I'm saying nothing as it was me that got you into this mess in the first place

Mike
Thanks for the input.
As I are not ardent motorsport followers, nor am I being chased by a magazine to produce something (fine chance) I can chill out, take my time and wander about, during the qualifiers in the morning, to find a spot.

I'm sure that wherever I sit, the photos will be better from somewhere else!

Simon
Brilliant advice and exactly what I was looking for, thanks.
The weather forecast is showing 'sunny intervals' for the area on Saturday, so hopefully it will be a good day out.
I'll take you advice on location although the qualifying rounds in the morning will give me a chance to do a bit of a recce and rehearsal for the main races in the afternoon.
I look forward to some good c&c when I post some shots next week.

Tried putting into practice some of the guidance from a Tim Wallace training video.

C&C most welcome







Both images were tweaked slightly in PSE10 just to eliminate a couple of reflections, reduce some highlights and brighten some shadows.

Historically I'm used to taking landscapes and travel shots but I'm off to Snetterton Racetrack on Staurday to watch the Aston Martin Car Championships with the sole aim of adding some motorsport photos to my portfolio.

I shall take my DA* 16-50, 50-135 and 60-250 and plan to place myself in/near the 'bomb hole' (on someones advice). Hopefully I can get down into the pits as well.

I aim to try some panning shots and try and catch some cornering action.

Any advice on camera settings, other kit to take or better positions (if you know the circuit) would be greatly appreciated.

Doh! I never thought about turning them around and bouncing the light. Yet another good tip, thanks

Gareth, unfortunately the walls in my dining room prevented me from moving them further away

I had one light positioned to the upper left of the frame to provide the overall lighting, slight shadows and rim light on the Rolex. I had another light positioned just to the right, well behind the camera (up against the rear wall) to provide the balanced light for the watch and create the reflection on the bezel.

Once I had captured the first 2 images I then moved the rear light closer to pick out the highlight along the 'spine' of the jaguar keyring.

Yes the D-Lites (studio flash heads) do have a modelling light but I hadn't thought about using them as the actual light source. Thanks for the tip

Thanks for all the comments.

It's funny how we see things differently. What I had in my mind was an image of someone driving on a trip who had stopped (maybe for the night) and put his map, passport, keys and watch on a table or bedside unit.

I didn't really see them as unconnected. The watch is a Rolex GMT Master which is aimed at international travellers, the passport and Jaguar keys seemed to fit well (to me anyway).

The map was just meant as a backdrop and not signifying any particular journey. I happened to have a Morocco map and so I thought that this would be a bit more 'exotic'. Hence why I set the DoF to get the items in focus rather than any particular part of the map.

I was trying to emulate a 'brochure' type image and so I 'froze' the time on the watch at 13:49:21 so that all the hands were discernible and the makers name and watch face writing was visible.

The items were placed in a 'light cube' and softboxes were fitted on each of the lights.

My main aim was to create a good exposure of the watch and keyring, trying to bring out the features and highlights whilst eliminating unwanted reflections.

It would seem that I have grasped much of the theory but failed with the execution

Please keep the comments coming (however harsh) as I am learning a lot from this

David
Thanks for the comment.
I wanted to get the watch and key fob in focus with the map 'fading out' towards the back. f2.8 would not give me enough DoF to achieve that. However I do know what you mean as I have tried some other shots with a really narrow DoF and it does create a good effect.

With regard to the light source, what can I say; it was a new toy and I wanted to play with it

Unfortunately I couldn't control the light low enough to give me the highlights I wanted with a wide enough aperture to give me the DoF I wanted. Hence the ND filter.

Without the filter I could only manage f22, whereas with it, I could get f8.

It made sense at the time