Took my father-in-law and son (it was his birthday today) to Watkins Glen for the Vintage Grand Prix. Been waiting for this one all summer to test my panning skills and to also try out some of the things I learned after finally getting my hands on and reading Understanding Exposure. All in all I think I had a pretty successful day and we had a great time watching these classic race cars on the track.

All the images being posted were shot in manual mode at various shutter and aperture settings with cropping being the only editing, apart from some sharpening that Lightroom applies when exporting to webpage.

EXIF data should be contained in the photos.

Also forgot to mention this, all the on-track action was captured with my Tamron 70-300mm Di LD lens, mostly all shot at around 135mm. The walkaround shots in the garage and elsewhere were with my Sigma 24-135mm.











More pictures can be found on my site here: Vintage Grand Prix - Watkins Glen

[Scottnorwo]

what nice shots. awesome looking race cars. great job catching the fast moving cars. i like the neck to neck battle in the third shot.

[madmikess]

what nice shots. awesome looking race cars. great job catching the fast moving cars. i like the neck to neck battle in the third shot.

It was a very fun time. Each of the races was only 5 laps but there was plenty of action. One of the races, the lead car was lightyears ahead of the rest of the group, goes by the start/finish for the last lap... Next thing you know, the 2nd place car comes flying around to take the checkered flag, with the lead car nowhere to be seen. Guess he was pushing it just a little too hard. There was quite a contrast between some of the older cars that were a lot slower than some of the more streamlined fast cars and it made catching them in focus a challenge. I plan to catch another race somewhere again next year.

[Sailor]

A bunch of fun with these images. Great shots of great cars.

Jer

[MRRiley]

Great shots of some neat little cars. Well done!

Mike

[madmikess]

A bunch of fun with these images. Great shots of great cars.

Jer

Great shots of some neat little cars. Well done!

Mike

Thanks guys, I had a great time, it was my son's birthday and he loved all the cars so it was all worthwhile.

[TomK]

Excellent photos EXCEPT for one tip.
This especially applies to the car 51 shot.
I did the same thing at Watkins Glen some 30 years ago at a Gran Prix using
ASA 400 Tri-X film. Pan technique was just about perfect; shot at 1/500 sec.
Got great shots of static cars!
All looked like they were shot parked at 1/30 sec.
Good tip is to try some of them at a slower shutter speed to show some forward
motion blur to give a sense of speed.
Try it. It may not be to your taste or what you really want but try a couple anyway.
-TomK-

[goddo31]

Sounds like a great day, and you have done really well with your panning shots.

#3 is great! Well captured.
I'll have a look through your full gallery when not at work

[Ash]

Well panned captures.
Love the niche little vehicles...
Yeah, #3's great with the two staggered to each's sides.

[dycz]

Great shots mike... more.

[madmikess]

Excellent photos EXCEPT for one tip.
This especially applies to the car 51 shot.
I did the same thing at Watkins Glen some 30 years ago at a Gran Prix using
ASA 400 Tri-X film. Pan technique was just about perfect; shot at 1/500 sec.
Got great shots of static cars!
All looked like they were shot parked at 1/30 sec.
Good tip is to try some of them at a slower shutter speed to show some forward
motion blur to give a sense of speed.
Try it. It may not be to your taste or what you really want but try a couple anyway.
-TomK-

I know what you are saying, but I believe I was able to convey enough motion in the wheels and background to make the point. I would have liked to go a little slower with the shutter but I had a hard time catching the action with it too low. This was my first chance to really test out my panning ability so I think I did well considering. Thanks for the input, I do appreciate the constructive criticism.

Sounds like a great day, and you have done really well with your panning shots.

#3 is great! Well captured.
I'll have a look through your full gallery when not at work

Well panned captures.
Love the niche little vehicles...
Yeah, #3's great with the two staggered to each's sides.

Great shots mike... more.

The best part of catching #3 was that the driver of the nearer car actually found my pictures posted on another forum I frequent for pentax users and asked if he could make copies of my photos, giving me credit. It's great to have that kind of personal contact with the photos you take. Thanks for the kind words everyone.

[deadwolfbones]

I think the shot with the #5 car is the most successful, but these are all nice. Good work!

[scott-devon]

Beautiful beautiful cars...and very nicely shot! Thanks for sharing these, I love old british sports cars....now that I no longer own one and have to keep it running that is...

[madmikess]

I think the shot with the #5 car is the most successful, but these are all nice. Good work!

That's my favorite one as well. But I was certainly happy with the rest.

Beautiful beautiful cars...and very nicely shot! Thanks for sharing these, I love old british sports cars....now that I no longer own one and have to keep it running that is...

Yes, it was a real pleasure to see all these cars firsthand and watch them still alive and kicking on the race track.

[rayallen]

Great shots, Mike.
#3 is my favourite as my first car was an MG TC. But mine was red, not BRG!

Thanks for sharing. I wish I could have been there.