do all the graphics for the team and they let me shoot whatever i want...
> not to hijack but...
> ...



Very nice!

I tired longer shutter speeds but it seemed like anything longer than 1/160th turned out with he car blurry so I def need more hands on to get better. My mono pod DEF made it a little bit easier though! Like I said, for my first time, I'm more than happy with how some of the pics turned out!



KmH said:


> OP. Do you use a CPL filter?



While I do have one, I'm pretty sure I didn't use it that day.



Here are a few more


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## Derrel (Sep 22, 2012)

Pretty good for early efforts!!! COuple of things. First--'normally', it looks better to give the car more room to "drive into"...so allow a bit more space in front of the front than bumper,and less space behind the rear bumper of the car. Second--some of these look a bit "far away", like for example, the orange-and-silver #26 car, the Porsche...not enough room in FRONT of the car, and also "too far away". I LOVE the motion blur you've put into the majority of these...I even like "more blur". I raise a shot of Patron to you! The 01 car! The #1 tequila! Since these are your first shots, you're only gonna get better and better!


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## onehundredoctane (Sep 22, 2012)

I get what you're saying, makes sense too! Plus it kinda makes it look like you just barely got the picture before the car left your viewfinder if the front bumper it closer to the edge of the pic. I get it! 

It's the difference between this. . .


and this. . . (which I've already posted in this thread)
View attachment 20960



Thanks for much for the advice, I'll try to keep this in mind in the future! Advice like this is exacly why I joined a photography forum.


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## KmH (Sep 22, 2012)

Click on *Edit post > Go Advanced* scroll down under the text editing box to and click on *Manage Attachments*.
That photo will be on the bottom left of the dialog box. Hover the cursor over the upper right corner of the photo and an *X* will appear. Click on the *X* to delete the photo.

While some room for the car to move into in the frame is desirable, to much room reduces subject scale visual weight.
Which is why many pro car racing photographers use 600 mm telephoto lenses - Nikon 600mm f/4.0G ED VR II AF-S SWM Super Telephoto Lens for Nikon FX and DX Format Digital SLR


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## onehundredoctane (Oct 2, 2012)

^Thanks for the tip!

One of my favorite cars was this Lotus Evora, for some reason Lotus styling has always caught my eye. . .



Derrel has already mentioned that it's good to keep a little more empty space in front of the car to give it space to drive into, that's something I'll keep in mind in the future. But something about the picture below makes me think "the car is so fast that you almost can' capture it", that isn't the case obviously, but there's something about it that I still like.


Caught this Porsche lifting it's right front coming out of a turn while tucking the left rear, these cars are so sexy!
View attachment 21782



Thanks for looking!

-Matt


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## Derrel (Oct 2, 2012)

Hey Matt, Seems like you're getting better on this car thing! I like the placement of the car better in #1...but shot #2 does have something going for it. One thing that I think worth pointing out in shot #2 is how GOOD the BACKGROUND is for panning...just the fence, and the trees...nothing white, no sponsor placards, just a VERY simple background, that allows all of the emphasis to be on the CAR you're panning along with. A simple, clean, fairly dark background means that that spot on the track is a great place to pan with the cars!!!! It's a lot like real estate: "Location,location,location!"


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## onehundredoctane (Nov 26, 2012)

Thanks again for the input! 

Figured I would add that one of the pics I posted here was used on one of my favorite automotive photography web sites (SPEEDHUNTERS) in a reader submitted feature! Hey, I know I don't have the best gear, or a portfolio (lol) but it's really cool to see my work featured! Below is a link  and since you've already seen the pic here I don't have to tell you which one it is!

#IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER: YOU ARE THE LIGHTHUNTERS - Speedhunters


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## KP1984 (Jan 12, 2013)

You definitely have some nice shots in my opinion. I also thinks its awesome that you got a pic on SPEEDHUNTERS. I love that site too.


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## onehundredoctane (Jan 17, 2013)

KP, where are you in NC? I'm in Greensboro.

And yes, Speedhunters is one of my biggest inspirations!


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## brian_f2.8 (Jan 18, 2013)

leeroix said:
			
		

> i love the last one... i have done a lot of work personally for that team...



Doesn't Rick Dole shoot on track for them?

Anyone going to Sebring?


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## KP1984 (Jan 18, 2013)

Im just outside Charlotte.


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