Sports Show Motorsports

Hi. Not been shooting for a few month now, reasons which have prevented me, but thats another story.

Anyway I would like you collective opinion of the shot below.

Its from the BMRC Championship earlier i nthe year. It was one of the first meetings using the Canon 1Dx.
Now me technique still needs refining, freely admit that..
This image is heavly cropped and has been sharpened using Topaz Shapening AI, it has been slightly tweaked in post as well with saturation boost and tried to lift the shadows a little, tricky on such a dark subject and it is a jpeg.

So, collective: does it work, is it too proccessed, is the Shapening over done, is the crop a little to much, do I need to improve my panning?
Any other critisim welcome (expect about my spelling which is bad I know)
Thanks :)

No 22.jpg
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Knikki said:
This image is heavly cropped and has been sharpened using Topaz Shapening AI, it has been slightly tweaked in post as well with saturation boost and tried to lift the shadows a little, tricky on such a dark subject and it is a jpeg.

So, collective: does it work, is it too proccessed, is the Shapening over done, is the crop a little to much, do I need to improve my panning?
Any other critisim welcome (expect about my spelling which is bad I know)
Click to expand...
I have had a go at the post processing challenges over the last couple of years, and discovered through the submissions, of the same image, that different people have different opinions on how that image should look. However, each entrant has been happy with their submission, even though they may not have "won". That to me is the beauty of photography, we can look at the same scene and notice different elements but there isn't a right or a wrong final image .... there's just different.

I can't critique your image, Nick, but only tell you what I'd be trying to do with your image to suit my "taste".

I do heavy crops for jpegs too so nothing different there. The thing I'd be struggling with is lifting the shadows some more so that the rider's arm is more visible (black leathers in the shadows are not the easiest to see). Whilst I have Topaz Sharpening I seldom use it and much prefer DeNoise which reduces noise and adds less overt sharpening. If I haven't managed to capture the whole bike but am happy with what I've captured then I would add a bit of tilt up to a level where the rider's helmet would be looking ahead not down. But that is me.

All I can say is keep trying different things. You'll know when you're happy.
 
Part II :LOL:

@John King Hi thanks for the feed back. I have a similar image printed out at A3, its a big as my printer will go, hanging on the wall above me and it I really like it, I guess it would also look good at A2.

@kae1 Hi thanks for the feed back. I realise that everyone has a different idea about images, once sharpened and with a bit of a colour boost I like the image as it stands, and is going into a book I am creating. I was simple just curious about things :)
DeNoise? have herd of it but never played with it, might have to give it a look. Topaz is good but sometimes struggles with sponsorship/advertising logos on bikes/cars.

Image round II

This time, have tilted the image to make the riders look more ahead, however slightly hampered as the original image the bike/rider if fairly close to the bottom of the frame, there has been a bunch of "selective areas" messing with curves, levels, dodging tools to try and lift the dark areas, however the helmet is the one place where it is tricky.

Also compared with the first one I have not boosted the HSL as much so the reds are a little more "life like". Nope now boosted both HSL and White BalanceI have boosted

So, dear collective, better or worse?

Num 22 Part 2.jpg
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Last edited:
Knikki said:
DeNoise? have herd of it but never played with it, might have to give it a look. Topaz is good but sometimes struggles with sponsorship/advertising logos on bikes/cars.

Image round II

This time, have tilted the image to make the riders look more ahead, however slightly hampered as the original image the bike/rider if fairly close to the bottom of the frame, there has been a bunch of "selective areas" messing with curves, levels, dodging tools to try and lift the dark areas, however the helmet is the one place where it is tricky.

Also compared with the first one I have not boosted the HSL as much so the reds are a little more "life like". Nope now boosted both HSL and White BalanceI have boosted

So, dear collective, better or worse?
Click to expand...
I would recommend downloading a trial of Topaz DeNoise to see how you get on with it. I would just mask the bike and car and let the background stay unprocessed. I've not had much success with Sharpen apart from spot sharpening e.g. birds eyes etc. and on my PC it takes too long to process:sleep:

Personally I prefer Round II but that is my preference, Nick. As you mentioned the helmet is the tricky thing - any colour apart from black would have been fine, but a black helmet in the shadows is always a struggle. The tilt is also a personal choice - I sometimes experiment with even more extreme even to the extent of losing more of the bike. I'm currently away from home, but this is a quick example on my tablet. Num 22 Part 2_kindlephoto-21382487.jpg
Thankfully we all have different opinions of things, so it all comes down to personal preference.(y)
 
@kae1 WOW! that is a fair old crop, not thought of doing it that much but it has now made me think.

The image started out not sharp, just poor panning technique, basically, but please with how it has turned out after asking :)

Certainly most of the machines I use, except maybe the Canon 1D and OMD 5MkII will take that kind of crop and still remain a decent image.

Thanks everyone who commented :) it has got my thinking head on.
 
Just got round to editing some pictures from the BTCC round at Silverstone in September. Silverstone isn't a favourite track for me for photography as there's loads of catch fencing and you need a long lens. I'd gone with friends and we sat in the stands to watch the racing, so I didn't want to get in the way of the other enthusiasts so only took my small kit. However, I enjoyed the day and made the most of the close touring car races ....
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plus the support races ...
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and then wandered down to the paddock at the end of the day.
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Enjoyed my last meeting of the season at Donington Park to see some GTs and various vintage of touring cars. Still getting used to the EM1X and took my Olympus 75-300. This plastic fantastic is no substitute for my Olympus 40-150 f2.8 or Panasonic 100-400 but polishes up quite well with Topaz DeNoise and my arm muscles certainly appreciated the lighter weight ;).
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