Lanark Highlands Forest Rally Photo Dump

"Stephen the Canuck" (stephencanuck) 05/06/2015 at 15:49 • Filed to: Lanark Highlands Forest Rally, LHFR, Rally, Ottawa

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Well I finally got my photos from the rally edited and online. So I’m posting them here too. I know every body has seen a bunch of photos, but I can’t help that.

So here you go. Enjoy.

The rest are !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in the Flickr album.

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thebigbossyboss > Stephen the Canuck 05/06/2015 at 16:03

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Awesome. Glad you made it out!!

mcseanerson > Stephen the Canuck 05/06/2015 at 17:59

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Your panning technique is pretty good.

Stephen the Canuck > mcseanerson 05/06/2015 at 20:03

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Thanks. I got lucky that it’s one thing I can do.

ttyymmnn > Stephen the Canuck 05/06/2015 at 20:21

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There is a certain amount of luck involved, yes, but there is also a lot of practice and skill involved. Try it with airplanes sometime, when you’re panning on two axes! Nice shots. I particularly like the one with the purple 55 through the crowd.

ttyymmnn > Stephen the Canuck 05/06/2015 at 20:22

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I hate it when that happens.

Stephen the Canuck > ttyymmnn 05/06/2015 at 20:30

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People in the way? I had to do what I could. It’s not terribly in the way in this shot.

Stephen the Canuck > ttyymmnn 05/06/2015 at 20:32

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Thanks. I do plan to try planes. I might try the local airport or go to Pearson in Toronto.

I like the ones panning through the crowd. I’ve seen pictures like that and this was my first time trying it. I thought I did alright.

I don’t get to practice panning much, but I enjoy it when I get to. I think it works well for rally.

ttyymmnn > Stephen the Canuck 05/06/2015 at 20:45

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Yeah, that one guy’s head. The crowd was a neat effect. That one guy is just annoying. To me, at least.

mcseanerson > ttyymmnn 05/06/2015 at 20:48

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That was my favorite too. I work on the side of a highway and I’m thinking about practicing during lunch.

Stephen the Canuck > ttyymmnn 05/06/2015 at 22:12

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Yeah. I would rather it have been a shorter person so it could have been a clear shot. The first stage had way more people viewing, then people left for the 2nd and 3rd, then more came back for the 4th.

ttyymmnn > Stephen the Canuck 05/06/2015 at 22:18

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Did you move around much? When I shoot air shows, I obsess about location. I’ll get there super early to stake out my spot on the flight line, and try to work the sun whenever possible. However, s**t happens. As I’m fond of saying, “There is no photography without regret.”

Stephen the Canuck > ttyymmnn 05/06/2015 at 22:41

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I moved around a bit, although the spectator area I was at was maybe 50 feet long with trees blocking most of the view beyond that. So there wasn’t a whole lot of options. Yeah, there’s a few things I’d like to do differently next time. I’d like to try getting shots from both sides of the track.

I’d like to get something like the Canon 24-105 for the zoom range. I was shooting two primes, 24mm and 50mm, and had my 75-300 too. I don’t think I went past 100mm on the zoom, so the 24-105 would have given me better flexibility.

ttyymmnn > Stephen the Canuck 05/06/2015 at 22:51

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Check out the pictures I’m posting in the morning of the static displays at the last air show I went to. Aside from taking full shots of parked planes, which can get a bit boring and documentary, I try to find more interesting angles and details. I would have enjoyed that rally shoot in a similar way, using the trees and the people, much like what you did in that purple 55 shot, to try and do some fun things with composition, focus, etc. It might have been cool if you had laid down or squatted to get under the crowd tape. I try very hard to limit distractions from my shots. But in a crowded show (or rally) there’s only so much you can do. But for the next show I go to, I’m going to pop for a “pit pass” that gets me onto the airport two hours before the general admission folks. That should be lots of fun!

Stephen the Canuck > ttyymmnn 05/06/2015 at 23:13

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I’ll take a look. I do like detail shots and interesting stuff. It was my first time with rally so I didn’t have any experience to go on. There was 14 cars total, and I stayed for 4 stages so I had a vehicle in view for 30ish seconds each time one went by. There wasn’t a whole lot of time to do much.

They did have a space in between the yellow tape line and the green tape line where media/people who had signed a waiver in advance could be, which was in front of the general spectating area. I’d like to sign the waiver for next time if I can.

The pit pass should be awesome. I bet that would make it much easier and smoother to focus on the shots you want.

That’s one thing I was noticing going through my pictures from the rally was that a lot of them were similar. I liked the ones through the trees and through the crowds because they were different.

Off to the right of the spectator area there was a decent straight stretch that had a decent little jump that the cars would crest over to get onto the straight. I wanted to catch the cars coming over that, but there were to many trees in the way, and my 75-300 could’t seem to get focus on the area (manual or auto). If I had access to the waiver area I could have leaned out past the tree and probably gotten the shot.

ttyymmnn > Stephen the Canuck 05/06/2015 at 23:22

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Gotta love the “lean out.” That’s how I snagged this picture of Fat Albert last year, by leaning way out over the crowd fence. You know the saying in real estate: “Location, location, location.” The more events you go to, the better you’ll get at scouting the best spots. One thing I learned about locations for air shows is to look for the people with the long lenses or expensive kit. Those are usually the regulars or pros, and they always seem to know the best spots. I also try to talk to them when possible. I struck up a conversation with a guy at this same air show and got some great pointers. But what’s interesting is, as I look at this shot, I’m already thinking about how I would take it differently—and better—next time.

Stephen the Canuck > ttyymmnn 05/07/2015 at 11:51

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That’s a nice shot. Good tip on looking for the pros for their spots.

True. Learning from the experience is good.

Location scouting definitely has a huge impact on the possible shots.