Five in a row - Simon Arron

The motor bike race is a thrilling action shot. The angle of the bikers, the spray and the the texture of the picture (down to high ISO?) all add up to a first class action picture. Your comment about bike racing showing more drama than car racing is spot on. The cars don't lean so much, unless they in the process of crashing.
The robin is a competent natural history image but as I'm not at all competent in this field I don't feel qualified to offer any in depth criticism.
David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Thanks, folks, for the comments thus far.

The final episode will be posted very shortly, once I've made up my mind...

Oh go on find something, I dare you

#5 Parting shot


Captain Predictable strikes again. To square off my selection, I'll return to my staple diet. This is from Friday practice during the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos - a landmark event for me, because it was my last as a full-time member of F1's travelling circus. I hadn't missed a race since Japan 2000, but in 2012 I stepped down as a freelance to take a full-time job that kept me closer to home while my wife recovered from a serious illness (which, happily, she has).

This is a fortuitous photo for several reasons. Firstly, I was shooting at 1/60, which is always a bit hit and miss with F1 cars. Secondly, I was focusing on Nico Hülkenberg's Force India, nearest the camera, and happened to click just as he passed Felipe Massa's Ferrari. Without the Ferrari it would be yet another shot of a racing car and a blurry kerb, but its presence adds a bit of confusion that I quite like. The only sharp thing in the photo is the one moving at speed. It almost looks as though the Force India has been pasted in, but absolutely no trickery was involved.

I took it with a K-5 and my trusty old Sigma 100-300mm f4 (which is presently out of commission, pending repairs). Note that I don't use the uzi 7.1 fps function when shooting motor sport - I usually forget it's there, probably because my Spotmatic didn't have a motordrive...

Thanks to all that have tuned in to my mini-series.

I now hand the reins to Gary Catterick (K10D) and look forward to his selection.

I've seen this before on ephotozine or somewhere. But that does not matter it's still brilliant for the sharpness of the Force India against the blurred background, foreground and Ferrari.

It might well have have been on here, Barrie - in which case I apologise for the repetition.

No need, it's good to look at

Highlights look blown on my monitor

That final shot is just superb

Simon

That's a sure fired winner!

Phil

A great set Simon and trust me to agree to follow such a set!

I'm aiming to try and get the first of the five up by Monday.

Best regards

I love this 'double' pan. Until I read your comments Simon I couldn't work out which car was overtaking, it could well have been the Ferrari which was going faster. The end result is a fantastic action shot, a sort of a one-in-a-thousand chance.
Forgive my ignorance but what is a uzi 7.5fps function? Its the uzi bit I don't understand.
I'm now looking forward to Gary's selection.
David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Sorry, David, that should have been Uzi, as in submachine gun. I despair of folk who keep their finger on the shutter button every time a car comes past, but quite a few do - even seasoned pros. I'd hate to be the technician who had to sort through the results: I regularly take about 600 shots in a day, on a one-frame-at-a-time basis. Some people must end up with several thousand...

Whilst practicing my panning I've shoot nearly every car at race meetings on a one at a time basis and clocked up over 2000 in a day - gave me plenty of practice, but generally not much good for results!
Some of the machine gunners must get at least tens of thousands. If by luck they did manage a good shot the chances are they wouldn't see it for all the dross.

Thanks for the explanation Simon. I must admit I do use continuous shooting mode for vintage steam trains hurtling towards me at around 60-70mph on the main line and also for some street photography situations. That way you can grab the famous 'decisive moment' by selecting the best frame to use. But I only use continuous in SHORT bursts. My joy in photography is actually shooting the pictures, not being glued to a computer monitor for hours of brain deadening PP afterwards.
David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Seconded...