More BMX shots

Last few weeks for the paying job have been long.  Lots of hours.  Big project stuff.
I wanted to head south to Ann Arbor to do a horse event the weekend, but just not feeling it.  Saturday was heavy cloud cover.  Today was much better, but still not feeling it enough for an hour drive.  Each way.
So, I went to the BMX races less than 5 minutes from the house.  That I could do.
Nice day out in the sun.
Today's event was not large.  Wasn't very crowded.  But everyone has fun.
I won't get into the popular debate these days of whether or not the National Anthem should be played before events.  I'm old enough that every competitive event I've been to has always started with the National Anthem.  I'm OK with it.  That will not change, for me.
For the BMX races, the Anthem is played while racers can opt to do a lap with an American Flag.  How cool is that?  I think the younger racers really like this.
The Flag lap.

The Flag Lap

NIKON D500 Ver.1.20/24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8

75 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 180 (AUTO)

EV +0.33, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

This is the first outing with the new 27-70 on the D500.  In the end, I didn't use this combo very long.  It worked in this case because I was right along the track.  But the max reach of 100 mm doesn't work many other places.  The best combo seems to be the D780 and the 70-300.
This time out I staked out a new location.  There are three major turns in the race.  I was going to stake out the exit of the last turn.  Not always the best for sun angle.  But with today's overcast it was livable.
There is good action in this turn.  It is a good chance to get more than one rider in a shot that is not straight on.  The issue can be that since this is the third turn, the field of racers has expanded.  Like in air racing, the front end is often decided by the half way point.  But the action for other positions can be more interesting.
This is the type of shot I like, three subjects in the frame.  I like that with aircraft, I like that with cyclists.

Stars and Bars Turn

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

155 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 320 (AUTO)

EV +1.0, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

These two were in a higher age bracket.  It was fun to watch them through the race, thinking they might be close when they came to the last turn.  No disappointment.

Two Exiting the Turn

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

155 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 320 (AUTO)

EV +1.0, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

And no trip to the park is complete without some air.  And some hair.  This is from a different angle, but not bad.  Wouldn't be a bad position with the monster lens.

Air and Hair

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

300 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000 (AUTO)

EV +1.0, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

Good day to be out and about.

BMX - Big Air

Back in the early 70's I had my own flirtation with big air.  And maybe a touch of big hair as well.  The big hair stories will have to wait.
First big air was on a dirt bike.  I learned that speed wasn't ans aspect to be ignored.  You had to hit the speed right for the best landing.  And you only learn this by going over the line.  Too fast and miss the landing.  Bounce would be a nice way of describing what happened next.  Aside from jumping dirt bikes, I'd also get big air on the ski slopes.  I would jump the huge mounds of snow beneath the snow makers.  Same laws of physics.  
So I have respect respect for those who go for the big air.
At the BMX track there is a path that one can choose to get what I would call big air.  Most choose go to around the area.  But for those who don't.....

Big Air - One Rider

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

140 mm, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 280 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

Big Air - Two Riders

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

165 mm, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 280 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

Big Air - In the Race

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

140 mm, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 280 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

Richfield Park BMX

As in the 1971 Monty Python film, "And now for something completely different".
Started as kind of a crappy Saturday for me.  Lots of odd hours for the paying job last week, so I slept in a bit.  I wasn't enthused to go to the Refuge,  I missed the early morning feeding activities.  I thought of a road trip, just to get out of the house.  Too nice to stay at home all day, I left for the Refuge around 2:00.  I hadn't seen early afternoon activity there, maybe something would click.  I bundled the D500 and monster lens and headed out the door.  See the mistake yet?
When I head out of the house, I usually (99%of the time) take the back up camera with me.  It would be the D780 with something on the picture taking end.
But I didn't.  Shows the mood I was in.
As I was leaving the home area, I passed Richfield Park, home of my oft photoed local Eagle.  I've known about the BMX park there, but never seen it used.  Today was different.  The BMX park was packed and in use.  And colorful.  This could be fun.
I thought my camera selection for this type of event was bad.  It was, but it was livable for a while.  I really needed something shorter.  The 350 mm on the short end took out about half of the action.  After a few shots, back home quickly to do it right.  
I returned for the last hour or so, the finals for the day, with a much better combo.
The day was a lot of fun.  No research on what to do or what to set.  All the mistakes of the past, home to roost.
I took 388 shots between the two cameras.  Only 21 were unusable due to missed focus point or subject miss.  I'll take that every time out.
I settled on 1600th of a second and f/6.3 for the afternoon.  Nice and sunny.  ISOs went from 110 to 900 with the majority of the shots in the 200 to 400 range.  I also settled on EV +1 after a few of the first shots.  I had some slight blowouts but nothing that was terminal.  The rest of the colors played much nicer.  No big clouds moved though, so the light was very even.  There was a slight breeze on occasion, but there are no camera settings for that.
Trying to select only 4 shots for today's blog was rough.  Like the first time I get a new subject, I shoot a lot.  I am getting better in that I don't have that many duplicates.  I was set up for 7 FPS and managed only 2-3 shots per effort.  Good control for me.  No happy shutter.
There were two shots that instantly stood out for me on reviewing the day's effort.  The first shot was a total mistake for me in that it all worked.  Got the whole subject, very little cropping needed.  And in focus.  Very rare for me.  In the air, just right.

BMX - In the Air Just Right

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

300 mm, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 500 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

At this point, not knowing any better I wasn't sure if the speed is too fast.  Wheels are frozen.  (Prop flashback)  If there was just a slight blur for motion reasons I think I'd be happier.  This is the only shot where the wheels are this visible.  Most other shots are more head on.  But for me, if I'm worried a bout a little tire blur the rest must be OK.
My second favorite shot is a bit different.  For the most part I was located at the top of a 180 degree turn.  Riders would typically come in low and drift up through the turn.  Sound like an easy shot, but I missed many.  In the space of a few seconds, you're going from max to min zoom.  Sounds easy.  But it is not.  I finally settled on just setting up for the turn shots.  And that worked.
To me, this is the best overall turn shot.  There is the elusive 'story' in those faces.

Two into the Turn

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

170 mm, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 220 (AUTO)

EV +0.67, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

First, the miss.  The rider behind is the focus point, not the near rider.  That is not creative license.  If the front rider's helmet was all dark, I wouldn't notice it much.  On the good side, this has more 'subject' than most of my shots.  The faces are GREAT.  The blue sunglasses, awesome.
When the starting gate goes down and releases the riders to the coarse, between 2 and 6 riders head for the first 180 degree turn.  To get there the riders must go over three mounds.  This will separate a few of them, but sometimes you get two or three to crest the last mound at the same time, or close.  Some of the older, more advanced riders will get 'air' over this mound.  And then some just plain show off.

Air Something

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

135 mm, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

Lots of color in these shots.  I'm so used to lesser options that you would find in nature.  Seeing numbers on the histogram that are new.  It's all good.
The last shot for the day is with the monster lens, and riders coming right at you from the start line.  This was interesting to me, a sense of distance.  And I needed to get something from the D500 in here.

Three at the Start

NIKON D500 Ver.1.20/200.0-500.0 mm f/5.6

465 mm, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 220 (AUTO)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Great day, lots of fun.  Chance to chat with people.  Lots of new types of shots.
There is an event next weekend.  I'll be working the paying job, but may be able to sneak out for a few hours.  Have ideas for different shots.  Looks like people can go almost anywhere to take shots.  Already thinking of what to do next.
I'll have more posts this week.

Hunter/Jumper Event - Woodbine Farms

This is turning out to be the summer of getting to know your horse(s).  Not that it is a bad thing.  
This past weekend I was able to spend a few hours at a hunter /jumper event in Ann Arbor.
As this was the second time I've been there, I was really looking to improve on the overall quality and variety of my shots.  Last time out, technically the shots were OK, but once I got home I know there were some lessons to be learned.
I spent just over 3 hours there.  The forecast was for rain in the afternoon, and it was correct.  That covered the Novice class - and as such I saw only a limited number of riders, multiple times.  The other event that started just after noon has the riders jump as many gates as they can in a  certain amount of time.  It's a little faster then the Novice class events.  I like them both.
One of my 'experiments' for the day was to see if there was any real difference between  the D500/70-300 combo and the D780/200-500 combo.  Aside from the weight difference, both took excellent shots.  That being said, the monster lens gets heavy very quickly.  Next time, I'll have a monopod at the least.
One of the nice features on the D780 is you can select a 16:9 size format in the optical view finder.  That's generally what I end up formatting to for the monitors.  A number of my shots were in this format.  It's a lot easier to frame the shot, instead of remembering to keep enough space above and below in the frame that will be removed later.
Speaking of cropping, for this event I didn't end up cropping much.  I tried to get a lot tighter.  And, I also missed a number of shots due to missing part of the entire object.
Here are a few from the day.
I like this shot for the position of the horse's head.  The rider is looking in one direction and the horse has other ideas.  Spoiler alert, the rider was correct.

Rider Close Up

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/200-500mm f/5.6

240 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

Not that I know a lot about horse breeds, but I do know when one isn't brown.  Not sure what this is called, but I like it.  Marble?

Jumper

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/200-500mm f/5.6

270 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 560 (AUTO)

EV +1.33, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

I'm going to run out of names for these shots.  A lot of 'Jumpers'.
So now we're into the upper ring where the action is a bit faster.  I keep hearing that the best photos are when the horse has all four off the floor and even over the jump.  But I like the 'launch' shots.  And more of a head on shot.  I always thought, not being around the sport much, that the horse and rider would always be symmetrical.  But they are not, thankfully, and the position of the horses head vs the legs vs the rider give each jump a bit of personality.

Jumper

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/200-500mm f/5.6

240 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 (AUTO)

EV +1.33, MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

Camera switch, the next photos are from the D500/70-300 combo.  The actual reach is around 450 so the combos are very close.  I can tell a little difference in the post processing.  The D780 processor is a newer generation and I hope I'd see a bit of difference.  But in the final product, tough to tell.
Still in the upper ring, I like the shallow launch.  Shows speed.

Jumper

NIKON D500 Ver.1.20/70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

277 mm, 1/800 sec, F/5.6, ISO 220 (AUTO)

EV + .33, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

The next two shots are a set.  And a bit of a story.  
Photography is of interesting things.  For today, it is a horse and a rider going over a jump of an extreme close up.  Some of the jumps don't always go as planned.  Even what I would call the good combos sometimes miss the mark.  In my opinion, it's not a bad thing.  When a horse says "I ain't doin' it", it might be for the best.  The combo does a number of jumps in a short amount of time, and the majority of the time, the combo is successful.
But when they are not, it can be an interesting shot.  The angles are really good.
And the second shot of the set is for equal time, this combo was pretty good.

Jumper - Halt

NIKON D500 Ver.1.20/70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

277 mm, 1/800 sec, F/5.6, ISO 360 (AUTO)

EV + .33, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Jumper

NIKON D500 Ver.1.20/70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

292 mm, 1/800 sec, F/5.6, ISO 320 (AUTO)

EV + .33, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

This is just about everything I look for in a shot.  Launch position, four off the floor and the horse's head appears to be just off center.  
I noticed in all the shots, there is dirt flying.  Lots of times in places I don't expect.  When I zoom in to check for focus, I see a lot.  First I thought it was contamination of the lens.  Then I took a breath.  And cleaned the lens anyway.

B17 Yankee Lady in the Wild

About the only thing going for me as an activity these days is attending horse related events, either barrel racing or hunter/jumper.  And today was no different for a Saturday.  I had plans to go to Ann Arbor for the morning to photograph a H/J event.  And only for the morning, as it looked like rain was forecast for the early afternoon.  If nothing else, I am a weather wimp.
I had some things to work on to improve my efforts from last time.  Mostly, I was looking to improve my backgrounds.  A lot of the 'good' shots I had last time have vehicles or buildings as a background.  I thought it took way from some good shots.  The way the event is set up, there will always be some form of background but spectators and other horses fit in better.
Next I wanted to work on varying shots.  Last time out, most of the shots came in three flavors.  
And to help accomplish this goal, I brought in some help.
Looking at the efforts from last time, I found that a number of shots were over 200 mm.  I should be able to put the monster lens on the D780.  That was one combo.  If I put the 70-300 on the D500 that would give me almost the same reach at the long end, and some room on the shorter end.  
And, is there a noticeable difference in the combos?
And why is the title of this post something about a B17?  Am I missing air shows so much that I'm seeing things?
I had been at the event for almost two hours, when I heard the sound of low flying piston engines.  Engines, as in more than two and not moving that fast.  Nothing sounds like straight pipes in the air.
And, probably less than two miles away and I'm guessing at 1200 to 1500 feet above the ground was the Yankee Lady.  Had to go to a horse show to get my air show fix.
The Yankee Lady is based out of Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, just over 20 miles to the east of where I was.
The Yankee Lady in the Wild:

Yankee Lady in the Wild

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/200-500mm f/5.6

500 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 (AUTO)

EV +.33, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

Yes, there is a lot wrong with this.  Shooting a prop subject with something other than prop settings will do that.  I was also shooting with a +EV setting for the overcast in the horse jumping area.  Spare me the obvious criticisms.  I got to hear 'the noise'.  Nothing else matters.
One of the other funny things I noticed, or funny to me anyway, was that only one other person I could see was looking at the aircraft.  He was an older gentleman, and he had some scoot going to get his camera ready.  I'm thinking he knew what it was.