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Following on from my latest sporting event I recently took another opportunity to get straight back into the saddle and carry on attempting to hone my photographic skills and improve my knowledge by putting into practice the things I read about regularly. Now the blog title and pun might lead you to believe I was off to the 3.15 at Aintree but quite the opposite, this is a different type of beast and one that comes in the form of two wheels and a 600cc engine! The sport in question is Road Racing. It's slowly becoming a dying breed due to health and safety regulations amongst other factors here but it still has a mass following in Northern Ireland. The fans congregate from far and wide to experience the smell of burning rubber and listen to the distinct sound of brakes locking and riders risking life and limb as they hit break neck speeds of up to 200mph while careering down the narrow country roads. There's nothing like it and if you ever get the chance it's an event you don't want to miss when visiting the Emerald Isle. You can find out more about the event here - Cookstown 100 This is the opening Irish national road race of the season and Northern Ireland’s Michael Dunlop stole the show with a stunning Superbike double. Guy Martin fought hard in his duels with Michael but Dunlop clinched a Cookstown 100 double, with victories in the 10-lap feature race and the Open event. He also broke the course lap record on three occasions on the way to overhauling early leader Guy Martin in the main race of a sun-drenched day. The crowds turned out in their droves and I hate to say it but the weather hasn't been as good since and that was almost a month ago! Godamn you global warming....maybe these bikes don't help either. For the motorbike aficionados next up on the cards is the North West 200 on the 18th May with practice nights this week. It looks set to be one of the most closely contested for many years and has attracted the biggest names in the sport. Hope you've enjoyed my selection of images and a little bit about the day itself and for the photography geeks these were all shot handheld, jpeg and edited in LR4. Some might not like the processing or the style of some of the shots but that's how I see things and how I'll remember the day. You either like them or you don't but as my photography journey continues I'm slowly learning that people's opinions are entirely subjective and as such should be taken with a pinch of salt unless you have specifically asked for input. Don't lose sight of that as you travel the route well traveled before you. All the Best, Nick.
Continuing on my photographic journey and the road of discovery I recently was given the chance to spend time with professional sports photographer and all round top bloke Russell Pritchard. If you haven't heard of or been networking with him then you've definitely being missing out! Up until now I'd only ever been in contact with Russell via Twitter and Instagram so I was slightly nervous about being out of my depth and spending the evening with a pro. This was shortlived however as soon as we met I immediately felt at ease due to his friendly welcome and typical Northern Irish nature. I knew right away that I had been presented with a great opportunity and was looking forward to getting into the thick of it. My weapon of choice for the evening was the Tamron 70-300, I say choice but that's not really true, because that's the only telephoto lens I have truth be told so it was either that or the 35mm and 50mm primes and they weren't going to cut it. Russell lifted out a travel box and a luggage bag and I thought he was about to take a flight out of the City Airport at that stage but once we got pitchside all was revealed as he pulled out the Nikon D4 and an RPG-esque Nikon 500mm lens. Now I know how most guys must feel when Ron Jeremy strolls into the showers but enough innuendos for now. So what did I learn I hear you ask. Right away he was weighing up the the best starting position before a ball was even kicked and I'm not talking just about where the best light was but things like where the teams would celebrate if they scored a goal and the likely route they would take during that victory wheel, something I hadn't considered at all up until then. We were just getting ready for the teams to make their way out when he discovered that there was to be a guard of honour for the league champions so instantly he had to switch out to another lens and jump into action for the unexpected shots. I watched from our starting point as you can see and it was another lesson learnt in making sure you know your kit and settings inside out as there was no time to faff about with camera settings as this all happened in about two minutes flat. The sign of a true pro I'd say. By the time the coin toss was complete Russell had his MacBook fired up and was ready for the next set of events that might unfold. Needless to say we didn't have to wait too long and Glentoran striker Andrew Waterworth fired the home team in front. I managed to grab a shot of the goal but shutter speed was a little slow and the shot wasn't sharp enough as you can see but this was something else that Russell put me right on shortly afterwards. Like the enthusiast I am I then began chimping my capture but it was shortlived as a raised and fairly excitable voice soon caught my attention. It went something along the lines of "Nick...what are you doing?....Why's that camera not up to your eye!" but by the time the penny had dropped and the camera was raised again I had missed the key shot and like the cat that had got the cream Russell explained exactly what I had just missed and how important it was as far as sports photography goes. I should have known better too because it was actually something I'd read about in a book called Mr Paparazzi by celebrity photographer Darren Lyons. Needless to say his shot was all over the net by the time I had got home that night. As well as trying to keep one eye on the game Russell was busy getting his shots wired through while I was still thinking about the one that got away. It was interesting to see just how fast paced everything was and trust me there's no time for photoshop and tweaking to perfection in his line of business. Another great insight into how things are done live in the field and when the pressure is on to get things right with only one chance generally speaking. Right the way through the first half my mentor for the evening was asking questions and correcting me along the way and was constantly giving me plenty of tips and sound advice. First half done, fed and watered we adjusted our position slightly for the second half and by this stage the light had changed completely as we were now relying mainly on the floodlights. Earlier we had already covered various things including white balance and Russell gave me another tip to use the Fluorescent setting which was working perfectly for him however it produced some strange results on the D7000 so I switched back to AWB and all was well in the world again. It was strange to see just how differently the two cameras handled it. The icing on the cake however was yet to come as Russell decided he'd completed his objectives for the evening and passed on the D4 and left me in charge of the cannon. His only words of advice at that stage "Don't drop it!". Needless to say it was out of my league but yet again I learnt very quickly from it as I soon discovered you had to start thinking more about where you might get a shot or what could happen next and how to get the camera ready for where that action might unfold. Russell kindly sent those images through and for those with a keen eye you can see the difference straight away as far as image quality goes. All in all it was a brilliant experience and something I'd like to pursue again. I'd really love a better telephoto lens as I know the focus on the Tamron is pretty slow having had my hands on a Nikon 70-300mm lens previously when I had my D3000. Even on that body the two lenses were like chalk and cheese but I think I still managed some reasonable shots with the current set up so onwards and upwards as they say and I'll keep clicking and learning for now. Finally I'd like to add a special thanks to Russell Pritchard for his time and ongoing support. There aren't too many genuine people left these days who are willing to give up some of their own time, effort and expertise but he did and I'm truly grateful. Maybe in years to come he'll be the guy that I'll be telling stories about and I'll get to pass my knowledge on too. Cheers Russell ;) Just trying my hand this morning at editing with curves again with a shot I'd taken of Chris. Kind of getting the end result I'm after but not quite there yet. My TV probably isn't the best monitor to use when editing images and it certainly isn't calibrated but you have to work with what you've got. David Nightingale makes this work look effortless but some of his end results are far from that. For now I'll keep clicking and practising. You can see the before and after below.
Very short selection of images I captured on the way to work on Saturday morning, little bit of anything and everything that caught my eye. Lovely being up and about early with less people about to stop and stare at you for no reason whatsoever. I'm just taking photographs and I enjoy it!
I was leaving work the other day and as usual camera was in hand and this was literally a grab shot of one of my mates. Now it's not meant to demonstrate great light or beautiful portraiture but the reason I'm sharing it was because it made me think. Oh dear this could get painful! The shot taught me a couple of things, let me explain. Even though we were messing about he was clearly camera shy so you can quickly see what it's like to be on the receiving end. The other thing is that the more I look at this shot the more I actually like it because of the story it tells me and maybe others. The 'Photo Bully' title actually came about because this ended up looking like one of those ads for that type of campaign. Keep clicking ;) Need to take time and spend a proper evening around Belfast taking some shots. These are a couple images from the back end of another little project I'm working on.
Challenge N°44 Sunday 24th March 2013 Nikon D7000, 50mm lens ISO200 f/18 1/100sec Challenge N°44 Sunday 24th March 2013 Nikon D7000, 50mm lens ISO400 f/16 1/250sec Challenge N°44 Sunday 24th March 2013
Nikon D7000, 50mm lens ISO200 f/11 1/200sec Couple of cliched shots but you don't learn from just reading about it and looking at everyone else taking pictures. Both shots with off camera flash and edited via LR4 and Snapseed.
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