RUn2it

Hey that's masterS! We were both in the air!

So you want to debate that? That might mean you're a master debater... :stir:

ok. thats not behind whiskey petes. i have never been behind whiskey petes but did see some motorcycle race going on there not to long ago.

oops, lol, wondered why you said that, must have been late when I posted. :clown:

OK cool. I'm looking forward to it. I might only be able to go Sunday though. It depends on if I get my Saturday covered at work.

The Pro 2&4 races are scheduled at and after 3:30 Satuday so if you R n 2 it ......

why wouldnt they use the corr track next to buffalo bills?

That's right Pete, right there..... should be some good pics. The sun kinda stays to your back from AM (over right shoulder) to mid afternoon, so later in the afternoon go as far left (looking at the track) as possible. The administrative director said they only rented 4000 person capacity grandstands this time and no media skybox either so we might need to team up so 1 of us is sure to have the top row on the left when the Pro races start.

What do you guys use to store your pictures? Not just on the computer, memory card or digital photo storage device? Need a place to store photos for back-up.

I had an external hard drive for backup and the 1st time I tried to retrieve something it wouldn't spool up so I just back all pics up to DVDs, when a hard drive won't at least spin even data retrieval/migration software doesn't work, but if my DVD fails my pics are safe.

Yes it was. I am a pilot for Virgin America. Do the LA - NY trip a lot. Usually we fly to far south of Dumont to get any decent pics. Gotta a shortcut from ATC which allowed me to take that one. Want to get one of Coral Pink next.

Had me wondering, I knew it used to be a controlled air space with a 3000 ft ceiling when I was buzzin around the in the late '80s. So with it being a military flight area does it have a over/under limit like under 3k and when issued by ATC above 30+k or just when no military flights planned? Just curious

Looks like clean-up was a success. Hope to get out there next year. Snapped this yesterday on my way from LA to NY.

That wasn't a commercial flight was it?

Randy, what happened to Lou's 70? And more on the fire..... Dog, we need to go out Easter and actually plan a shoot of some wheelie jumps, if we can get pics like we do just winging it should get some killer pics if we plan it. Engine is done and going in moho tomorrow.

According to the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series web site there will be 2 METAL MULISHA freestyle shows each day. VisitLucas Oil Off Road Racing Series for more info.

These are from last year at Primm

Thanks Lee. Means alot coming from a guy that knows so much about this chit.

You're one fuggin smart fellow. :atc:

oh no, got lots to learn, so more like a fart smellow

You mean the lack of flourecent lighting? yeah, I had to have the aperature all the way open, bump the ISO all the way up to 3200 at times, and even adjust the exposure a lil bit. It was a b*tch, but they came out "ok" I think. This camera is incredible at high ISO settings. Usually there would be a ton of grain or noise at that high of an ISO setting but it's pretty minimal in these shots thanks to this camera.

Thanks Jack. I found the sweet spot in the saturation settings to get the colors to stand out but not be too much.

You're getting the hang of it Pete. Notice at 2.8 how the depth of field can get really shallow? If you use 2.8 on fast action that's got bumps or something that makes keeping on subject difficult if you go off subject default to the ground below them and not the background and it will stay focused at the same distance. You can fudge on the light too if need be to keep the shot a fast enough speed, just exp comp a little dark for more speed and bring the light back in editing, digital cameras have tons of gradient info in the shadows but no shoulder in the highlights. All in all you got good pics anyways. We should be in the photo thread, I know

these are some of my good ones.

i like the last 2 and the first the best.

What camera and lens did you use. The 1 with the bicycle at night looks cool, no flash it looks like and still got a good exposure and some good color on the sunset pic.

It's hard to say because I didn't take the same pic on both setings with the same shutter speed. I just went with M mode, chose how long of a shutter speed I wanted, and then fine tuned the aperature from there watching the exposure meter. It was very difficult seeing which worked best because the LCD screen on the 50D makes ever pic look good. In the end a 13 second shutter with a f/8 (ISO100) seemed to work pretty good when zoomed in on a certain part of the strip. Any longer of a shutter and the lights would be way blown way out. It's funny too because I got almost identical results slowing the shutter down to 4 seconds, but opening up the aperature to f/4. This is where I really started to understand how aperature size and shutter speed affect how much light passes through the sensor and what your final outcome of exposure is because of the two. :?: None of this would have made any fuggin sense to me a few weeks ago. It still hurts my head at times, but I am slowly grasping the concept.

Trust me, I don't plan on messing with full M mode much more. TV or AV seem to work just fine like you explained earlier.

you're getting it, It's the same analogy I use with electricity, think of it as water, open the valve (apeture) more but for a shorter period of time (shutter speed) and you'll get the same volume.

This is a handheld shot from the 1st time I used the camera, I remember guessing at what the settings might be.

This is from the top of the Stratosphere last fall on the way home from the Silver State 300 in Mesquite, it's about 1/10th the size as the original, too bad the new construction blocks alot. oh yeah, it was handheld also. click it twice after the new page loads.

And here's one of me in Cabo San Lucas this last weekend taken with a plain ole' Kodak Digital 8.2 megapixel

Hopefully I'm grounded for a few weeks before I take off again and with the weather being as nice as it is, I think I will get out and take some good pictures around town.

Ash, that's some depth of field there, you do any magic wand stuff? :freakin_nuts:

Got any more info on this?? did a few quick googles and couldnt pinpoint anything..

Not sure where they are as far as "doors open for business" as I just learned about it last week and the pics and video were shot this last weekend for the promotions so it's still in the startup phase I'm guessing but will post here when they are ready to go.

whoa Lee...slow down! :atc: :freakin_nuts:

"dynamic aspects"

I hear ya though. I only used full M mode when taking these night shots. I got good results by selecting my shutter speed in TV mode, but then I took it a step further to see what changing the aperature would do. Without writing a paragraph , what shutter speed do you usually go with when you shoot action shots in the dunes? Like let's say Randog's wheelies. Just curious.

BTW, any shots from this weekend?

OK, will get to your ? next but 1st what was your results re; Tv vs M settings, either way a clear quality difference?

Now your wheelie ?... in keeping the auto Av between f5.6-f8 all of the pics I took Sunday of the Regatta, Dog wheelies and over by comp jumping were 1/1600 (maybe a few exceptions) and between f5.6-f8 (again, maybe a few exceptions)

Here's a couple pics from the promo shoot Sat for VORE-Vegas Off Road Experience, a new venture where you can rent/lease these off-road trucks and get schooled by one of the best and current #1 Trophy Truck driver Jerry Whelchel.

This is Jerry showing how to launch and is actually safe and easy on the truck

and here's how someone without thousands of hours racing looks learning the the tricks of the trade

i would have stop drilled that crack too. Just a small hole at the end of the crack to keep it from spreadin anymore..

Yeah Randy, you've done enough crack spreading.

It's funny, the only time I have to really mess around with the camera is mostly at night during the week. Am I learning backwards? lol So last night went out and got some night light shots again. This time I experimented with full manual mode and got better results.

Here I got a pic of the Luxor. I probably went a little longer than needed on the exposure (20 seconds), but it turned out pretty decent other than the super bright lights of some of the hotels.

20 sec, f8, ISO 100

I have to get a better tripod. I don't trust the one I have 100% so I am on super-gaurd when I have the camera and lens mounted up. That and I couldn't keep it perfrectly level either.

Lights of the LV Strip. Taken at 13 sec, f8, ISO 100

and one of the LV Paris Eiffel tower taken at 1/4 sec, f4, ISO 400

Tell me what you think of them and feel free to critique the hell out of them. That is the only way I will learn to take any better pics.

I can't critique them, there's nothing moving with an engine in it I don't even have a tripod, lol.

You're nervous with your tripod, lol, is it the one you used at the Regatta photo-op? If it is you know what I mean about the underlying fear.

And the medium density filters..... wtf are those? I have an "Expodisc" but it's for artsy stills and portraits, not practical shooting action in multiple directions. I should try a coffee filter for fun.

Personally I never use full manual, full auto, or any of the scene presets. My theory (as an action based lizard brain) is 1) action pics adds 1 extra hurdle to getting a good pic, like shooting a weapon, if you can get it while it's moving then a "sitting duck" should be easy, 2) the new digitals at the 40/50D level can get 1 thing (exp or shutter spd) right 99+% of the time as long as you choose the right thing (setting) for it to do, but can only get both things (exp & speed for action) right sometimes without intervention, so that precludes all the "scene" presets and full auto for me and a sequence of action pics can start at 1 exposure (f-stop) and change as you move into shade or toward/away from the light source and framing (zooming in or out)can keep you busy so I set the speed for the look I want, whether it's freeze frame or just background blurred or wheels and background blurred, etc. and the camera does the exposure (f-stop) but still influenced by the shutter speed I select, so the manual setting isn't a choice. This actually helps keep things relatively simple with the "static" camera oriented decisions common to all photos cut and dried and gives me more time to consider the dynamic aspects such as direction of lighting, subject distance relative to zoom effect, background, sample pic(s) to check for exp, clipped highlights, highest f-stop for your preferred range of shutter speeds (between f2.8-f8 is ok but f5.6-f8 is better but even f8 can cause a little diffraction at times....for a partial list of things that you have to run through every time and eventually it will become an instinct, that's what I meant by "relatively simple". whew

I know pete has a big lense (so I've heard at least), but those do help keep the camera steady on those quick improve shots when you dont have a full-on tripod set up and good to go

those small tripods foot print is probably less than 12" (camera and lens length), not to mention I wouldn't want to trust it with $3000 worth of camera, that's the underlying fear.

Looks like another successful event!

Wow Pete, you do have a big one!

Can see the difference in pic's between each camera.

What's that fuzz on ynot's face? he fall in a cactus?

You been peeking ...... :dumbass:

When I was into photography with the old school film SLR's I bought a little tripod. only stands about 6 inches tall and the legs fold into the base. It fits perfectly inside your camera bag and is great to have for quick side of the road shots.

Kind of like this;

These are pretty cool too cause you can wrap the legs around branches or handlebars etc. just to help keep the camera steady.

The problem with those and Pete's camera is just the lens is around 3 pounds. Pete, an easy way to get the camera to get the pic right is if you shoot action use Tv and a speed for the look you want and the camera will get the exposure right 99% of the time and when you shoot stills use Av and the cam will set the speed for you and all you have to do is check the speed in the viewfinder and remember the lowest that you, yourself, can manage handheld. The IS is supposed to give you up to 3 more stops handheld. Next time if you have a few seconds at near dark sunrise/sunset set both manually,Av at 2.8 and take 2 pics at 30 Tv, 2 at 15, etc till you know what your handheld limit is for the ambient light, then you'll never have that "hmmm... wtf do I do with all these settings" mind set, lol, till you try something else for the 1st time

i just bought 8 2900mAH AA's and a smart charger for 30 bucks or so from thomas distributing. They were the highest mAH ratings i could find. Helmetcamera.com told me the 1800's they use will power the camera for up to 8 hours so with the 2900's i should be able to get well more than a full weekend out of them without them even trying. I just have to order up a second one for the camera and find a case if this thing works

2900 mAh? I thought the 2650s AA I had were good. Now are the AA for the cams or AAA? The highest AAA I found are only 900 mAh. I didn't look very hard though, Walmart

Then the other day I tried for a sunset pic of black mountain. It came out ok, but not 100% in focus.

Slowly but surely I'm learnin this shizz, but that's the fun of it.

The sunrise is sharp, your sunset ran out of light for a fast enough speed handheld, larger aperture, if already the largest and IS is on you need a tripod. You're wondering why the sunrise had enough light are you? The thin clouds are reflecting light that empty sky cannot. Bet you already figured this stuff out by now, my guess is there's a smart fellow close by, lol. I can't help it.... :clown:

thanks for the pic, Lee!

Any other busas out at D or what?

ok Aaron. Here it is.

Sounds like a bad thing right? Well, it turned out to be not such a bad thing for Aaron.

He was leaving Banshee Hill after the races, got some wheel hop in his 2WD Suburban, then lots of bad noises. Snap goes the driveline.

A guy towed him up to the hard back, then he came and got us to tow him to camp. So whats the good part? Sanddunesaddict was able to come out and rescue him with a tow truck so that meant he was able to have a few beers and kick it with all of us and spent the night out at Dumont instead of going home. It also meant I didn't have to load my bikes up in the back of my truck too since I ended up towing his flatbed trailer home. I just threw the bikes on the trailer. You know Bert was lovin that tow truck too. :bert:

Glad it wasn't that big of a situation, Aaron.

Hard to tell by the pic but if your diff angle is straight with your driveshaft + lift block and no links it doesn't take much hop the do the axle wrap thing.