Well I sure had fun here.
big pix -
looks like the car has no driver ????
I wonder what Todd Kelly thinks of that?
MHD -
needs a crop... off the top and bottom for a stronger composition
Couldn't agree more but for the purposes of this exercise, I chose to leave the photo uncropped...
krpolak - you know far more about
PS than I. I agree about lifting the red, indeed in MS Office Picture Manager, when I edit - brightness & contrast, it does indeed enhance the reds and whites quite nicely, but as with MHD, I didn't want to alter those aspects of the photo. The purpose of the exercise was more to do with
2. Guess, if there is some post or not.
but also so I could get an idea whether people liked this image as it appears or whether the effect that has been created is too much.
digitor -
I think the giveaway is the fact that not all of the spokes on the wheels are blurred the same
Yes, that's interesting, isn't it... The top spoke in the back wheel does seem sharper, or "less moving" than all others... I am having trouble understanding that one myself but have one theory.
This photo is as it was taken. There is no editing whatsoever. The only thing I have done with it is opened it in MS Office Picture Manager and resized it to 800x600.
Where does the effect come from?
70mm focal length, f27, 1/30 second exposure. I would have preferred to have the camera tripod-mounted for this shot so I could track smoothly. Truth be known, as I was rushing, the camera was probably wobbling all over the place. Perhaps as I was panning, I had a bit of a twist happening. I did have the camera in AF-C, as I should for a moving subject (unless I have already sized up a point on the track that I want to capture the images and have pre-locked the focus).
But the real key as to why the effect is like it is - it was taken with a 70-200 VR lens. Kipper –
a) it looks near the pits, so I doubt they'd be doing any sort of speed there
This shot is taken on a "ride day" 2 days after the race. There were actually 2 passengers in the car as well as Tod Kelly, and I can tell you that as there were no officials, the car was doing a lot more than 39.5 kph in pit lane at the time this was taken. That's why I was rushing. I was pretty lucky to have been standing where I was to get this, and other photos.
When the car comes out of the corner into the starting straight and you're standing quite close as it goes by, it's quite something.
Back to the photo,
1/30 second exposure time shows I really was just having a play to find out how good this "VR" is. I think the main reasons for the effect is my rushing and as such, my inability to smoothly track the vehicle, and also my pushing the VR to beyond its capabilities.
Want proof -
Right click on the image and "Save as"... Put it on your hard disk, right click on the file and "Properties", Summary, and Advanced... There's all the specs on the photo.
There were spectators / other passengers waiting in the open pits behind the car. Then there was a closed garage where the registration desk was... Then there was the other open garage where people got into the car... here

By the way, the chap with the D2x at the front of the car is the official photographer for all the people getting rides, they each get a nice photo to take away with them.
He's the nice person that gave me a few minutes to play with the 70-200VR... 1st time I'd even
SEEN one.
And it was the 1st time I got to see one of these...

That was my highlight for the day - seeing a D2x and the 70-200VR, and getting a bit of a play with the VR lens. (I didn't get a ride).
By the way, he seems to be a bit over-equipped with that D2x - from
their site, down the bottom in the fine print...
Drivers on the day will be from the HRT "stable" and could include Mark Skaife, Todd Kelly, James Courtney, Jim Richards or Neil Crompton. No requests for specific drivers or front or back seat preferences will be entertained. Each passenger receives "hot" laps of the respective track, a Polaroid photo, a HRT cap and lunch with the drivers. Autographs are of course available from the drivers on the day.
And for anyone that missed some decent slow exposures of cars from race day...
Here