Ulster Grand prix
David nelson, northern
ireland Says… My two hobbies in life are motorcycle racing and photography. I am involved at club level with organising and officiating at motorcycle events in Northern Ireland. Over the summer I was able to be a spectator at the Ulster Grand Prix held at Dundrod. I used my EOS 760D and EF 70-200mm f/4l USM lens to capture some action shots. I mostly used manual exposure with Auto ISO and partial metering, as I needed a fast shutter speed for riders approaching at over 100mph. The only enhancement in Photoshop was slight sharpening.
Brian Says… You’ve captured a top class high-speed action shot with your 760D. I like the way you’ve captured a battle between the two riders. The 1/1250 sec shutter speed has frozen them and you’ve got enough depth of field for the pair of them, while reducing the detail from the spectators on the other side of the road.
I think you handled the exposure well, but some of the shadows are quite deep. You can’t move the sun, road or riders so you’re dealing with backlit subjects. Partial metering takes the exposure from the centre of the frame, so reads from the white and black painted fairing on the 666 machine. A different composition, all-white or all-black motorcycle would give different exposures, so I would meter from the road surface and use a fixed ISO.