Freestone Pictures

Here's what I got from last Saturday at Freestone. I put these in the Freestone thread in the racing section too, but I'm not sure if everyone looks there. I had an absolute blast. These guys/gals go so stinking fast!

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Non-Slideshow link


Were any other photog types there?


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Wow, those are great shots. Looks like you had an awesome vantage point and perfect shooting conditions.

What lens were you using for these?


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Kory. These are GREAT! Well done Sir!

Did you have any difficulty moving around with your camera, anyone challenge you? We you there as a spectator or were you invited with one of the competitors. I agree with Scott looks like you had great access!

Tell us a little about your equipment and workflow if you dont mind.

...and did you use flash on any of these?


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Very nice work!

Wow, thanks guys!

To start off with, it seemed like everyone and their 10 year old was there with a DSLR and a zoom lens. But, I'd venture to say most were shooting away in Auto... just like I was last year. I've learned alot since then though.

My longest zoom goes to 55mm (x1.5 on my cropped sensor D3100), so I asked a friend of mine if I could borrow her basic 55-200 f/3.5-5.6. Nothing special whatsoever, just a low end plastic lens. I mostly used this lens, but I did pull out the 35mm f/1.8 for a handful of shots. My 35mm shots came out SO much sharper and more colorful on the RAW files in comparison to the 55-200mm shots. I guess that's to be expected. In hindsight I should have thrown on my 50mm f/1.8 more. But, I'd say I stayed between 85mm and 150mm for most of the day. I really want to get my hands on a 70-200mm f/2.8 before the races next year.

No flash was used on any of them.

I was there just like everyone else and behind all the barriers. Anyone who goes there could get these shots or probably better. You can walk all the way around the inside and the outside of the track. It seemed twice as crowded this year when compared to last and everyone had their pop up tents for shade. These lined a good bit of the track.

My brother and I got there just a bit after 9. We put our coolers and chairs under a big tree in the middle of the track and used that as our base for the day. We spent the next 3 hours in the pits just walking up and down the rows and observing/shooting the riders.

Practice/qualifying was going on during this time. After the pits it was time for the motos to start. We'd basically stay in a spot for 5 laps or so and then move to another spot. We did this for the next 5 hours. The podium was put in the inner section of the track this year compared to the outside last year, and it was about 50 yards from where we put our chairs.

There were two main challenges: 1) The dust! It was windy (thankfully) and the whole time we were trying to protect our cameras/lenses as much as possible. It was also pretty warm. We were covered in dust/dirt by the time we left. Definitley had to clean everything when we got home. 2) The paid cameramen there. It was sometimes a chore not to include them in a shot because of course they are in the best spots getting their shots. I had to crop the Tomac finish line shot because I was sitting there for 5 laps waiting for it and at the last second a paid cameraman got right in my view and killed the shot I wanted.

I learned alot that day. Those guys haul booty and you better be ready to shoot quick. You have a small opportunity and then they're gone. I struggled with focusing most of the day. I feel alot of the 55-200mm shots are not sharp enough for my liking, but oh well. I took about 700 shots on the day. That night I first went through on the back of the camera and took out the ones I could easily tell were not in focus. That knocked out about 100. I imported them into lightroom and then started picking my favorites, taking out the uninteresting ones. From there I started editing, mostly adding some sharpening, contrast and a little bit of saturation and blacks. I try to keep my cropping to a minimum, but it's just necessary sometimes, at least I think so.

Motorcylce racing and photography.... yeah, it was a perfect day for me.

definitely many desktop worthy pics
great shots! wish I could have been there

Definitely some great shots Kory. You have a good eye and sense of timing.

The slide show was great. Most enjoyable and you are a good photog in my book. I can only hope to get some of those shots.