The organisers at Xtreme Wheels are a pretty media savvy bunch of people, heck cheif organiser Dan Welberry runs 3t Creative the Design and Marketing company behind 4 times European Top Fuel Champion Andy Carter, so to say he knows a thing or two about media would be a under statement.

Asked to shoot the show for marketing and promotional purposes for next year’s show and to also give them a strong set of picture to push out to editorial interests. Its a unusual way to work but it certainly does hold benefits for all parties!

Anyway enough Jibber down to the pictures

I always like getting up and out early to grab clean images at car shows as its always quite and you get some nice light

The Show had some pretty special guests for a book signing, see how many you can name.

Car shows are often really segregated Vw shows for the VW guys hot rod shows for the Hot Rod Guys and so on, Xtreme really went out to break the mould with a mix of everything

They had Dragsters

Hot Rods!

A lot of hot rods !

Heck even the odd camper

Along with the static show there was also a demo Arena that was busy all weekend again with a real mix of machines

.

And Plenty of Big Burn Outs

Which saw the spectators disappear into a cloud of smoke. . .

Unfortunately the entire weekend didn’t go by incident free, as both Dave Grabham and Vince Gibbs miss judged the conditions

Needless to say the crew were a bit upset

Did a mention that there was a monster Truck? No Well there was one of them too! and it did what it does best crushed a load of cars. . . . . .

. . . . . and generally made a mess

Anyway down to business!

Clicked off way too many photo’s however I was desperate to try and get something different. That was my own personal battle. The track busy hosting many battles no more so that in Top Fuel which saw Urs Erbacher back from america and on the best form in  years setting a New European Record and taking the event win. What a better way to start his assault on the title than taking the first win in reigning champion Andy Carter’s back garden.

Another very personal battle that was taking place was John Bradshaw’s bid to get the skyline  under the 7.57 held by Heat treatments in New Zealand and set a new world record,  not contempt with going a thousand or so under  the record hea 7.45 putting it firmly in the hands of the brams racing team.

Anyway enough about battles and lets get down to what were all here for, the pictures !

Friday saw nice skies and thusly prompted a barrage of text’s to my phone asking if I had the clouds on special order, the answer is no I don’t however it would be rude not to use them seeing as they had made a effort to turn up!

I really like shooting some of the slower classes you can really push your self on the shutter speed

Some times you can push it a little too far

No too sure if it works or not, thoughts?

Saturday saw me again with other priorities, the joys of being a freelance photographer, however apparently I didn’t miss much as it rained, the super pro guys (and girls) didn’t like the idea of a swimming pool so set to clearing the pits

Sunday Saw me play around with some different things, not saying these all work. Some do , some just don’t and a few need a little polishing before the angle is nailed. Thoughts and options are welcome, drop me a comment at the bottom

If you haven’t already twigged the above were all taken from spectator points

By the time I got to the top end the sun was setting fast, not intrested in shooting the stock YAWNSVILLE head on parachute shot like every one does I threw the 16mm on (I’m a punk, I know) and tried to work with the low light that was around.

Yet another picture ruined by the copyright but unfortunately some people don’t quite understand that this is my living and feel its ok to steal my pictures, so until they learn it’ll have to stay. Anyway rant over . Love the shot above the way the sun lights up the chute and rim lights the car . So much more interesting than the dull head on shots like

However the good news is the watermark doesn’t block the shot so its not all bad. . . . .

A quick lift thanks to Anita Makela and I was back at the top end, not wanting to produce the same 3/4 shot as the rest of the guys that were on the start line I looked to really push what available light there was. A few quick adjustments and I have some beautiful colours to play with

A Quick tip! When shooting anything its always well worth thinking about recent news items or developments. In america one of the tracks no longer  allows team members in front of the car during burn outs, So I made sure to shoot something local that relates to this news, you never know when it might be needed

Due to the very dull condition header flames were pretty apprent all weekend which was nice as nothing beats a set of  8ft bunny ear’s on a fuel car

I’ve really wanted for a while to get the close up 3/4 behind shot as they launch off the line headder flames cutting across the image into the dead space. Knowing I had everything in the bag by the time the quarters Came round I gave it ago

My picture of the weekend has to be Dan larsen burning out against a setting sun. Which for me just sum’s the event up perfectly

Neutral Density Filters, are nothing more than a tinted pane of plastic, glass or sometime resin but what do they do?

There not complicated regardless of what some people say, just think of them as sunglasses for your Camera. The tinted glass simply reduces the amount of light getting to the lens and then the sensor. Which means you can do two things, one use a slower shutter speed and two shoot at a smaller F-Stop,

Practical Example !

Your off walking in the Yorkshire Dales (or what ever your preferred national park is) and  you across a beautiful scene of a lake with the sun just dropping between two hilly peaks. There is a gentle breeze rippling across the lake you decided that you want to blur the water using a slow shutter speed.

Unpacking the camera you dial in the settings F10 and ISO 50 which gives you a shutter speed of 1/4th slow but not slow enough. . . . . . . . Digging around in your bag you find your ND 0.3 Filter that gives you a exposure of half a second, slow but not slow enough, you dig around in you bag a bit more (its a big bag) and find your ND 0.6 that gives you a 1 second Shutter Speed, which you decided is enough to give you the look you wanted and you click away.

So instead of shooting at f20 to get a 1 second exposure and having to deal with all the nasty Dust spots, chromatic abrasions and the such like you have been able to shoot at f10 and still get the shutter speed that you wanted.

Strengths of tint

There are about 4 common strengths of ND Filters however you can get them up to and beyond 10 stops. Working out which filter you need is pretty simple as Neutral Density filters come in 1 stop differences.

ND 0.3 –  1 Stop Darker

ND 0.6  - 2 Stops Darker

ND 0.9 – 3 Stops Darker

ND 1.2 – 4 Stops Darker

And so on, so going back to the Practical example earlier if you want to loose 2 stops of shutter speed you’d use a 0.6 Neutral Density Filter. If you wanted to loose 4 stops you could use a nd 0.6 and a 0.3 together, it’s really that simple!

One Step Beyond

Neutral Density Filters don’t just come in solid tints they also come in what’s called a Graduated ND Filter these are Tinted at one end and not at the other with a gradual fade between the two. They allow you to do one brilliant thing and thats lower the exposure of the sky while keeping the correct exposure on the ground. giving you big fluffy clouds and plenty of detail in the shadow areas.

From left 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 ND Grads

The above shows how the three different ND Grads Effect the exposure, In conditions like this I would look at using a ND 0.3 just to under expose the sky a little and make it a nice deep blue.  However if you were wanting to go about it properly and not just gestimate like me the trick is to zoom into the foreground so it fills the frame and take a meter reading then zoom in on the sky so it fills the frame and take another reading, work out how many stops difference that is then select the most suitable filter(s), (you can also do the same by spot metering if you have this function available). Again I just gestimate where to position the filter but if you want to be exact about it. frame up the shot, slide the filter in step the lens all the way down using the DOF preview button, this will make the difference between the top and bottom of the filter very clear then slide the filter up and down till its spot on.

What to buy

Like everything in the world its very much a case of the more you spend the better quality product you get. Most filter company’s produce ND and ND grad filters but I’m a big Fan of the Lee Filters by far the best quality set up that I’ve used, however you do pay a premium for them. The other brand I would look at are the Hitech set ups however they can have a purple tint which is annoying to say the least.

Polyester or Resin

Again how much money do you have to spend, I don’t see the point of having £1,000+ lenses then putting sub quality filters on the front just to save 20 quid or so. Resin is best but Polyester will work if your on a budget. Be warned though the Resin can be brittle

Screw in or square Filters

Neutral Density Filters come I both square and Screw in, some people prefer Screw in and other prefer square, I prefer square for two reasons.

1. You only have to buy one to fit all your lenses

2. For the big filter sizes they work out cheeper.

Grads

Graduated Neutral Density filters on the other hand only come in rectangular  as you need to be able to slide them up or down to get the tint over the right part of the frame.

If you go for Square filters your going to need more than just the filters, your also going to need the required adapters to fit your lenses and also a filter holder .

Bellow is a list of what you’d need from lee (why aren’t these guys paying me?)  to get started.

The Foundation Kit

The Suitable Adaptor Rings

Although the filters come in a protective wallet I can’t recommend the Multi Filter Pouch enough,

and then what ever filters you want.

Images are everywhere, you can stick them on the Fridge, put them in a frame and give them a gift or you can even turn them into coffee mats.
However as a race team, they can do even more. Heck they’ll even pay for you to go racing if you work em hard enough.

Walking around the pits and reading comments on Facebook, Twitter and the such like people seem very interested in gaining sponsors, however they seem unaware of the leg work that needs to go into producing a product that is attractive to a sponsor.

You cannot just turn up at a sponsor’s doorstep and ask for money (well you can but it might not get you very far). You need to put the leg work in and prove to them that you can offer the exposure that you say you can. It’s all well and good being the fastest or the most successful but unless you can get exposure within the sponsor’s demographic market then it’s of no interest to them.
What do I mean?

If your sponsor is a local garden centre they are not going to be interested in coverage in Max Power magazine, however they are going to be interested in coverage from local / regional newspapers, magazines and websites.

Ok so its an extreme example but you have to ensure that you are able to offer the coverage that the sponsor will want.
At this point the question is normally, so how do I get the coverage that they want?
I’m going to concentrate on the more local sponsors that are available. If you do wanna go for the big boys your best bet is to go and talk to the guys like 3t creative that eat sleep and breath sponsorship (just look what they do for Andy Carter )
Before you can do anything the first thing you need to do is get the media on your side. Which is far easier than you would first think.
For the sake of this article I’m going to concentrate on local newspapers, however the same practice can be easily transferred onto any form of local media.
Once the football season starts to come to a close, local newspapers are normally crying out for content, pick up the phone and arrange to have a meeting with the sports editor, sit down with him, explain about the sport, (This is critical as a lot of the lack of publicity comes from a lack of understanding, for someone to write about it they need to understand) and also explain about why you are wanting the exposure .

Finally  leave them with a list (inc dates) of the rounds that you intend to be racing at and find what they want from you, it’ll normally be a brief run down of what happened and the ability to get in touch with you and the all important pictures, which brings me nicely on to my next point .

With newspapers (infact any visiual media) its all about the pictures, regardless as to how good the words are if the story doesn’t have a strong picture to go with the piece it can be pushed from a main page lead to a box or a nib (they’re the little snippets that fill the space around adverts), the best sorts of photos are ones that are full of ‘energy’ and really jump out the page, not the dull dull team stood round a car shot, and thats the secret to having a great relationship with the media
Case Study

Andy Carter FHRA NITRO NATIONALS Finland.

Two very different pictures which one do you think made the national press?

Andy Carter and the Lucas oil team stand around the car, bit of a dull photo innt!

Andy Carter in the Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster burn outs at the FHRA Nitro Nationals during the semi finals. Much better photo dont you think !

See the published image here

See what I mean the second image really makes the news piece.

Still not convinced?

Try this little test go to eurodragster , just scroll down and stop when something “catches your eye”,  I’m willing to bet  that the story or the headline didn’t grab your attention but the picture.

The brilliant news is that the high impact attention grabbing pictures that are best are not the exclusively for the big teams with the big money.

Through the archive(http://archive.modernpics.co.uk) not only do can you order prints but you can also download images. As a special offer for Non professional race teams, you can download images to be used in press releases (non direct commercial gain is to be made). Its simples, as that quirky looking meercat would say!

1. Search for the person you need
2. Click Add to cart
3. Click Downloads
4. Click Personal use
5. You’ll require Medium size images
6. Follow the on screen instructions to pay

Even better if you know you have a item in the press the following week and you need a picture, drop me a email (dom@modernpics.co.uk) and get in touch letting me know who and what you want, and I’ll sort you out with some media worthy images.

Before I close do you guys have any tips tricks or advice that you’ve used in the past? It would be great if you’d post them in the comments bellow and we can turn this into a really comprehensive set of tips on up’ing your teams visibility. Love to hear any success stories you have to boot.

My fingers have just about thawed out enough to be able to type after what was a very cold and windy 2010 Easter thunderball.

Due to some far less interesting commitments I only made it for the Sunday – Monday which turned out to be a bit of a blessing as rain halted play for the rest of the weekend.

On the subject of weather it was fast moving with clouds rolling in and out all weekend.

One moment nice fluffy clouds, the next

The next big thick chunkes of white dullness, which of course brings with it flat and uninspired light, not what we like at all !

Nothing like a biting wind troubling weather conditions to keep you on your toes!

Priority one during a season opener is to shoot stock of anything new or modified, one modifcation you couldn’t miss was Pro Mod 4350 Graham Ellis big bad super bird, last year it was in stock Tor Red this its in the Limelight Green , next year I’m hoping for the corporation blue !!!!!

quick tips about shooting stock

1. Shoot loose – give the editor room to crop it to fit

2.  Shoot non descriptive, don’t include any items that may date the photo, santa claus, easter bunny , event branding so on and so forth.

3. Keep it simple, non of this “arty stuff” just keep it plain and simple.

For the fuel cars I wanted to  explore slower shutter speeds with fuel cars to see if I could get both banks alight while maintaining a sharp car. I honestly expected to have issues with sharpness dropping from my normal Top Fuel Shutter speed of between 1250 and 1600 to a some what sedately 1/320th.

To my some what surprise I was getting sharp images, with both banks alight, a technique that I intend to put away for future reference when I get the opportunity to shoot at dusk.

At the end of last season I was talking about the 3/4 pan as a relatively easy way to add something more than the static launch shot. As you may recall if you read the FIA European Finals Picture post, I was mainly using it to animate the very sedate (can you call a 0.9 second 60ft time sedate?) launches off the pro stock cars, wanting to push my limits of my skills I slapped on the 70-200 and waited for the  Pro Et wheels up shenanigans of Rick McCann. For those that are interested this was shot at 1/60 at f16.

A favorite class of mine  has to be Street Eliminator, and there is nothing better than watching John Sleath or Colin Lazenby lays down a long smokey burn out, mix in some nice fluffy clouds and I’m one happy (if rubber covered) photographer.

Next was a some what long walk to the top end for more stock. All Shot at f5.6 at 1/800th

Back to the start line for the last few rounds of the ET ranks, got their just in time for the two english estates of John Atkinson and Chriss Issacs stage at Santa Pod

Super Pro Et 250 Nick Good pulls round to put in his final run of the weekend. Again trying to play with new angles and shapes, its different but I’m not sure if I like it or not, Thoughts?

Santa Pod are now using one of my many pictures on the back of the new santa pod lorry.

Pictures supplied by the great team at Santa Pod

2009 European Finals Santa Pod

Well me!

The Renault MSA young Motorsport Photographer of the year in the past has been won by some massive names in the sport, recent winners feature Jakob Ebrey, Drew Gibson and Glenn Dunbar , to name just a few. I honestly felt that I didn’t stand a chance for an award that has a history of being claimed by some big names.  However I got a call from organiser Ben Taylor early on 22nd of dec telling me that I had been chosen as the Renault MSA young Motorsport Photographer of the year 2009.

The awards were established in 2002 with support from Renault UK Limited,the awards are designed to recognise and encourage the new generation of motor sport reporters and photographers working within UK motor sport. A panel of recognised experts from the sport and the media will consider the applications and the eventual winners will receive their awards at the MSA’s star-studded ‘Night of Champions’ ceremony in January.

A great way to start 2010 I hope this is a sign of things to come! Now roll on the Main Event !

I haven’t been around for an while. I haven’t forgotten or moved onto better things I have just been with out internet and haven’t really been able to update the blog. I’m back online now (thank god how did we ever cope before).  I have a few things to share but a couple of them I’ve gotta wait till publication so keep checking back ( or subscribe on the right) as there will be updates coming!

As we draw ever closer to the end of the year I thought  I best put up what are my best pics of 2009 . 5 countries and 33 days spent next to the race track from the 1,000’s of frames that I took I think these are the best of the bunch.

If you wanna check out the best images from each round here check out the links bellow

Picture post from Springspeed

Picture Post from Main Event

Picture Post from The Summer Nationals

Picture Post from the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals

Picture Post from the FHRA Nitro Nationals

Picture Post from the Open Sports Nationals

Picture Post From the FIA European Finals

Picture post from the NSRA Hot Rod Drags

To finish my favorite images from this year has to be

What will 2010 hold? Who knows, more sun  and fast racing for sure but hopefully some night racing, a trip to america and a couple of other things if everything goes to plan but we’ll have to wait and see.

As some of you may be aware every year I do a calendar that features some of my finest photos from the last 12 months, this year’s is printed and up for grabs Printed on high quality 300gsm paper Hot Rod 2010 is a step beyond your normal calendar.

Priced at a £10 they are perfect gifts or cheep enough to stick up on the wall at work.

Only 100 will ever be printed so order now to avoid missing out

For more details and to see a preview of some of the images that it contains hit the link bellow

Hot Rod 2010 – The Calendar

Twice a year shakespeare country raceway sees a influx of nostalgia hot rod’s and custom cars all eager to play on the shiny quarter-mile blacktop hidden in the Stratford country side.

For me on the other hand its a opportunity to photograph some cool cars that are a little different to the norm you see on the track. Every year I do a calendar made up of some of the best Hot Rodding photography from the last 12 months , I’m very much of the belief that a hot rod should be used and abused and this event gives me the opportunity to grab some great shots of hot rods being well and truly abused.

Friday Night.

Before the racing even started I went to catch up with wild bunch racer and all round nice guy Chris Hartnell.

Lighting wise its dead simple brolly on just infront and about 3ft out of rear tire facing side on to the car. then a second light just in front of the car facing straight back to light up the front of the car. Bounce Cards and the such like where then used to add fill to shadows and the such like to help “sculpt the light”

The Sun was dropping all the time and I was fast running out of light. to round the night off I strapped the camera onto the car and sent Chris on his way

Saturday & Sunday

This weekend was a bit different to a normal one at the track as my main target was to get a nice set of images that I can use in the calendar

First things first its my epic fail for the weekend

Great shot but I just feel that it needed some fill light to make the car pop, but just look at the shape in that smoke, ohh well always next time !
There was some interesting lighting by the end of Saturday giving a great feeling of dusk and adding some great tones to the images.

Sunday I continued to play around looking for the unusual and the intresting

PWRD always do some great paint designs but I really love the way that wendy bakers logo reflects giving the image some extra pop something that really helps when your shooting on the shadow side of the car.

Not much in the way of words but some pretty cool photos !