Here are a few shots from the Joe Martin Stage Race women's and men's professional criterium events held in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas last weekend. I used the DA 16-45 and DA 55-300 for these shots. I tried to get the shutter speed as low as possible in the pans so as to blur the background while keeping the riders sharp. It was definitely a challenge and good practice because these riders were flying. I had about a one second window to start the pan and release the shutter before they were gone. These were all shot with SR off and manually prefocused. Hope you enjoy...comments always appreciated.











If you want to see more, here's the link to a slideshow:

Zenfolio | Slideshow | Scott A Miller

[sajmmiller]

Very well done in the panning still trying myself

cheers

Thanks Robert. I found the panning to be an enjoyable challenge.

All great shots, the first two in particular. Panning is a skill and looks like you got it down.

I appreciate your comment Dave. I'm looking forward to trying again...always room for improvement. These were handheld, most while sitting with an elbow pivoting on my knee; I think I'll try a monopod next time.

Really like these shots! #1 and #3 are my faves (love the 1st one with the brick background) and love the intensity on the face of the cyclist in the last shot! Well done!!

Some guys I ride with were there (racing for Jittery Joe's Development Team); one of them was 5th GC after the first two events and then he and a teammate were taken down hard on the last day by a youth rider who couldn't hold his line. One of the guys ended up taking a ride in the ambulance b/c he went endo and hit his head hard - if not for his helmet (destroyed during the spill), he might not be here today.

Lou,
Glad you liked the photos. Sorry to hear about your friends being taken down by an inexperienced rider. Hope they recover quickly. Thanks for looking and commenting.

[JMR]

Great shots. The first image strikes me as outstanding. That's one for the Pentax gallery.

JMR

[sajmmiller]

Five great shots, but I particularly like #1 because you've pretty much nailed the panning shot perfectly, and #5 because you've managed to capture the intensity of the rider.

Nice action shots!

Excellent!

Great shots. The first image strikes me as outstanding. That's one for the Pentax gallery.

JMR

Thanks for looking and commenting everybody. #1 seems to be the overall favorite and was my personal first choice too. I submitted it to PPG...hopefully it has enough artistic merit to be accepted.