Some of My Photos

[markmullen]

Some of my photos, still processing but a few done, I hope you like them;


77 Felbermayr Porsche at Le Mans by mark_mullen, on Flickr


Ferrari 458s Racing by mark_mullen, on Flickr


Car 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche at Le Mans 2011 by mark_mullen, on Flickr


Flying Lizard Porsche at Le Mans 2011 by mark_mullen, on Flickr


Krohn Racing Ferrari F430 GTE at Le Mans 2011 by mark_mullen, on Flickr

I'll be adding more to my set on Flickr as I process them, http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmullen/sets/72157...

[volores]

great pics there mate!

[s2driveruk]

great photos. Sometimes wonder why i bother taking any on my old camera when there are always stunning ones posted up following events lol

[muppetdave]

Nice pics there Mark. I did ask after you at the Lanson bar when I saw Ali and Nick, but you were nowhere to be seen otherwise I'd have said hi!

[ali_kat]

Fantastic shots!

You & Nick make me relieved that I left my camera by the front door I'd have been wasting my time!!

[Seany88]

Great pics, can I ask what lens you were using?

Saw plenty of heavy duty kit out there, my poor 24-70 was totally not up to the job

[markmullen]

These were all with a 70-200 F4 IS L series, a great little lens, light enough to carry all day and as sharp as a very sharp thing.

[icepop]

Wow they're great, tremendously sharp, is the lens a megabucks affair. Are they taken through the fencing, if so how do get the stuff to "disappear" out of the shot ?

[markmullen]

icepop said:

Wow they're great, tremendously sharp, is the lens a megabucks affair. Are they taken through the fencing, if so how do get the stuff to "disappear" out of the shot ?

The best price for that lens at the moment is £896 so it is a fair investment but should last a fair long time.

Those photos were taken up at Tertre Rouge where I stay and where you can see over the catch fence, it is a favourite spot of mine because the catch fence really does spoil shots elsewhere on the track.

[batman69]

Hi Mark, need to download my shots and see if i got any good ones.

Love the felbermayer car in the dark, what settings would you use to get that kind of shot as always struggle in the lower light conditions? thanks
Michael

[markmullen]

Hi Michael,

The Felbermayr car shot was these:

Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
X-Resolution 240 dpi
Y-Resolution 240 dpi
Orientation Horizontal (normal)
Software Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh
Date and Time (Modified) 2011:06:17 22:25:12
Artist Mark Mullen
Exposure Program Shutter speed priority AE

So essentially shutter speed priority at 1/80th and pan with the car to blur the background, then adjust the ISO upwards until you get enough light in the shot, in this case ISO800

[david_b]

icepop said:

Wow they're great, tremendously sharp, is the lens a megabucks affair. Are they taken through the fencing, if so how do get the stuff to "disappear" out of the shot ?

You can get the fence to mostly disappear (obviously anything horizontal will remain but that's not the end of the world), but you have to shoot pretty slow shutter speeds - which normally means for a side-on pan that the entire car won't be completely pin-sharp. This was taken from behind the fencing on the start-finish line, at 1/30sec:


2011 Le Mans 24 hours by david_b, on Flickr

[Seany88]

Mark thanks for posting your specs, I was interested too.

How do you guys shoot these pics? On AI focus and just aim for a single good picture? I've tried just firing off a round of shots on high speed continuous and find it never works, whereas panning for one good shot is nearly always on the money.

So in what cases would continuous burst be applied beneficially?

Also going a bit O/T here but I usually shoot at f/4 for sharpness, f/2.8 if I need it or f/8-13 for landscapes (mostly for random reasons). Am I missing a finer art to choosing aperture?

On a few of my racing pics part of the car was blurred, so is it simply a case of using a higher aperture to increase DOF until the entire car is sharp?

[markmullen]

With panning shots most of the time due to the distance to the subject and the fact that you're shooting side on depth of field isn't a major issue so you can shoot wide open.

Most issues with panning shots come from the camera not being panned perfectly in time with the car, because you've not quite nailed the technique or because the car is moving in a different plane (eg coming around a corner towards you).

Start with a quicker shutter speed and work downwards until you're nailing more and more shots, it will come.

[david_b]

Seany88 said:

Mark thanks for posting your specs, I was interested too.
Also going a bit O/T here but I usually shoot at f/4 for sharpness, f/2.8 if I need it or f/8-13 for landscapes (mostly for random reasons). Am I missing a finer art to choosing aperture?

On a few of my racing pics part of the car was blurred, so is it simply a case of using a higher aperture to increase DOF until the entire car is sharp?

If you're talking about daylight shooting, once you're at low shutter speeds wide-open shooting becomes a bit irrelevant, because you'll be hugely over-exposing everything if you're at 1/50sec and f/2.8 (assuming you're not using filters) on a sunny day! At night things are a bit different obviously As Mark says, play with the shutter speed and don't worry about aperture too much, panning is really about technique rather than kit IMO.