British GT @ Brands Hatch

dunganick

dunganick

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Nick
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Yup, it's another BGT thread.

In short, one of the best weekends racing I've been to. Whilst i haven't been critical of Endurance racing - it isn't usually my favourite type of racing. However the British GT race on Sunday was one of the best races i have ever watched in person.

Anyway, here's a few shots from the weekend. As always comment and Criticism is welcomed!

1.

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2.

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3.

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4.

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5.

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6.

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couple or really powerful images in here. I prefer the close-ups over the blurred background. Too much blurred space being taken up in the photo. I would like to see a tighter focus on the still subject and just a little bit of blur.
 
Great stuff as per usual Nick. For me it's got to be #8, you know I love the behind the trees stuff even if it is becoming a bit of a norm for everyone. #2 & #3 are also excellent, great colours in those.

If I had to really be critical, I'd probably say that #7 has a bit of a busy foreground for it to work in my opinion, I just find the marshals quite distracting. Would have been good if they weren't there! I'd almost be tempted to Photoshop them out actually, I don't think it would be too hard considering where they are standing.
 
Gary said:
well you already know i like them :)

and yes, british GT has really come of age this year.. better than any other national series on 4 wheels IMHO
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Cheers mate :)

jickmagger said:
couple or really powerful images in here. I prefer the close-ups over the blurred background. Too much blurred space being taken up in the photo. I would like to see a tighter focus on the still subject and just a little bit of blur.
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Thanks, i do take more of these traditional shots. These shots more represent shots that are a bit different and I'm intrigued to see how they are received. Thanks for the feedback :)

Speedster502 said:
Great stuff as per usual Nick. For me it's got to be #8, you know I love the behind the trees stuff even if it is becoming a bit of a norm for everyone. #2 & #3 are also excellent, great colours in those.

If I had to really be critical, I'd probably say that #7 has a bit of a busy foreground for it to work in my opinion, I just find the marshals quite distracting. Would have been good if they weren't there! I'd almost be tempted to Photoshop them out actually, I don't think it would be too hard considering where they are standing.
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Thanks mate, i completely agree with 7, i was actually tempted to remove them - but thought i would chuck it on here as is. I will give it a photoshop and repost later. Nice to meet you on the weekend. :)

GAZA62 said:
Great set really different liking 2 a lot and 6 how many times have i walked or driven along that access road never thought of shooting there nice work
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Thanks Gaz, thats nice to hear - thats the sort of photos i really like. There are so many brilliant shots on tracks in spectator areas or access roads that get overlooked.
 
It's a difficult one Gary, truthfully it wasn't that different from what i usually do - obviously with BTCC i only get 20 min races but i'm only shooting a few of the supports. But specifically with BGT i loved having so much time to move around and that the brief required the style of images that i love to shoot.

All i would say is that not 'knowing' your clients or the championship they are racing in makes the job so much more difficult. It sounds stupid, but shooting driver portraits was very frustrating, particularly when there are shared cars. And trying to shoot shots that show the feel for the event depends on you actually understanding what is going on! Thankfully the BGT race required little explanation towards the end which made shooting relevant image nice and easy!

But it is all interesting compared to having to shoot off track coverage as i did a few weeks prior for a client which was very difficult and even more stressful.
 
dunganick said:
It's a difficult one Gary, truthfully it wasn't that different from what i usually do - obviously with BTCC i only get 20 min races but i'm only shooting a few of the supports. But specifically with BGT i loved having so much time to move around and that the brief required the style of images that i love to shoot.

All i would say is that not 'knowing' your clients or the championship they are racing in makes the job so much more difficult. It sounds stupid, but shooting driver portraits was very frustrating, particularly when there are shared cars. And trying to shoot shots that show the feel for the event depends on you actually understanding what is going on! Thankfully the BGT race required little explanation towards the end which made shooting relevant image nice and easy!

But it is all interesting compared to having to shoot off track coverage as i did a few weeks prior for a client which was very difficult and even more stressful.
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it sucks even more when you are doing Jon's FFord customers lol
 
dunganick said:
Thanks mate, i completely agree with 7, i was actually tempted to remove them - but thought i would chuck it on here as is. I will give it a photoshop and repost later. Nice to meet you on the weekend. :)
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I think it'd look really, really cool with them removed. Would remind me of one of those cool kind of rig shots you often seen in computer games - I'd definitely give it a go sometime if I were you. And I agree, was great to finally meet you! Maybe see you at a BTCC round sometime. Maybe. :)
 
Quite a few of these I'm not sure on mate due to "clutter" in the frame, but as always I commend you for giving something a bit different a go. I have never seen angle of #6 before, so congrats on finding something new :) I'm not 100% sure on it but I'll give it a big (y)

And yes the BGT race was brilliant. Best GT race I've seen.
 
Cracking stuff Nick.

People here talking about clutter... Brands is all about clutter, there is junk everywhere. Its not like its prestine Dartmoor or the Lake District!

Anything thats a wide shot will show it - fair enough to crit about background crud in a tight shot, but not wide.

Marshals in the pitlane?! Of course there are damned marshals in the pitlane. Take them out and it just looks like a boring old track day.
 
dunganick said:
Here we go:

11.

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haaaa you just brought me back to my essay about manipulating images, and what I can say is that removing marshals is a nasty thing to do Nick:LOL:

anyway I do like 1,4,5 and 9 although on 9 the foreground seems a little to dark to me, not sure whether its my screen.

in number 3 I would have cropped the blue car out as I don't think you need it in the frame and found it to be quite distracting IMO

didn't know you were there, been very busy during that weekend I didn't even have time to eat:crying:
 
desantnik said:
Cracking stuff Nick.

People here talking about clutter... Brands is all about clutter, there is junk everywhere. Its not like its prestine Dartmoor or the Lake District!

Anything thats a wide shot will show it - fair enough to crit about background crud in a tight shot, but not wide.

Marshals in the pitlane?! Of course there are damned marshals in the pitlane. Take them out and it just looks like a boring old track day.
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I agree to an extent but I will back up my point. For sure showing the wider picture can really create a great image. But for me (as an example) white panel vans in the frame (although blurred) don't add to the shot. As you well know it's all about opinion, there's no right or wrong. I actually think the edited shot without marshals milling around just works a bit better. But there we go :bonk::bang::LOL:
 
I think if we're not careful here we are in danger of actually having a meaningful discussion on this forum :LOL:

There isn't any right answer here, i'm always keen to point out i try to only post up images i want feedback on - so this feedback is gold. It is also interesting to hear different peoples takes.

I tend to agree with Andy, although i have to say i prefer the Marshall-less image. Although Post production for me doesn't go past a batch edit and crop, cloning stuff out isn't my game.

It is also interesting how different people look at different images, I see the Vans in #2 as simply a colour. I have the same shot with an empty part of the paddock but feel it leaves the image with a big hole in the middle of it, although your eye is more drawn to the car. Plus with the crop on image 3 - i didn't even see the blue car until NFI pointed it out! Now i can't stop noticing it.

On another note - i am surprised nobody has mentioned the severed torso that i seem to of photographed in image 7. Apparently arms are not a prerequisite for pit crew in BGT!

Here is the shot without the cars in the paddock.

12.

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dunganick said:
I think if we're not careful here we are in danger of actually having a meaningful discussion on this forum :LOL:
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Steady now :LOL:

The truth is nobody is right or wrong. Anyway it's good to disagree every now and then :D

Your latest shot does look a bit sparse. Actually did similar shot/angle on Sunday. Not 100% sure on it but I do just find the white vans (and other random "clutter") in yours a bit distracting, sorry :bonk:

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Personally I dont see the issue with showing other bits in the frame.

Anyone can shoot a head on shot at 1/320 filling the frame nicely into druids.

The tracks are not a clean kitchen they are real, and showing that theres life and other interesting things off of the 20ft wide piece of tarmac shows this. The images what went on that day (shows the weather etc..) alot of shots could be any race over a few years with some cars using the same livery when its a tight crop.
 
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I must admit, usually I wouldn't say to Photoshop out elements. It's not really my thing to do, but #7 was calling out for something to be done to it, in my opinion. Yes, I know marshall's are part of motorsport and they show it was and event but the key point is that (IMO) they didn't add anything to the shot artistically (no offence intended, Nick). I thought that by them being placed relatively centrally in the frame and in combination with a relatively dull livery on the car it drew the attention away from the car to the other elements in the photograph. If that makes sense.

As I say, I don't usually mind clutter! I'm often being told about portaloo's in the backgrounds of my shots and similar items, I've even been known to pan through one before, it's not something I often spot. I just concentrate on trying to achieve a certain effect. I think that in the case of the two slow pans of the GT-R I didn't spot the vans or the blue car until Az pointed them out.

And I can't even spot the severed torso in #7...
 
Scary that we've had a discussion though ;-)
 
Speedster502 said:
I must admit, usually I wouldn't say to Photoshop out elements. It's not really my thing to do, but #7 was calling out for something to be done to it, in my opinion. Yes, I know marshall's are part of motorsport and they show it was and event but the key point is that (IMO) they didn't add anything to the shot artistically (no offence intended, Nick). I thought that by them being placed relatively centrally in the frame and in combination with a relatively dull livery on the car it drew the attention away from the car to the other elements in the photograph. If that makes sense.
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Completely agree with this.

That being said, none of the shots prior to editing were 'bad', they were some of the most interesting motorspots pics i've seen in recent times as it happens!

I do prefer the marshalls / vans edited out though
 
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