Santa came early....

[Jaimecbr900]

Some of the photographer gear heads may get this, others won't but it's all good. This is a copy and paste from a photography forum I belong to, so ignore the initial gay banter and check out the pics and tell me what you think......I know Mr. Matt will have something to say..... :

__________________________________________________ ______________

I'm a firm believer that too much talk and not enough action is kinda gay.....

After much talk and salivating, I went out and got me a REAL lens that may help me keep up with a few of you guys.......I got me the 70-200 2.8L lens everyone always talks about. :woohoo: It is as good as advertised. I love it. Later today, I'll get to play with it at Jacqueline's football game (we made the playoffs) too.

I got it on Thursday, and low and behold my little brother calls me Friday to come down and hang out with him at the NASCAR races at AMS. Perfect time to play with the new toy. His company has a suite coming out of turn 3 into the start/finish line. Beautifully perfect spot. It took about 1/2 a sec for me to decide to play hookie from the office, check my son out of school, and do a father/son day at the races.

My brother got us what they call "cold" passes, which let you get into pits, but not into the paddocks where the driver teams are. Good enough for me. Luckily, I got mistaken for a "press" guy and got to go all the way up to the wall for a little while during practice.

My son had a great time, I had a great time, and I have some new found respect for NASCAR racing and how fast they truly are (and LOUD!).

Here are a few of the shots I got, some were taken with the new toy:

[Jaimecbr900]

Some of the pics were taken purely for effect and definetly NOT for quality. Remember that before yall tear into me.....

[Jaimecbr900]

Some more:

[tony]

the pictures are amazing!!! Makes me want to go see Nascar now.. congrats on the new lens.

[Jaimecbr900]

Thanks bud.

I've never been a NASCAR fan per se. I like any kind of racing, but it's not like I know who's who and who's winning and losing. My brother on the other hand is a NASCAR nut. He knew all the drivers merely by the number on the side of the car. He was a kid in a candy store. I did get a new found respect for the sport though. It's unbelievable how popular and how dedicated those fans are.

[HiPSI]

nice pics

[Jaimecbr900]

Thanks man. I appreciate that.

[Deaf Pimp]

Nice pics!!! What camera you using?

[Jaimecbr900]

Nice pics!!! What camera you using?

Canon 350D XT.

In the beginning, I was shooting with my 20-80mm lens because the new lens wasn't wide enough to get the room shoots. When we went down to the pits, I swapped lenses to the new one which is a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L series lens. I like it a lot. I didn't necessarily need such a bright lens for full daylight shots, but I had to try it out ya know....

[A.P. Photography]

OK, you knew it was coming

I will say that all the pics look good Jaime. The lens is really worth the money.

The only things I see that I would have tried to do different are:

Pic 1, you were shooting towards the sun so there is nothing you can really do there. I would probably put it in PS and play with the curves on it to brighten it up a little.
Pic 2, The PL filter would have helped here as you are getting a little reflection but not much.
Pic 3, fine
Pic 4, just a little tilted but great pic
Pic 5, Would have liked to see the whole motor, here again good shot-colors right on
Pic 6, sunsets are hard to shoot. Good job on this one. A little time in PS with the curves and it should be perfect
Pic 7, good shot.
Pic 8, very nice shot
Pic 9, Have everything centered instead of the last sign cut off.
Pic 10, very nice, great capture of the colors
Pic 11, another great shot.

[A.P. Photography]

Oh and I got to play with Jaime's Camera a little bit Thursday night. That lens is awesome. Very good buy Jaime.

[RutRoe]

Look great man.... nice work. I was there, so its mroe fun for me to see them !

[tightblue89]

Jaime those pics are awesome man. Im going to try to get some of the Maxima crew to come to the seloc slizzin nights this month. I have never been and I know you guys and gals are awesome people anyway so it doesnt matter who shows up usually.

Kenny

[Spike]

Damn!! What kind of camera do you have...it is freakin sweet...GREAT JOB!

[HyPer50]

nice pics, and nice seats lol... i would made sure to wear a coat with some biiiig pockets and snatched that motor.

[Jaimecbr900]

nice pics, and nice seats lol... i would made sure to wear a coat with some biiiig pockets and snatched that motor.

Seats????

Yeah, that motor was very pimp.

[HyPer50]

Seats????

Umm...sitting area? viewing room? lol the suite man.. the suite. would be a great spot to watch the race. Sorry... I guess "seats" is a blue collar term, for such a white collar person = P j/k

[Jaimecbr900]

Umm...sitting area? viewing room? lol the suite man.. the suite. would be a great spot to watch the race. Sorry... I guess "seats" is a blue collar term, for such a white collar person = P j/k

Gotcha.

Yeah, the "seats" were very nice. Considering we had food, drink, and the view......it was very nice. I only got to watch the qualifying and the preliminary practices, but that was nice.

[Kevykev]

OK, you knew it was coming

I will say that all the pics look good Jaime. The lens is really worth the money.

The only things I see that I would have tried to do different are:

Pic 1, you were shooting towards the sun so there is nothing you can really do there. I would probably put it in PS and play with the curves on it to brighten it up a little.
Pic 2, The PL filter would have helped here as you are getting a little reflection but not much.
Pic 3, fine
Pic 4, just a little tilted but great pic
Pic 5, Would have liked to see the whole motor, here again good shot-colors right on
Pic 6, sunsets are hard to shoot. Good job on this one. A little time in PS with the curves and it should be perfect
Pic 7, good shot.
Pic 8, very nice shot
Pic 9, Have everything centered instead of the last sign cut off.
Pic 10, very nice, great capture of the colors
Pic 11, another great shot.

damn, my boy J's under scrutiny?

Nice pics, they captured the moments perfectly.

[A.P. Photography]

damn, my boy J's under scrutiny?

Nice pics, they captured the moments perfectly.

Hey he asked. I am just pointing out the kind of stuff I get called out on on the photography forums I am on. That was nice considering what I have been told on some of mine.

[Kevykev]

Hey he asked. I am just pointing out the kind of stuff I get called out on on the photography forums I am on. That was nice considering what I have been told on some of mine.

Nah man, not caling you out:

It was his second post "remeber that before yall tear into me."

Then you Tore into him.

Ok that sounds way to gay, I'm out!

[Nitro]

Ummm....so when are u gonna take some shots for me bro niceeeeeee

[A.P. Photography]

Nah man, not caling you out:

It was his second post "remeber that before yall tear into me."

Then you Tore into him.

Ok that sounds way to gay, I'm out!

I know, there is two threads right now where he can turn the tables on me and critique my pics. Just waiting on him to actually tell me what he thinks cause a brotha need feed back too.

[LaurenK]

Nice pix

[Jaimecbr900]

Kev- It's alright bro. Good looking out, but Matt's cool. It's constructive criticism. I'm good. Matt and I are cool. I like that you were about to throw down for me though......

Matt- You're right on in most of that. I don't have a 77mm CPL filter because I just got that lens the other night. I just ordered it yesterday (cause nobody local freaking had it ), so I should have it by the week's end. The only thing I had to fight the sun and haze with was the hood and well....that's not good enough. I tried shooting with the smaller lens that I do have filters for, but I just wasn't getting the effect I wanted. The AMS sign, you're dead on. I should've caught that logo on the right all the way. I just rushed that shot. The motor.....that is the whole motor. It was on a stand as a display. I didn't want to include the stand because it was kinda boring and would take away from the motor itself IMO. I do need to start doing some processing to the pics after taking them. I just don't have nor know how to work with PS or the likes. I have to start to learn how to work with them. Maybe that will be my next project.

Nitro- Anytime you're ready bud. All I ever need is an excuse to take pics.

Lauren- Thank you. BTW, sending you a PM about something.

[A.P. Photography]

Jaime, sucks about having to order the PL filter in. Now for the next one you need, just read up on this one is the Neutral Density filter. Saw some pics with the filter and wow, big difference. I am looking into finding me one also.


You know Jaime, Nitro's car would be a good one to do test shots on location with also. With the lambo doors trying to get the highlights just right will be a challenge.

[Jaimecbr900]

I was just reading about Neutral density filters yesterday. I wasn't paying too much attention to it because I was digging for a PL instead. I'll have to go back and read about them.

What are they supposed to do?

[A.P. Photography]

I was just reading about Neutral density filters yesterday. I wasn't paying too much attention to it because I was digging for a PL instead. I'll have to go back and read about them.

What are they supposed to do?

This was taken off of one of the photog sites I am on

Another filter I find very handing and use it more and more, is the graduated natural density filter (ND02). I use a Cokin mount so that I can control when and where the graduation starts. This is useful for bright skies or bright foreground grounds to keep the tonal range with in your camera’s range of reproduction.

[Nitro]

Jaime, sucks about having to order the PL filter in. Now for the next one you need, just read up on this one is the Neutral Density filter. Saw some pics with the filter and wow, big difference. I am looking into finding me one also.


You know Jaime, Nitro's car would be a good one to do test shots on location with also. With the lambo doors trying to get the highlights just right will be a challenge.

HMM?

[A.P. Photography]

HMM?

What?