This is my contribution to Scott’s Assignment 15: Competition. It is one of the hardest assignments for me, and one that I enjoyed the most so far. I thought it would be interesting to photograph car racing, a sport that I knew nothing of. We visited the Hickory Motor Speedway on Sunday, the race usually held on a Saturday night and since this is the 35th Annual Bobby Isaac Memorial, it was held on a Sunday afternoon.
The Speedway looks very busy taken as is. My intention was to do panning, a technique that a camera is panned to follow a moving race car, the background is blurred while the car remains sharp.
Back under green flag conditions (75) Huffman and (11) Piercy continued to battle for the lead. The two ran side-by-side until the end making contact sending both cars across the finish line sideways.
The two were side-by-side on the final lap heading out of turn four when (12) McDaniel crossed the finish line only inches ahead of (43) LeFevers grabbing the win.
The Sportsmen Racing Classic division capped off the 35th Annual Bobby Isaac Memorial with the No. 99 of Todd Bradberry leading the field to the green for the 25-lap race.
Nye, a job well done… I drove pass this race track many times but never attend the race. Let me guess.. you guys probably the only asian folks at the race?
Hi seeharhed, there were other Asians there also, some are friends or family of the racers. The Asian populations are blending in well in this community. I wouldn’t watch a car race on TV, but would watch it live and taking picture of the race is more fun anyway. 🙂
A fine post, Nye – I like some of the last of your panning-photos – and of course the portrait of Lee: She is always a nice model 😉
Thanks truels, this is a great place to practice panning, each race is 150 laps so you can’t go wrong. 🙂
Wow! You sure put together an insightful post for someone who didn’t know anything about car racing. Very informative.
Thanks flandrumhill, the writeup from the speedway website helped tremendously and I’m glad I took many pictures.
I agree!
I can imagine how loud it would be at the race track. Good thing Lee has earmuffs. They look very cute on her. 🙂
Cambree, I think the earmuffs are more of a fashion statement to Lee than a real protection, and I’m glad she likes wearing them. The race track was loud and I was surprised to see many kids there, especially the little one and some don’t have earmuffs.
I am a race fan from way back (don’t ask how far, please) and know about this track. Several big time racers have gone on from here to very successful careers in NASCAR racing. I will have to make note of the names of the drivers you photographed here. You even got a classic wreck at the finish line.
Notice how much better your panned photos were when they were on the back stretch? When the subject and camera are perpendicular to each other, that’s when panning works best.
Scott, I had my camera set at f/5.6 in Aperture Priority for still images, and f/22 in Manual for panning that way I can switch back and forth real fast and not missing any action. It works well here, and I bet for any sporting events.
I was worried about panning sitting way back and saw how well it did right away. I never thought I would enjoy the race this much, and it’s a lot of fun to photograph sporting events. I have to get out more. 🙂
So cool you got the chance to try panning – that came out really well! I’ve wanted to try that since Scott first wrote about the method some time ago, but haven’t had the opportunity. I love the confetti shot and the picture of Lee is sweet!
Hi Karma, panning creates real cool images especially when the background and foreground are real busy like this race track. As for the confetti shot, I didn’t understand the big celebration when he came in second place and found out later that he had won the 2011 Hickory Motor Speedway Track Champion. I’m glad I took many shots and like this one best. Lee loves to pose for my camera, and thanks for the nice comment. 🙂
[…] course, I much prefer Nye’s race car submission as she took her camera and family out to the old Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. As a fan of NASCAR for years, I have seen several big time racers make it big after starting […]
Nye Noona 
Nice !
Thanks Emad for your visit and comment.
Nye, a job well done… I drove pass this race track many times but never attend the race. Let me guess.. you guys probably the only asian folks at the race?
Hi seeharhed, there were other Asians there also, some are friends or family of the racers. The Asian populations are blending in well in this community. I wouldn’t watch a car race on TV, but would watch it live and taking picture of the race is more fun anyway. 🙂
A fine post, Nye – I like some of the last of your panning-photos – and of course the portrait of Lee: She is always a nice model 😉
Thanks truels, this is a great place to practice panning, each race is 150 laps so you can’t go wrong. 🙂
Wow! You sure put together an insightful post for someone who didn’t know anything about car racing. Very informative.
Thanks flandrumhill, the writeup from the speedway website helped tremendously and I’m glad I took many pictures.
I agree!
I can imagine how loud it would be at the race track. Good thing Lee has earmuffs. They look very cute on her. 🙂
Cambree, I think the earmuffs are more of a fashion statement to Lee than a real protection, and I’m glad she likes wearing them. The race track was loud and I was surprised to see many kids there, especially the little one and some don’t have earmuffs.
I am a race fan from way back (don’t ask how far, please) and know about this track. Several big time racers have gone on from here to very successful careers in NASCAR racing. I will have to make note of the names of the drivers you photographed here. You even got a classic wreck at the finish line.
Notice how much better your panned photos were when they were on the back stretch? When the subject and camera are perpendicular to each other, that’s when panning works best.
Scott, I had my camera set at f/5.6 in Aperture Priority for still images, and f/22 in Manual for panning that way I can switch back and forth real fast and not missing any action. It works well here, and I bet for any sporting events.
I was worried about panning sitting way back and saw how well it did right away. I never thought I would enjoy the race this much, and it’s a lot of fun to photograph sporting events. I have to get out more. 🙂
So cool you got the chance to try panning – that came out really well! I’ve wanted to try that since Scott first wrote about the method some time ago, but haven’t had the opportunity. I love the confetti shot and the picture of Lee is sweet!
Hi Karma, panning creates real cool images especially when the background and foreground are real busy like this race track. As for the confetti shot, I didn’t understand the big celebration when he came in second place and found out later that he had won the 2011 Hickory Motor Speedway Track Champion. I’m glad I took many shots and like this one best. Lee loves to pose for my camera, and thanks for the nice comment. 🙂
[…] course, I much prefer Nye’s race car submission as she took her camera and family out to the old Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. As a fan of NASCAR for years, I have seen several big time racers make it big after starting […]