Photoshop Insider

Shooting NASCAR in Miami This Weekend

By Scott on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 2:40 am | updates.

On Saturday I flew down to Miami to shoot the Ford 300 (Part of the NASCAR Busch Series) with my buddy (and fellow Photoshop World instructor) Joe Glyda, and race photographer Mark Allias (the photo of Joe and I above was taken by Mark). It was just a beautiful day, with absolutely gorgeous weather, we had “All Access” media passes, so we could pretty much shoot from anywhere (and we did), and we just had a ball.

The track shots shown above were taken with my Nikon D2Xs using a Nikon 200-400m f/4 VR lens (from LensProToGo), supported with a Gitzo GM-3550 Mountainer 6X Carbon Fiber monopod (which is marvelous, by the way), and the shots in the Pits were taken with a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens. NOTE: most of the shots with the 200-400mm were taken in the D2Xs’ High Speed Crop mode (and they were all shot in Raw).

The daylight shots were taken at 100 ISO, but the race didn’t start until later in the day, and to keep my shutter speeds fast enough to freeze the action, I had to keep raising the ISO, first to 400 ISO around 5:00 and then to 800 ISO once the sun went down and the bright track lights came on.

I shot from a number of different vantage points (up high, at track level, and from in the pits themselves). Before the race was over, I staked out a position in nearly the front row of photographers over at Victory Lane, and was able to snap that photo you see of winner Jeff Burton holding up his trophy (while shielding my camera gear from the celebratory champagne/beer/Gatorade shower). Then I grabbed my gear and headed straight back to the airport in time to catch the last flight home.

I didn’t even get to look at my shots until Sunday evening, safely after my Tampa Bay Bucs put a “whompin’” on the Atlanta Falcons, to move two games ahead in our division (but hey, who’s counting). Anyway, here’s a few shots from the day (you can click on them to go to a page with larger versions). Thanks to Joe and Mark (who stayed to shoot the Ford 400 today), for hanging out and shooting with me. You guys rock!

Comment form for this post

^#1

Scott, that sounds like the most marvelous day! Great captures from the race as well! Must be really cool to get to go on all these shoots!

Erik Bernskiold on November 19th, 2007 at 3:17 am

^#2

Great shots! Don’t forget to reset the ISO on your camera.

Brian Norwood on November 19th, 2007 at 4:07 am

^#3

Amazing photos!

Magdalena Soszka on November 19th, 2007 at 11:05 am

^#4

Hi Scott,

I am officially jealous now. I can’t believe you were there. I went to Texas a couple of weeks back, but I didn’t have a pass like you did. Great shots my friend.

Mike

Mike on November 19th, 2007 at 11:21 am

^#5

Hey Scott

Great snaps. You certainly had your panning chops down. Given that you’re shooting in RAW at high ISO’s I’m curious as to how you integrate noise reduction into your workflow. I recall reading that you use a 3rd party plugin. I struggle with how best to employ noise reduction and at what stage (I use a Nikon D80, Lightroom, Photoshop, and have the Noise Ninja plugin and standalone).

Jay on November 19th, 2007 at 3:01 pm

^#6

Nuff said I guess Scott … fantastic shots!!! Keep ‘em coming :o)

All the best to you and yours,
Glyn

Glyn Dewis on November 19th, 2007 at 5:19 pm

^#7

Wow, another amazing shoot!

You get the best shooting trips EVER!

I’m waiting for the monday morning post “My Shoot on the International Space Station This Weekend”

Great stuff Scott and thanks for being such a great teacher. You have personally made me a better photographer and Photoshop user.

Adam

Adam Kaiser on November 19th, 2007 at 5:41 pm

^#8

Great shots Scott. I’m so jealous as I love Nascar and would have loved to be there and have such access to get such awesome pictures. Glad to see you’re back to using Nikon again as well.
I’ve asked this before, but nobody replied. How did you slim down? You look terrific and inquiring minds want to know. Thanks.

Roger on November 19th, 2007 at 7:31 pm

^#9

Dear Scott!

Many thanks for your books. (My last is PS CS3)
I like your excellent kind of writing and explaining. Never before it was so easy to work in Photoshop.
You understand to explain in a very funny and interesting way of doing!!!
(Or is it only the translation of your books into German? ;-))) )

Thank`s again and best regards from Vienna/Austria

Reinhard

donmoritzo on November 20th, 2007 at 7:12 am

^#10

Nice shots Scott,

Damm wish I had bumped into you there, I was working (shooting) all the races myself. I would have loved to thanked you in person for such a great set of tips and books that have changed the way I process my workflow.

Keep the tips coming…

Kurt on November 22nd, 2007 at 4:20 am