Phillip Island GP 2011 Friday Practice (heavy)

[J.D.]

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[J.D.]

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[J.D.]

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Sorry that this stuff is getting repetitive (it's not a REPOST Wobbler, I swear!). As most of you know, there are only a limited number of places you can go to at a big meet like this. Not like the one Dex and I went to a few months ago.

To begin with, I can't take the battleaxe in there. The conditions of entry prohibit anything with a combined focal length of more than 300mm. I saw plenty of guys in there with Sigma 50-500mm lenses I just can't compete with. They get away with it because they don't look like anything too special. A shitty sitch. Yay for the blunderbuss.

Anyhow, my best for the day is number 11: that's Ant West in front but both bikes have their front wheels off the deck.

Does anyone know who that is on bike 17 (pic 7)?

Cheers for another year.

[Jiminee]

Awesome photos

[wobblysauce]

17 is Karel Abraham.
Cardion AB Motoracing


Had a little talk with Jorge and Ben at work tonight, both were saying that the isn't as much grip as last year on some sections.




So many people in the streets can't wait for the weekend to be over.

[Vilante]

Love em JD

[J.D.]

Many thanks for the comments guys.

I honestly find bikes a lot more interesting to shoot than cars.

Vil, I'd happily take advice on some of my processing. You can't see it here but some of it is starting to look a little bit nuked...

[Swain OHaw]

Shooting these bikes at the speeds they're doing round the Island must be difficult, especially with viewing restrictions. You've got some great moments coming out of the last turn - 13's definitely my favourite, you can see the guy desperately trying to keep it on, great shot ... were you single shot or bursting?

[wobblysauce]

Do you have any others.. or where you just down for the day?

[Vilante]

You can see it a little in Rossi and the Honda's JD but I kinda like it

I love #13 hanging off the side.

[J.D.]

were you single shot or bursting?

"spray 'n' pray"!

I'm not sure what was going on with the bloke on the Pons bike. I just hit the tit.

Vil, I used the same process settings for everything unless it was back lit. It went something like (Lightroom but ACR is the same) exposure maybe 1/3 stop, recovery maybe up to 20%, blacks maybe 5%, clarity, vibrance & saturation all 15% (I have stopped using saturation as of Sunday!). Sharpen 60 - 80% (the old blunderbuss needs it, the battleaxe doesn't), luminance NR 60% and then a -15% post crop vignette.

Anyone got any advice on this?

The only thing I changed with the backlit shots on the last turn was to up the white balance value, which is a much better way to do it than saturation.

[norbs]

Love them JD.

[Speed]

Fantastic shots JD & I really think you're pretty spot on with your processing too.

Not that you need it for these shots & you probably know anyway, (someone night find it useful), but when your sharpening in LR it's a really good idea to add some masking so that you don't sharpen anything but edges & don't accentuate any noise.
The way to do this is hold down the Alt key while moving the masking slider. The areas that are highlit white will be sharpened & nothing else. I mention it mainly because 60% luminance NR seems quite a bit. In portraits I mask up to around 70%. I also hold the Alt key when adjusting the exposure & blacks....again you probably know that already.

[J.D.]

Very helpful. Thanks Speed.

Thanks all, for your comments.

[J.D.]

Thanks. I've never tried the Smart Objects dialogue box. I actually use Lightroom for nearly everything now but it certainly sounds like it would be worth the effort.

Meanwhile, I thought this was worth reading, though:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/726816/0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Unfortunately, there are standard Fred Miranda forum trademarks with it but the basic discussion is worth reading.

[c.j]

Awesome JD! Have pinched the Ben Spies shots for my little web books wallpaper.

Top effort! You should send that pic of Westy to him.

[J.D.]

Awesome JD! Have pinched the Ben Spies shots for my little web books wallpaper.

Which one? 16 or 18? Tell me your resolution and I'll make a proper one for you.

Top effort! You should send that pic of Westy to him.

Not without the money!

[c.j]

Fair call.

Number 16 mate. I'd give both my nuts to have that bike.

[J.D.]

Fair enough. I'll send someone around to collect them.