World SuperBike- Salt Lake City-Photos posted

[daveR1]

Had a great day at the Miller Motorsports Park today west of Salt Lake City. World SuperBike Races and #7 Carlos Checa dominated winning both races.
Biaggi crashed hard in the 1st lap of race #1, but all I got was a lot of sparks in the background - didn't have time to zoom in on him.
I've got a few photos to show here with more posted on my web gallery listed in my sig.

Appreciate all comments and criticisms

In the NikonCafe tradition, the most important photo first:

myself and my new friend......

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Sparks fly when Biaggi goes off!!

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Checa

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Melandri

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Camier

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Biaggi

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Camier

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Race Fan

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Did I tell you it snowed the night before?

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[Jewson]

Nice shots . . my fav is Checa and the mountains . . :smile:

 

[Aqualung]

nice, I saw that people were skiing out there this weekend...

 

[daveR1]

Nice shots . . my fav is Checa and the mountains . . :smile:

Thx, Jason. I liked the contrast between the fresh snow on the mtns. and the track below.

I haven't shot motos in a while, so I struggled a bit during the first race. The track has a lot of barriers that really cut into the foreground. I found myself asking RV owners if I could stand on their roof to get a better view of the infield. Do you have any tips about dealing with these obstacles (since I did not have media credentials to "get inside")?

nice, I saw that people were skiing out there this weekend...

You're right Chris. Snowbird is staying open until the 4th of July I heard and I think they got over a foot of new snow the night before the races. It was definitely chilly in the AM at the track!

Dave

 

[Jewson]

Thx, Jason. I liked the contrast between the fresh snow on the mtns. and the track below.

I haven't shot motos in a while, so I struggled a bit during the first race. The track has a lot of barriers that really cut into the foreground. I found myself asking RV owners if I could stand on their roof to get a better view of the infield. Do you have any tips about dealing with these obstacles (since I did not have media credentials to "get inside")?

Dave

I think the best tip I can give you is think about the shot you really want to get and look for where you can get it . . Try not to get pics of every rider but pick a few of your favourites. Another idea would be try going lower or shooting through the gaps in the armco barriers . . :wink:

 

[bfullmer]

Great shots Dave. Looks like a successful day.

 

[tdm900]

Lovely stuff, another vote for Checa and the Mountains a cracker of a shot.

 

[daveR1]

I think the best tip I can give you is think about the shot you really want to get and look for where you can get it . . Try not to get pics of every rider but pick a few of your favourites. Another idea would be try going lower or shooting through the gaps in the armco barriers . . :wink:

Thanks for the tip about going low - I do that all the time at cycling races, don't know why I didn't think of that - DUH!@#@$#$

One other mistake I did make was trying out some new settings in JPG mode. A lot of the pix are oversaturated and I wasn't very successful fixing that in Lightroom.

Great shots Dave. Looks like a successful day.

Good to hear from you Brian, it's been a while. Glad to hear you're still shooting.

Lovely stuff, another vote for Checa and the Mountains a cracker of a shot.

Thx. After seeing all the new snow, I started wondering if I should get my skis back out!

 

[Kiwi Geoff]

Great images Dave, looked at the Superbike site and yours are equal if not better!!
Got any pics of Aaron Slight??

 

[mkemd21]

Dave,

Nice set of photos. The first picture with the mountain is the one I like best. It offers a different look and the mountain is beautiful.

The action in the third photo potentially could make it a money shot. We don't see crashes often, but if you could shoot a crash up close it would deliver the most impact. Based on the EXIF data, you had your zoom lens set to 100mm when you took that shot. If it was set to 300mm instead the picture could potentially be much more powerful.

This brings up a point that Steve King made in another thread. There may be just one crash (or accident) or none at all in a long race, but capturing it makes you stand out from the rest. I am not a motorsport photographer and I don't know how to anticipate crashes, but some photographers such as Mark Rebilas consistently capture them. Maybe you could find out from the folks who work on the track where accidents tend to occur, or you can study the course yourself.

Photos 4 to 8 show the same look. These are routine shots and you need them for sales purposes, but I think adding some variety will make it more interesting. Now photos like #1 and #2, we will never get bored. :biggrin:

 

[djnsmith7]

Very nice shots...wish I could've been there...

 

[daveR1]

Great images Dave, looked at the Superbike site and yours are equal if not better!!
Got any pics of Aaron Slight??

Thx Geoff.
What plate number is Slight? I couldn't find it on the rider list at the WSBK site. Get me his number and I'll look through the rest of my photos.

 

[daveR1]

Dave,

Nice set of photos. The first picture with the mountain is the one I like best. It offers a different look and the mountain is beautiful.

The action in the third photo potentially could make it a money shot. We don't see crashes often, but if you could shoot a crash up close it would deliver the most impact. Based on the EXIF data, you had your zoom lens set to 100mm when you took that shot. If it was set to 300mm instead the picture could potentially be much more powerful.

This brings up a point that Steve King made in another thread. There may be just one crash (or accident) or none at all in a long race, but capturing it makes you stand out from the rest. I am not a motorsport photographer and I don't know how to anticipate crashes, but some photographers such as Mark Rebilas consistently capture them. Maybe you could find out from the folks who work on the track where accidents tend to occur, or you can study the course yourself.

Photos 4 to 8 show the same look. These are routine shots and you need them for sales purposes, but I think adding some variety will make it more interesting. Now photos like #1 and #2, we will never get bored. :biggrin:

Thx mke.
The crash shot was interesting. I was actually shooting the turn ahead of the crash which is why my lens was at 100mm. As I was firing away these two riders came sliding into the background - they had crashed on the turn before out of my field of view. It happened so fast, I wasn't able to zoom in on them until after they were off the track. The shot I posted is a seriously cropped image of Biaggi sliding along in a sea of sparks. @ 8fps, I got a slo-mo of Biaggi doing cartwheels, but it was pretty small in the background and really not worthy of posting the whole sequence.
As far as the track goes, I know it well enough to guess where the crashes might occur, as luck would have it, they usually happen when you've moved to another section.

 

[daveR1]

Very nice shots...wish I could've been there...

Thx - It was a gas!

Don't they still race motos at the track up by Sonoma? I know it's changed names a few times since a few buddies of mine used to go down there and race.

 

[Kiwi Geoff]

Thx Geoff.
What plate number is Slight? I couldn't find it on the rider list at the WSBK site. Get me his number and I'll look through the rest of my photos.

Dave Aaron rode in the 1990's years ago!! he rode for Honda and was #2 but had a different bike number. Ducati's were king then!
http://www.worldsbk.com/teams-e-riders/rider?pilota=8

 

[daveR1]

Dave Aaron rode in the 1990's years ago!! he rode for Honda and was #2 but had a different bike number. Ducati's were king then!
http://www.worldsbk.com/teams-e-riders/rider?pilota=8

You're right - all I remember of that era was Carl Fogarty riding the "big red"