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I knew it was going to be tough at the Grand Prix, but I didn't think it'd be this tough!!!

95% of my shots have visible blurry fence lines in them, but you really don't have a lot of choice shooting from ground level unless you have accreditation and can shoot through the strategically placed openings in the fence.

Here are a couple that have minimal fencing (lucky combination of a wide aperture, close proximity to the fence and long distance to the subject) that I am pretty happy with.

All shot with the D300, 70-200VR, 1.7x TC. Pretty much all 340mm, f/6.3





I even had a go at some panning shots. This is the absolute best of a diabolical lot. Shows the fence in all its glory



I don't know why it's taken me so long to go to the grand prix, it was a lot of fun! I think I might have to load up and go again next year!

My full gallery for anyone interested: http://losfp.smugmug.com/gallery/4528730_yf3mo

Pretty great job considering there was a fence in your way! Does AF work or do you need to focus manually?

Either way, nice work.. Gotta get out and see these things one day. Being broke sux!

Nice mate, did really well considering the fence. Love the color and saturation.

Looks like it was agreat race to be at. Seems a llittle excitement has returned to F1!

Well done.

Raskill wrote:Looks like it was agreat race to be at.

Speaking of which, why weren't you there!?!

#3 is the best composition - good work.

EDIT: Now the site isn't totally chopping the space away from the front of the cars, the above statement is kinda wrong.… Sorry about that.

Pehpsi, I used AF, however I noticed a little quirk.

At 340mm (200 + 1.7 TC), I didn't have many problems, as long as I manually focused to infinity every so often. At 200mm, the AF kept locking onto the fence instead of the cars.

You didn't have any problems taking your camera in? On a couple of forums I'm on people have been turned away becasue theri gear was deemed 'professional' standard.

I got excellent photos last year at Speed on Tweed (historic car racing/exhibition - see my gallery) but I was lucky enough to get a Press pass. However, they do not fence people off so obstructively as shown in oyur shots and the cars make really interesting photographic subjects. I recommend it to any car keen photogs on here.

http://www.speedontweed.com/index.html BTW - I like #2 best, good work. The funny things is, the fence lines don't really detract from the panned image, they seem to increase the movement feel.

Give the conditions you've done really well Des, what sort of shutter speed were you getting ? I'm going to be at the race in Singapore under lights and I'm expecting the conditions to be even more trying!

analog6 - No real problems. No questions asked on Fri/Sat. On Sun, I was asked "Do you have permission to take photos?" - I replied with "The terms & conditions state that the restriction is no lenses greater than 200mm in focal length" and was waved through

I think it helped that you couldn't see the battery grip attached, and the 70-200 was hidden under something else in the bag.

Still, I saw plenty of punters walking around with DSLRs, and a few had 70-200 or 70-300 type lenses too. Just depends on how you sell it to the security staff

craig - I was getting typically 1/500 and faster without too many problems @ ISO 200. Hopefully the night race will yield reasonable speeds too, apparently they have to have it VERY bright for their HDTV commitments

great photos, I was on turn 4 on sunday.

i did stuggle with the grids lines. i will try to get a few photos up this week...i may post the jpgs before i work on the RAW ones.