BBC: F1 big picture - Sebastian Vettel

Some interesting shots via the "big picture" links.
Odd camera to use if conventional wisdom is to be believed.
Nice post.

Matt
 
Very interesting, some great shots in there.

Thanks for posting.
 
It looks as though he's framed it with his thumb and forefinger in the diver's OK signal - how long are his arms??????? :D
 
Musicman said:
Sports = 1D

Studio/Landscape = 1Ds
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Why be so restrictive? The picture isn't even an action shot. Most of the good F1 snappers use a 1ds or 5dmkII alongside their 'faster' cameras. Its fine for action, you just have to use it properly - meaning don't just rely on autofucusing and machine gunning everything.

1Ds = any subject
1D = any subject

IMO
 
I agree..

It just goes to show you don't need a decent camera to shoot that kind of frame.
Big up the photographer for having to work with such unsuitable crap equipment..


:cool:
 
Just to be controversial then, what's good about that shot? Standard F1 paparazzi style. Completely unremarkable.

Remove the F1 element. Pretend it's your mate and not Sebastian Vettel :shrug:

Most of the other shots in that guy's portfolio too. Not very imaginative, technically poor. Frankly disappointing for someone with that level of access and all that fire power.

However, at the end of the day, it is Seb V, and it is Big Nosemacher etc etc, and that sells. But there is a difference from a photographic point of view.
 
BlackDevil said:
Why be so restrictive? The picture isn't even an action shot. Most of the good F1 snappers use a 1ds or 5dmkII alongside their 'faster' cameras. Its fine for action, you just have to use it properly - meaning don't just rely on autofucusing and machine gunning everything.

1Ds = any subject
1D = any subject

IMO
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Just goes to show its the photographer as much (if not more) as the camera.

Matt
 
MatBin said:
Some interesting shots via the "big picture" links.
Odd camera to use if conventional wisdom is to be believed.
Nice post.

Matt
Click to expand...

yes he should have been using a phase one with a P65+ back
 
HoppyUK said:
Just to be controversial then, what's good about that shot? Standard F1 paparazzi style. Completely unremarkable.

Remove the F1 element. Pretend it's your mate and not Sebastian Vettel :shrug:

Most of the other shots in that guy's portfolio too. Not very imaginative, technically poor. Frankly disappointing for someone with that level of access and all that fire power.

However, at the end of the day, it is Seb V, and it is Big Nosemacher etc etc, and that sells. But there is a difference from a photographic point of view.
Click to expand...

The point is that 95% of the F1 pictures you see in the press (BBC website, Newspapers and specialist press - autosport/motorsport news etc) are just standard documentary shots, this type of shot is not used very often.

Darren Heath has been showcasing this type of shot for a long time, I remember him as the lead photographer for F1 Racing magazine back in the Mid 90's - there would be a few pages each issue dedicated to his 'arty' F1 shots, they were such a contrast to the rest of the magazine - at the time I was a spotty teenager just getting into photography and I can remember rushing to look at those photos every month (I should add I havn't read F1 Racing mag for a long time so I dont know what the current content of the magazine is)
 
I like 19 Apr 10 the best. Expression on everyone's face.
 
there is some great shots in that collection... He has a style and he sticks to it, which makes his work much more different than anything else you see (in f1 at least)... :thumbs:
 
Can't believe that people think this is pants? (but that's what I love about photography, in that its so subjective)

To me it's a stand out shot that is very different to the usual crap you get in the papers. It is 'the other shot'. It's quite daring with alot of negative space - IMHO a perfect shot for a DPS with space on the right for white out text of an interview with the driver.

Unfortunately,there will be 10's of agency guys getting the usual normal shots which are no different to each other, and the one that gets published and paid is the one that gets it to the paper first.

That's why I love Darren Heath's shots as I think they have got the perfect mix of being different, clever, and are, above all very original.
 
Totally biased but this is what I call a great F1 shot

Clive_Mason__Getty__405022s.jpg
 
while im not too keen on this shot of vettel i have enjoyed Darrens work and still do.
 
inkiboo said:
Totally biased but this is what I call a great F1 shot

Clive_Mason__Getty__405022s.jpg
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That really is a great F1 shot.
For me personally I'd much rather see photo's of the car's in action that of the drivers at press conferences and the like.
That's not to say that the some of those F1 pictures aren't great as some of them really are, its just that for me, the action shots are usually better at capturing the spirit of the sport.
 
Wait wait, hold on a sec, 600mm!?

Now I love these kind of shots, where there's an OOF opening before the subject, I do it with 35mm/50mm/85mm when I can. At a stretch 200mm. But getting this kind of thing with a 600mm lens!? jesus!
 
I impressed that they published some of the info about the settings/camera used :) wish more published pictures came with that.
 
Darren Heath is (in my opinion) one of the greatest motorsports photographers around. I must say that in the last year the quality of photos that he has been putting on his site/blog has fallen slightly. I think in his pursuit of unique photos at slow shutter speeds he has started to accept softer photos. However people have to appreciate that the shots he will put on blogs such as the BBC's Big picture will be the more experimental shots, nobody wants to see a hundred identical pin sharp photos. That takes no talent to take.

Have a browse through his blog from the last few years, i particularly like the Canada 2010 gallery: http://www.darrenheath.com/season/2010/canada-2010/image-gallery#3348

The 1ds is not that uncommon a choice amongst motorsports togs. Carrying a combination of full frame and a crop cameras would give you some flexibility on prime lenses. The 1ds also makes much more sense as a pits/paddock camera, so if you have that camera with you anyway and you don't need the crop factor for a particular shot - why not use a larger sensor, arguably better colours, shallower DOF, higher resolution. In reality even the fastest cars are fairly easy to AF on, most of the distances they are shot at means there is little AF adjustment to track the car.

As for that particular shot of Seb, its not the best shot in the world, however it is different. Who wants yet another shot of him with nothing making it different. I bet you that he has shot LOTS of stock of him in more conventional styles, so what use is another one of those photos.

I am massively biased in my opinion of his work as i am a huge fan of his approach to photography and love most of his work, so i am always going to defend him.
 
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I took at look at the link. Some great images in there, but mostly they just don't do it for me. How hard can it be to take a shot of a driver's helmet in super-close up, while he stares at the monitor in the garage? It's a cliche now. Sun glinting off a stack of tyres. A brolly girl's boobs. Blurry trees and blurry car :shrug:
 
HoppyUK said:
I took at look at the link. Some great images in there, but mostly they just don't do it for me. How hard can it be to take a shot of a driver's helmet in super-close up, while he stares at the monitor in the garage? It's a cliche now. Sun glinting off a stack of tyres. A brolly girl's boobs. Blurry trees and blurry car :shrug:
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Each to their own i guess. I would suggest its not as easy as you make it sound :lol:
 
dunganick said:
Darren Heath is (in my opinion) one of the greatest motorsports photographers around. I must say that in the last year the quality of photos that he has been putting on his site/blog has fallen slightly. I think in his pursuit of unique photos at slow shutter speeds he has started to accept softer photos. However people have to appreciate that the shots he will put on blogs such as the BBC's Big picture will be the more experimental shots, nobody wants to see a hundred identical pin sharp photos. That takes no talent to take.

Have a browse through his blog from the last few years, i particularly like the Canada 2010 gallery: http://www.darrenheath.com/season/2010/canada-2010/image-gallery#3348

The 1ds is not that uncommon a choice amongst motorsports togs. Carrying a combination of full frame and a crop cameras would give you some flexibility on prime lenses. The 1ds also makes much more sense as a pits/paddock camera, so if you have that camera with you anyway and you don't need the crop factor for a particular shot - why not use a larger sensor, arguably better colours, shallower DOF, higher resolution. In reality even the fastest cars are fairly easy to AF on, most of the distances they are shot at means there is little AF adjustment to track the car.

As for that particular shot of Seb, its not the best shot in the world, however it is different. Who wants yet another shot of him with nothing making it different. I bet you that he has shot LOTS of stock of him in more conventional styles, so what use is another one of those photos.

I am massively biased in my opinion of his work as i am a huge fan of his approach to photography and love most of his work, so i am always going to defend him.
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well said that man.
 
with a shutter speed of 1/400th and the focal length of 600mm is that not a recipe for blurryness due to slow shutter?How has the photographer avoided that?
 
ectp said:
with a shutter speed of 1/400th and the focal length of 600mm is that not a recipe for blurryness due to slow shutter?How has the photographer avoided that?
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600L 4 has image stabilisation and it is very effective :thumbs: He could run lower than that and still be safe. He's also probably using a monopod, if only because that particular lens weighs several tons.

Edit: IS is VR in your Nikon speak ;)
 
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Because the focal length/shutter speed rule is only a rough guide. In reality you can hand hold a shot at 1/50th on a stationary subject and get a sharp shot. The biggest potential problem is the subject moving, nothing firing 3 shots on burst cant get around.

1/400th is pretty fast in the grand scheme of things.
 
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