A Day at the Races (Part 2) - Autódromo do Estoril (20th of November 2011)

.

Jorge using the Canon EF 500mm

(courtesy of Canon Professional Services/Colorfoto)

Some days ago, you could see some photographs I made during the treino fotográfico organized by Colorfoto and Canon Professional Services, so I won’t repeat myself here, explaining how it all came to take place.

Please, just use your mouse, should you wish to know more and you missed the first post.

The workshop actually consisted of two days, so this second post on the theme shows the photographs I shot on Sunday.

Please, allow me just to remember that the treino fotográfico took place under the supervision of the very kind gentleman Paulo Maria, an experienced sports photographer.

Once again, thank you Paulo, thank you Colorfoto and Canon.

I also wish to thank the staff at Autódromo do Estoril and the racing teams, everybody was very kind and supportive.

Last but not least, a special grateful word to my sun Jorge who brought me along…

The racing cars were only the Leitmotiv…

I don’t really much care about racing cars, I am more the type of guy who gets a faster heartbeat staring at Land Rovers and Pinzgauers, everything that can climb over rocks, or dive in some deep mud… The type of workhorse vehicles that can take me to that far away places, out of reach from the ordinary Sunday drivers.

Nevertheless, photographing racing cars (with a digital camera) can quickly become a passionate addiction and you must control yourself to stop shooting.

As you might guess looking at the photographs, I got a kick out of telling a story about the human action at it, all the anxiety and stress, all the concentration and awareness, all the sadness of losing and all the joy of winning.

Just like in real life…

Some of the fellow-photographers who made the day very enjoyable

Some thoughts and opinions about the Canon gear I have used on the event:

The 500mm that you see Jorge using above is for sure a great lens! Jorge got absolutely wonderful shots with it!

 If I would earn my money shooting sports or birds, I would definitely consider such a beast.

As I don’t, I prefer to stick to my (much smaller and lighter)  EF 400mm / 5.6 L (or whatever Canon calls it, I am lazy to check it up, this long terminology kind of nerves me!).

Since I got recently a frozen shoulder and some trouble in my left hand, this beast of a lens (I mean the 500mm) just is too heavy and cumbersome for my taste. I know that you need to get used to it, but I feel much more confortable with the smaller lens.

(Please, keep in mind that on the 30D body, as I have used it, the 400 becomes equivalent to a 640mm lens! I was actally getting “nearer” than Jorge with his 5D and the 500mm… I have used the 400mm exclusively hand held, no tripod or monopod! - no Image Stablizer on this lens, thanks!)

You can see the lens in question (I mean the 400mm) on an older post, should you have interest on taking a look. If you look further on, you will also find several photographs that every now and then I posted, made using that piece of glass.  

I also had the chance to try the 70-200 / 2.8 L in the Autódromo, the newer version of the lens, with Image Stablizer. In case you have noticed my former comment, you will understand that I am no big fan of IS… The noise and feeling of it working just drives me nuts, I rather prefer to hold one of my cats in the arm!

So, I prefer to stick to my older version, without IS, thank you again! (of course, you may claim that I can shoot with IS off. You are right, but I have the feeling that if we made a side by side test on optical quality and definition, the older lens would win… Somebody with more experience than me out there with a different opinion? Maybe Canon?)

The rest of the stuff was plain bread and butter:

I have used Jorge’s EF 50mm / 1.4, a lens that I can’t say it is bad for sure, but I also won’t claim that it is “GREAT”.  I know that lots of knowledgeable people love it, but I am maybe spoiled by Leitz / Leica and Zeiss…

I say jaein (ja + nein as the germans like to say)…

About my old 17-35 / 2.8 L:

Canon still has to make it better, if they want to convince me with their wide-angles, but then again maybe I am spoiled by the Summicrons, Elmarits, Distagons, Super-Angulons and Grandagons…

(lots of funny names, right!)

As I have said before, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose…

All in all, I absolutely was a winner by taking part on the event!

I hope that you enjoy the photographs.

Technical data for both days:

Camera - Canon 30D

Lenses - Canon EF 17-35mm/2.8 L + EF 50mm/1.4 + 70-200mm/2.8 IS L (not used on the 20th) + 400mm/5.6 L

Dates - 19th + 20th of November 2011 (these images, second day only)

Location - Autódromo do Estoril, Portugal

. 

A Day at the Races - Estoril, 19th of November 2011

.

At first I was reluctant and said no.

But my son Jorge insisted, and I agreed to take part on the Photographic Training organized by Colorfoto ( it is no exggeration if I claim that they are the best photographic retailers in Portugal) and Canon Professional Services.

Instructor was Mr. Paulo Maria (Interslide), a professional with long experience in the field of Motorsports Photography, and who happens to be a very kind person.

David and Rui Morgado from Colorfoto were also always at hand with good advise and driving us around the track.

We also could try some of those beautiful grey Canon lens that you can watch the pros using on TV during sports events.

As a whole, all the event was very well organized and a joy to be part of.

Thinking afterwards, I came to realize, that I had never photographed a car race before.

So, you’re watching a kind of premier…

The long lenses from Canon are really top-notch and digital photography is a very convenient medium for this kind of stuff.

Yes, you guess it right: even a hardcore Leica guy like me has to concede that in this field Canon sounds better than Leica!

“Come on, you will have some fun!”.

Well, I must admit that Jorge was right, and I am happy that I came along.

We had a wonderful day at Autódromo do Estoril!

.

If Six Was Nine

..

Getting rid of the superfluous...
(self-portrait, 4th of October 2009)

If the sun refuse to shine
I don't mind, I don't mind.
If the mountains fell in the sea,
let it be, it ain't me.

Alright, 'cos I got my own world to look through,
And I ain't gonna copy you.

Now, if six turned out to be nine,
I don't mind, I don't mind.
If all the hippies cut off all their hair,
I don't care, I don't care.

Dig, 'cos I got my own world to live through,
And I ain't gonna copy you.

White collared conservative flashing down the street.
Pointing their plastic finger at me,
They're hoping soon my kind will drop and die,
But I'm gonna wave my freak flag high, high.
Wave on, wave on.
Fall mountains, just don't fall on me.
Go ahead on Mr. Business man, you can't dress like me.

Nobody knows what I'm talking about.
I've got my own life to live,
I'm the one that's going to have to die,
When it's time for me to die,
So let me live my life
The way that I want to.

JIMI HENDRIX - If Six Was Nine
(from the album "Axis: Bold as Love", The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1967).

..

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM - some photographs

..

Now, you better fasten your seat-belt.

This is going to be a long post!

On my first post about Photo Gear, some months ago, I showed you the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM lens (what a long, complicated name: yes, I admit that I must look it up!).

Now I wish to show you some images I shot in the meantime with that lens.

Even though it's maximal aperture might be for some more sophisticated tastes than mine a little dark (also possessing a much heavier purse than mine!), I find the image quality of this lens rather outstanding.
It is also not such a heavy load, so that I can carry it around for some hours without feeling like committing suicide...

I don't miss Image Stabilization on this apparatus. As I said before, it nerves me a little to feel it working.
If I feel like having a purring sound, I will pick up my tender cat instead!

Please bear in mind, that all these photographs were shot with a Canon 30D, with a crop factor of 1.6x.
That means that the focal length of this lens, when used on the 30D, is equivalent to a 640mm lens used on a full frame sensor or a 35mm camera!


Just to make things a little easier for me, I will divide this post in parts, explaining some of the situations I find useful enough, or interesting enough, that I bother at all to use such a lens.

1) I choose to start by the most obvious reason: to get a far away object depicted bigger in your finder (as if you could get near, but with a different perspective).

You may wish to do that just to be able to photograph, paparazzi-style, a faraway hidden beach celebrity such as the prime minister on holidays, for example.

Or you may choose to picture a shy creature like an undomesticated animal.
(You could also easilly turn it around and you suddenly become the shy photographer: picture yourself in the middle of the african savanna snapping a wild enraged lion... ).

Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), having lunch...

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) desiring to catch some lunch...

No, I don't intend to compete with all the serious nature photographers and ornithologists out there. Bird watching might be very enjoyable and instructive, but I wasn't practicing it when I found these birds.
I was working on assignment in the town of Tomar, last April, when I saw them, at two different days, down by the river. I just was lucky to have the 400mm with me...

The experts shall, please, forgive my humble efforts.


2) Now, this is where the fun genuinely starts for me: I like to use a long focal length to produce more or less abstract compositions where the main subject stands out against a blurred background, sort of visual isolation against a featureless immaterial and dreamy backdrop.

So I use the 400mm almost like I could use a macro-lens.
It is a pity that it only focus down to 3,5 meters. I would very much appreciate a little closer, so I wouldn't need to use an extension tube.

I find this kind of images most effective if you use back light.

(Most photographs on this post, if not all, shot at 5.6).

3) I guess that it sounds a little crazy, but I like the 400mm (640mm on the 30D!) to shoot (YES!) portraits...

I can almost hear the purists laugh, but how could they know that the background on both next photographs is made of trees?

My son Luis on the 11th of April 2009.

Please, allow me to say hello to him and congratulate him. Today, 18th of August, he celebrates his birthday. He was born 26 years ago in Heidelberg, Germany.
(Like my all other kids, I can honestly say that he is a nice guy! I am a lucky father...).

Maria Helena on the 14th of July 2009
(The woman who has enough courage to stand by me. I am a lucky man...).

My friend the cat, Mico, on the 21st of November 2008
(I can call him some other names, like Nicolau Mircolino, he will always answer.
I am a lucky cat owner...)

Shot hand held at 1/80!

I know that there are certain rules, like the one that says that you should not use a slower shutter speed than the focal length of your lens, in this case 1/400 (or something like that...).
But you know what I love most about rules?

I can break them!

So I decided to shoot all the photographs on this post without the help of a tripod.
I know that I could have achieved better (sharper) results sometimes, but I would have probably lost some shots...

The Nycticorax nycticorax wouldn't endlessly pose for me losing it's appetite, my cat would certainly fall asleep with eyes closed, the wind would blow the flowers away, and my back would hurt a little more...

Please, don't misinterpret me, I am a big enthusiast of tripods. Most cameras I use need one.

But as I said, I also love to break rules.

(On the photograph above, I suspect that some of the unsharpness is also caused by the wind shaking the plant, and not only by me. The answer, though, remains to be found...).

The Canon 400mm is not a telescope...

... but look how nice the moon shines, high above in this (strong) crop, just to bid you good night, sleep tight...

(also shot hand held by the way... I won't lie to you, the sky was not so dark, and the shot was made at 1/1250 f/5.6, at ISO 500. Underexposed one stop. The moon shone right above me).

..