Racer

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Mike Farley
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Racer

Postby Mike Farley » Mon 15 Jul 2019, 19:11

I went to the Cameraworld Live event at Brands Hatch last Friday. One of the attractions was not the gear on offer, but rather the opportunity to take photo of motorbike racers during practice sessions for an event over the weekend. As it was a practice day, entry was free and there were fewer people about which made it easier to find a suitable spot. Unlike a lot of tracks, the circuit has some good access and there are some ideal positions for photography which do not require a powerful telephoto lens. Fuji were at the event and had a professional motorsport photographer on hand to take people out to the track. I already knew the location from previous visits, but it was a good opportunity to get some advice about setting up my X-H1 camera. In essence, I discovered that continuous autofocus works well, if it is given a bit of help. Provided I prefocussed on the spot where I expected a bike to appear, it proved adept at following it. Randomly locking on to a bike as it came past was rarely successful.

Whether such a performance is acceptable is down to individual perspective. Certainly the Fuji's autofocus is not as good as my Mk 1 Canon 7D which came out in 2009, some 9 years before the X-H1. Not so long ago, I would have considered that a major drawback. As a result of my experience on Friday, my perspective has changed. Autofocus is an aid and so long as it produces some decent results when used within its limitations, that is good enough. Fuji has improved the autofocus on its latest cameras, although I did not have the opportunity to try one.

The other thing I was doing which meant that I did not have a very good hit rate was that I mainly shooting at 1/125 and 3 fps, panning with the bike to create some motion blur as it went around the bend at Druids. That meant two things. I ended up with over 2,900 shots most of which were either blurred or did not have a complete bike in the frame. I am still working my way through them. I found that the first shot in the sequence was rarely in focus, but often one or two were OK. The initial cull eliminated around 2,200 shots, with the remaining 700 sharp enough to be usable. On my second pass, I am concentrating more on aesthetic aspects with the intention of eventually deleting those which I am unlikely to use.

The shot below is one of my favourites so far. Unlike a lot of the other riders, the racer has a clear visor and it is possible to see his face. As it is a practice day, he is wearing an old set of leathers which have obviously seen a lot of use and gives a bit of character. It was a sunny day and I like the shadow which helps provide a 3-D effect. Finally, the rider seems to have more experience than some of the other competitiors as he is leaning the bike over more than some did. There were one or two who looked more like they were on their morning commute, but everyone has to start somewhere.

Racer.jpg
Racer
Racer.jpg (86.41 KiB) Viewed 771 times
Regards

Mike Farley
(Visit my website and blog - www.mikefarley.net)

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