This was my first time shooting a motor-sports event, so I learned a lot and had fun, one of the most challenging situations besides that the cars really go fast!!!, was the climate, it was pouring almost the whole day, so I tried to keep my gear as dry as possible using just plastic bags, fortunately it worked fine.

The gear I used was my Nikon D300, with the 80-400 and the 24-70, and I also carried a Gitzo monopod that was very useful for the bigger lens.

Earlier in the morning I concentrated in the boxes and garages, there are plenty of opportunities there for good images, as I was trying to gather as much as I can to help me tell the history, I also focused in drivers and technicians. Then went down to the track to try some panning and action shots.

Here is a gallery of the shots I most like from that day, it was fun and I’m looking forward to do it again…

[ps-gal-flash height=390 width=590]http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery/Fara-Races/G0000Akj7PUBGqHo[/ps-gal-flash]

That’s all for now…

Just brought with me the Nikon 70-200 2.8, as primarily wanted to do some portraits and didn’t want to be changing lens there in the beach.

Quite interesting subjects and characters, beyond the windy-sandy day… I came back with some interesting pictures, from fortunetellers, magicians, pirates, to falcons and owls.

I am pretty sure I’ll go back to the one in Deerfield Beach, which starts February 13^th, for information on the festival, just click here.

That’s all for now folks, more to come soon, in the meantime get out there and shoot something…

Festival del Renacimiento en Virginia Key

Ayer estuve en Virginia Key, en Key Biscayne aquí en Miami tomando algunas fotos en el festival del renacimiento.

Solamente lleve la lente Nikon 70-200 2.8, ya que principalmente quería sacar algunos retratos y no quería estar tener que andar cambiando lentes cerca de la playa.

Mas allá que me toco un día vento-arenoso he conseguido algunas fotos interesantes, desde adivinadores de fortuna, magos, piratas, incluso hasta algunos halcones y búhos.

Estoy seguro que voy a regresar al festival que van a realizar en Deerfield Beach a partir del 13 de Febrero, si querés mas información hacé clic aquí.

Es todo es todo por ahora, luego te cuento mas, mientras tanto salí por ahí y saca algunas fotos….

About 4 weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to shoot at the “Wings over Homestead” Air Show, where the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds returned to the Homestead Airbase after 17 years of absence.

The world famous jet fighter acrobatic team was the star of the show, but the show also hosted other aircraft, including from biplanes to supersonic jets and rocket cars.

During the morning and most part of the afternoon the weather was awful, shooting with this really overcast sky was very challenging and difficult, but in photography patience always pays and by late afternoon those clouds opened up a bit allowing us to get some nice images.

I worked from the side of the runway with my Nikon D300 and the Nikon ED AF VR Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D. Some people claims this lens to be outdated and very slow to focus as is not an AF-S lens, in fact it’s one of Nikons slowest focusing lenses, however worked very well for me that day and I didn’t feel any compromise.

I used the 3D Tracking mode that also worked very well, but my technique was to start to track the airplane trajectory with the lens at 80mm and then move the zoom ring all the way to 400mm while following the airplanes path.

I stayed at ISO 200 most of the time and my Aperture was about f11 also all the time because I wanted the shutter speed to be at a minimum of 500 to freeze the action.

It was a really great experience and I hope they keep coming to sunny Florida.

That’s all for now folks, more to come soon, in the meantime get out there and shoot something….

Fotografiando Pájaros…. Pájaros bien grandes…

Hace aproximadamente 4 semanas, tuve la maravillosa oportunidad de fotografiar al show aéreo “Wings over Homestead” donde los Thunderbirds the la fuerza aérea de los Estados Unidos se volvieron a presentar en la base aérea de Homestead después de 17 años de ausencia.

La maravilla del show fue mundialmente famoso equipo acrobático de jets, pero durante la muestra también se presentaron otros aviones, desde antiguos y clásicos biplanos hasta jet supersónicos y autos cohete.

Durante la mañana y gran parte de la tarde el tiempo no colaboró, trabajar con el cielo totalmente nublado fue bastante complicado, pero en fotografía la paciencia siempre es bien recompensada, y por la tarde  las nubes se abrieron permitiendo la oportunidad de obtener algunas buenas capturas.

Con mi Nikon D300 y la lente Nikon ED AF VR Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D. trabajé desde el costado de la pista de aterrizaje. Algunas personas concluyen que la tecnología de este lente esta ya un poco atrasada y que no es lo suficientemente rápido a la hora de enfocar ya que no es un AF-S, en realidad es que si es uno de los lentes mas lentos en la línea de Nikon, aunque para mi trabajó bien y en ningún momento me sentí comprometido por su desempeño.

Mi técnica fue utilizar la opción “3D Tracking” que realmente me funcionó muy bien, lo primero era comenzar a seguir los aviones con el lente 80mm y luego mover el zoom hasta 400mm siguiéndoles la trayectoria.

Me mantuve en ISO 200 la mayor parte del tiempo con una apertura de f11 porque necesitaba que la velocidad de obturación se mantuviera al menos en 500 para freezar la acción.

Es todo es todo por ahora, te cuento mas pronto, mientras tanto salí por ahí y saca algunas fotos…