Anyone got any photo question?

[quote="dirtcyclewill":14gqsg5w]Very cool of you Paul!

One question... traditional style photos or photochopped?[/quote:14gqsg5w]

You're very welcome, I had a feeling this would be a good thread since I've helped a few amateur photographers set up their cameras at the races and they've some really good luck.

I set my camera up to have the brighest colors it will deliver and that's what my customers get, the photos go from my camera to the web with no adjustments, but I'm sure the art director or print production guy gives them a few tweaks before they show up in print.

Ok Squid,
Here's a few ideas.
First make sure that the white balance correction is turned off. Check page 59 of your manual or read one online
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/starbattery/rebelxt.pdf

Next try the cloudy white balance setting, I run that on my 1Ds Mark II almost all the time. That's on page 56

Now set up the parameters and I'd try Parameter 1, that's a preset that will give you nice bright vivid colors. You can set up a custom Parameter, just follow the directions on page 64.

Remember that the color of sunlight changes throughout the day, the early morning and late afternoon are warmer than what you'll get at noon.

[quote="Trip":2dx5zpf1]Hey Paul, don't mean to waste your time, but I have a new lens I can't figure out. It's a 500mm f/8 and eveything either comes out blurry, or too dark. I put it on the tripod and still not real good. So I need help with the settings. I did take some good pics with it once but I don't remember the settings, so I have a book now that I use to write settings down in, but nothing on this lens yet. HELP!![/quote:2dx5zpf1]
An f8 lens is pretty slow (in photo terms) but it still should be able to produce a properly exposed photo. Try this on the next sunny day, manual mode, ISO 400, 500 shutter, f16, that should give you something close to a good exposure. If that's still dark there might be something wrong with your 500.

[quote="BARSmx":10blhjc4]Paul, what would be the ideal lens for arenacross? My 18-70mm Nikon lens jsut broke last week. So most of my pictures were taken with an 18-55mm or an 80-200mm f/2.8[/quote:10blhjc4]
Your 80-200 is probably sharper than the 18-55 and might focus faster too so I think I'd go with Squid on that one although if it's a smokey building the little lens will let you get closer and you won't have to shoot through so much haze.

Thanks Mike

[quote="jbomx363":1vchtk6b]Lots of q's..Canon user.XT and 70-200 2.8L 430 flash.

Is this the best to expect from night shots with on camera flash?[/quote:1vchtk6b]

That depends on what you're looking for, that exposure looks spot on from the flash, you can try a slower shutter speed to see a little bit more of the ambient light.

[quote="jbomx363":1vchtk6b]Is there a trick to get shutter speed above the limit of 200 when using flash?[/quote:1vchtk6b]

If your flash has hi speed synch you can try that. It allows you to shoot at all the shutter speeds with flash but the power is cut down quite a bit. Or try using a Pocket Wizard on your camera and off camera flash, sometimes the camera won't recognize the PW as a strobe and will let you choose a higher shutter speed but your entire frame make not be covered by the light from the flash.

[quote="jbomx363":1vchtk6b]"Tips to getting better focus on ONcoming and GOINGaway shots? This is a tad OOF.[/quote:1vchtk6b]

Make sure you're using AI Servo, keep an AF sensor on the rider, gently squeeze the shutter, don't mash it down, follow the rider for a second or two prior to the picture with the shutter button pressed halfway.

[quote="jbomx363":1vchtk6b]Tips for bright sunny white skies days? This is pretty bad:[/quote:1vchtk6b]

Those days are tough, I hate it when the sky disappears. Try under exposing the ambient light and using a flash or shot at an angle that keeps most of the sky out of the shot.

[quote="jbomx363":1vchtk6b]Experimenting with wide angle shots. Do you sell much of this type? Tips?[/quote:1vchtk6b]

I sell some of those but if I had to go to a race with one lens it would be my 300.

[quote="jbomx363":1vchtk6b]Whom to send photo's like these to besides the mags? And.. are these even good enough? If not, tips for improvement?[/quote:1vchtk6b]

Look at the photos, anyone who has a product or logo visible in the shot is a potential customer.

[quote="jbomx363":1vchtk6b]Lastly... how do you get people to buy???????????? I shoot everyone at our local races and get lucky to sell to 8 or 10 different people. Thanks for your insight!!![/quote:1vchtk6b]

At the local races you'll learn quickly who'll buy photos. The younger the rider, the more pics their parents will buy. Try to get the shots that a Moto Mom can't get with her Rebel and 100-300.

[quote="FreshTopEnd":pqup85ad]Anyone else Jones'ing to get out and shoot? " title="Laughing">[/quote:pqup85ad]

Yeah me! I might go shoot a supercross at Mototown USA this Sat. How about you Mike, anything to shoot in the Sacremento area at this time of year?

2 Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II bodies
2 spare batteries
14mm 2.8 Sigma
15mm 2.8 fisheye Canon
28-70mm 2.8l Canon
70-200mm 2.8l Canon
300mm 2.8l Canon
1.4 extender Canon
2.0 extender Canon
a wallet full of compact flash cards
2 550 EX flashes
1 580 EX flash
2 Lumedyne battery packs
6 Quantum cords
2 Pocket Wizards
1 Sunpak 120j flash
1 Minolta flash meter
2 Manfroto tripods
2 lightstands
plus a ton of little accessories that would add up to a small fortune

[quote="BARSmx":3sa5a4ar]Paul,
I found another indoor tip, ask them to turn all the lights on ...here's a few of my results from the same place. (with lights)

[img:3sa5a4ar]http://www.barsracing.com/images/OMA1124/slides/DSC_1762.JPG[/img:3sa5a…]

[img:3sa5a4ar]http://www.barsracing.com/images/OMA1124/slides/DSC_1535.JPG[/img:3sa5a…]

[img:3sa5a4ar]http://www.barsracing.com/images/OMA1124/slides/DSC_1562.JPG[/img:3sa5a…]

w/ flash
[img:3sa5a4ar]http://www.barsracing.com/images/OMA1124/slides/DSC_1733.JPG[/img:3sa5a…]

Now that's an idea! I bet the riders like the extra lights as much as you do.

Here's a good tip on how to balance weird indoor lighting with your flash, [url:3sa5a4ar]http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-assignment-speedlighting-colleg…]

Yeah, that rule of thirds rule would have helped and you could have warmed up the color in PS a little bit but other than the fact that I could have used a tooth pick right about then it's a pretty nice photo.

Pretty funny Barry.