"Throwing The Red"

This image was captured in 2011 during my first season as a track photographer at my first major local (Northeast regional) event. Middle-ish frame in a sequence of 20. Of all the frames, I favor this one as the "story" shot as it shows many aspects of the action taking place, from the cars on the track to the flagman and his assistant (Father/Son team this day) to reaction of the fans in the stands. No one was seriously injured, though quite a few cars recieved various levels of damage-mostly in efforts to avoid collisions with flying debris and other drivers.

I decided on alternative processing in an effort to work up something reminiscent of a colorized B/W, only more complex. I feel it's successful to that end, but I wonder about another version revealing more of the reaction details from the crowd. Minor cropping of the original. DPP>Topaz adjust>DAP "AZO" (tweaked)> CS6 for layer blending with a BW version>LR5 for local and global tonal work, crop and export.

Thanks for viewing and as always, C&C welcome and appreciated.

Edit: In a strange twist of fate, the Blue/Silver #86 (involved at the beginning of this incident) would, only a few laps after the restart, barrel roll down the back straight in similar fashion with no resulting injuries. My position did not allow for images of that event.

What a cool moment captured in time, anyone who has rolled a car know's the feeling of hopelessness when the car is in the air. Very nice post processing, well done

I might try revealing someone in the crowd who is really reacting. They all look pretty passive, but it is hard to tell when viewed at this size. If anything I would like to see more of the cars to the right. The processing is very well done. Curious as to what lens you would use for shooting events like this Randall?

Hi, Stuart, I really like the processing on this one. I could go either way with the crowd but I kind of like the abstract look that you've got the way it is. I like the touches of turquoise that show up in the image.:S3:

The composition is good, and you certainly captured the action. I've looked at this a couple times with the same outcome -- the Turkey Derby sign grabs my attention. Probably one reason is because of its location in the image, nicely centered on one of the divine proportion line intersections. I wouldn't try to change that, but I'd be inclined to back way off of the saturation in the sign and make its background gray so it doesn't stand out as much.

Thanks for the tips! Paul it would seem you speak from experience, I can only imagine what was going through this driver's mind as his car barrel rolled and bounced it's way down the track. Just coming out of turn 4 he was full throttle when things went awry.

Jackie: Unfortunately I didn't capture the entire shape of the cars on the right edge in this frame, there's a little more to be had but not much. (by this point the group began to separate). You asked about lens choice-for the majority of my track work, zooms are my preference as they allow for a wider range of coverage and composition. For this track, the 70-200 2.8 is ideal on a crop sensor body. Full frame you'd want something longer, 70-300, or perhaps the 200-400 though the latter will be a bit tight for the larger cars as they pass by. You might have to switch to a faster prime for night work unless you're using the 1DX. On dirt tracks I prefer using 2 bodies (again, crop sensor) fitted with wide angle zooms, 16-35 and 24-105 as we are allowed to position ourselves much closer to the action.

Dennis, good points about the saturation on the sign, it does draw attention from the action. I'll do a repost during the week.

I'm a bit late to commenting. I like this a lot. I like the look of the processing. I like the mostly B&W with bits of color scattered throughout. Very nice.
My reaction upon seeing the image, with the one car flipping over was "Oh no!" So, you were successful in capturing the event.
I can't tell what the reaction of the crowd is from this image.
Part of me wishes the crowd was not in the image, as it pulls my attention away from the cars. Another part of me likes the crowd, as it completes the scene.