Twin Shock Moto-X Ass. Rnd 2 at Taupo

[DJRacing]

A couple of photos of round 2 and it was the first time we have ever used a purpose built motocross track, the Taupo International Motocross Track.

I think the guys enjoyed there day even though it was freezing cold wet and windy.















These are photos of the last race of the day  "The All in".  I only got to take photos of this race as I was the starter for the day so I couldnt get any other photos.

[DJRacing]

A couple more.

Some big jumps!!!!!  I think the boys going over to Conondale wanted the practice.   

[Davey Crocket]

Yaa probably dont want to here that it was 22 degrees here today? blue skies shining on me ........ arh Queensland , beautiful one day, perfect the next. The pom will be looking forward to showing off his chest again no doupt, by the way the zoos still open if you want too come over for the nats.Cheers John.

[TT]

Thanks for those, DJ.
As always, some good stuff there.
I especially like the water splash shot in the first group. 

[GMC]

Yes, their was some good shots their, but some came out a bit dark & detail gets lost.
Tony, would you recomend a flash at the time or maybe photoshop after the fact to solve this?
Or a different camara setting perhaps?

Sorry DJ, not trying to be critical, just looking for an answer as I have noticed other peoples shots(including my own) also suffer this.

[DJRacing]

Yes, their was some good shots their, but some came out a bit dark & detail gets lost.
Tony, would you recomend a flash at the time or maybe photoshop after the fact to solve this?
Or a different camara setting perhaps?

Sorry DJ, not trying to be critical, just looking for an answer as I have noticed other peoples shots(including my own) also suffer this.

Yes I agree GMC.  I to would like to know what Tony has to say about the subject.
The first round of the series was an overcast day and I should have pushed the ISO/ASA rating(I didnt), and today it was raining, and the clouds were so thick that their wasnt any contrast as you can see there are no shadows. I did up the ISO/ASA to 400, maybe I could/should have gone more? I could try bracketing but then I would miss too many shots. I dont have photoshop and wouldnt know where to start, but I would think it would be easier to 'dodge' and 'burn in' with that than the limited editing I have.
I dont have a flash other than the one built into the camera and it wouldnt be powerful enough to throw the light in, certainly not at some of the distances I was shooting at. All I can do is use the limited editing that I have to lighten them.
The other problem is backlighting, even though there wasnt a lot of it, but when shooting up in the air it still becomes a problem, unless you are lucky enough to have the light source behind you.

[DJRacing]

Yaa probably dont want to here that it was 22 degrees here today? blue skies shining on me ........ arh Queensland , beautiful one day, perfect the next. The pom will be looking forward to showing off his chest again no doupt, by the way the zoos still open if you want too come over for the nats.Cheers John.

A zoo trip or the Nats?? is there a difference John?      yea I would like to be over for the Nats but alas I'm running out of holidays.

[DJRacing]

Do these look any better?



















I tried doing a little editing.

[Heikki360]

Great pics DJ, sorry I missed it. Wouldn't want to be #121's laundry man though... 

[Ji Gantor]

Photoshop would definitely help the images.
The problem is shooting up into the sky as DJ said, to much back light.
If you change the ISO to much you end up with grainy shots.
A flash would help but as DJ said he was a distance from the action.
Most quality flashes will only light a subject to 15 meters.
The flash will help because it will add fill light to the subject and freeze the action as it is much faster than the shutter speed can be set.
A fast lens would help a little but they cost an arm and a leg.
The editing that DJ has done has reduced the quality of the images but increased some of the bike details. I liked the original images as they explain the conditions of the day better.

Well done DJ

Ji

[Rossvickicampbell]

DJ - I run an older model Canon EOS 300D - I find all shots tend to be a "level" or two too dark.  As much as I would love to the time to correct either by camera (too busy trying to ride) or on computer means usually other than cropping what I get is what I get (and to compliment you my best shots of which there might be 1 in 50 appear to only match your standard shot).  However just try Windows picture Manager which comes free with your computer (if running Windows of course) as this allows a bit of simple playing and is very easy to lighten the effect and crop to suit.  Worth a try for nothing.

cheers

[AjayVMX]

Did I see TM Bill riding the mighty KX250A5 there? 

[d veda]

Some people at my work have to much time on there hands.

[TM BILL]

Way cool 

[vmx42]

Hey DJ,
JI is right. Increasing the ISO will do absolutely nothing [try it, all the images will look the same, only the amount of noise will change].

Your suggestion of fill in flash is correct. But you must learn how to balance your exposure ratios with the flash. Imagine your image has two main areas you wish to render: 1. the bike and foreground and 2. the sky. Use the flash to correctly expose the bike and foreground [don't forget your exposure compensation] and then use the shutter speed to optimise the exposure of the sky/background.

Its a real balancing act, so have a practice, and then practice some more…

You will have to ensure your colour temp is set correctly as the flash is daylight balanced and the sky in this case is cloudy - normally you would worry about the main image [the bike in this case] and live with a slightly grey sky.

If you are trying to duplicate a normal sunny day exposure, it will take some work. But you can mess around and get some great creative effects. But as always shot in RAW, not jpeg. As you can see from the image I adjusted [it is just a quick and dirty adjustment] you can see that the data has been degraded as the original I grabbed was a low res jpeg. With the RAW image you wouldn't get the breakup in the shadow areas.

Good to see that I was in Taupo at the correct time of year, that just looks cold and wet.
See you soon,
VMX42