Not sure what you mean by the "program", as they are a hosting service where you can create your own web site. I started mine there earlier this year (www.bgphillipsphotography.com). I found it took me awhile to figure out their system for creating the pages and galleries I wanted, however whenever you click "help" it takes you to a page where you can search by topic and find whatever you need. As you do that, a pop up box will ask you if you want to chat live with one of their "heroes" who will answer your questions. I've used that a few times. Once I figured out how to get the galleries and categories I wanted, I was happy with it. The thing I really like is that it syncs with Lightroom, so as I edit my RAW images in LR, I can just drag them to the proper gallery in LR and upload them from there. They are automatically converted to JPEGs in the process. No need to save each image separately as a JPEG first. I do wish they gave you the option of creating HTML pages without having to know how to do CSS. They really should have that as part of their templates so that you can create separate pages that are not galleries if you want to have a BIO page or daily blog, for example. Can't beat their customer service, though. A couple of other good features are that it allows you to create watermarks that are not part of the image when someone purchases it. Also, you have the option of disabling right-clicking to save images. There are really quite a few things you can change within each gallery page.

Thanks for sharing. You might consider renting a good SLR & lens for a couple of days from borrowlenses.com if you have an event coming up where you want to get the best images you can... although there might be a learning curve with a new camera. I was thrilled when I went to Hangtown this year with my 7D and the 70-200 L-series glass, because I'd never shot MX with that kind of equipment before. Here's a shot I took from 1976 or 77 at Puyallup, WA of Roger DeCoster who was world champion at the time. Then, about 5 years ago at Hangtown I had the chance to get him to autograph it for me. I had a film SLR at the time but only a 50mm prime lens, and of course no autofocus. Wish I could travel back in time with today's equipment!

I started shooting motocross when I was about 12 years old in 1970, with a Kodak instamatic... what a difference between what I had then and what I'm using now (Canon 7D), but it taught me how to pan. Before getting a digital SLR, though I went through some lesser point-and-shoot cameras and still got an okay image now and then.

I use auto-focus and manual about 50-50. I like manual focus for pre-focusing on a spot that the riders will be passing through, then shooting them when they get there. I found that when I'm capturing the riders jumping, only about half of my images are perfectly sharp when I zoom in at 100%, whether in manual or auto focus... jumps are the biggest challenge I think, and I have more to learn there about getting a higher percentage of my shots tack sharp.

I use the zone system to figure out the best exposure, then set it manually so that the camera isn't contantly trying to figure out the right exposure as I'm panning. I check the histogram frequently to make sure I've got it right. I use larger apertures: 2.8, etc. but I've been able to get away with relatively slower shutter speeds (1/320) with proper panning. I like seeing the wheels blurred a little bit, rather than have the spokes completely frozen with too high a shutter speed.

The great thing about motorcycle races, as opposed to sitting in the stands at a football game for example, is that you can get all around the track, so I take advantage of that by not shooting too many images from one spot. Shoot the riders coming at you, passing in front of you and moving away from you (even if they spray a little dirt on your glass). Mix it up.

Here are a couple I shot this year at Hangtown (MX) and one of Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca a couple of weeks ago. At Hangtown I used a 70-200. At Laguna I used a 300 prime.

More Hangtown pix here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bgphillipsphotography/sets/72157629821105846/

Yes, I'm lucky to be living in California... heading to Laguna Seca this weekend to photo the MotoGP races. Thanks for sharing!

I sent a few photos to Richard at Pez, after attending the North American Handmade Bicycle show this year... he wrote back asking me for more photos and an article, so I threw together this: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=10167

Had a chance to meet Graham Watson at the Tour of California in 2007. He was standing just in front of me on the other side of the fence during the prologue. I commented to my wife and others around me "We have a celebrity in our midst". Graham humbly pointed at a nearby photographer from Getty Images and said "Not me... that's the celebrity..." Don't know who the Getty guy was, but I was pretty excited to have met Graham. My wife snapped this shot of us.

...oop. Just realized Alan Taylor is not the photographer here. Shots are from various different photographers.

Stunning...I've photographed pro cycling since the mid 1980's and have been a big fan of Graham Watson who is probably the best known cycling photographer over the last 30 years, but this guy (Alan Taylor) is easily on par or better than Graham. Would love to have the access that the pro photographers do in the big stage races (motorcycle rides with the peloton, etc.). The shots of the finish line with the spinters coming straight at the camera are reserved for the pro's with their 600mm glass who have access to that spot in the finishing straight.

If you have long exposure noise reduction turned on, I believe this would create the same problem. Check that first under C. fn II.

For the boat shot, I think would be dramatic IF:
1. The boat was coming directly at the camera
2. You got down to near water level to take the shot and
3. You were able to nearly fill the frame with a crisp image of the boat with everything else outside of your DOF. A good 300mm (or more)telephoto would help with that.

I just attended a photo weekend in Sacramento. I also received their catalog a few months ago. I would love to take a year off from my day job and attend whatever I wanted to from their catalog, especially the Summer Intensive and some of the professional studies courses.

Regarding the 2 day photo workshop in Sacramento, it was well worth the $200 or so I paid. What I didn't realize until I got there was that all the topics were split between the two intructors so that you needed to choose between two different courses for each time slot. For the most part, this wasn't a problem. For example, I didn't need to sit through the "photo basics" class, so at the same time slot I had the Lightroom class available. On the second day, however I had a hard time choosing between a landscape class and a portrait class.

The instructors and their presentations were top notch. Tim Cooper taught half the classess and Tony (forgot his last name) taught the other half. Every class was chock full of information with lots of examples in their presentations that supported what was being taught.

For me, it was the right thing at the right time. I'm at the point where I have a fairly good understanding of concepts like exposures, white balance, DOF, etc, but I still learned more. If I was a bit more advanced, then it may not have benefited me as much.

That's how I feel about motocross bikes prior to the mid-late 80's. Now they all look the same except for their color.

Attached file:
(Download)

Along the same lines as the original post, here's an automotive themed image I took yesterday... I think I like the color versions better in this case, but here's the B&W image...

Couple more...

One of my favorite things to shoot! Old stuff...

Nice image. I spent a couple of days teaching myself HDR over the Thanksgiving weekend... went down to the local bridge in the early morning, fired off a few shots and came back home and played around with the Photomatix software for several hours. I found that I really liked the effect with B&W (or even partial B&W, as I did in one of the photos here).

Folsom: Rainbow Bridge east side


Folsom: Rainbow Bridge west side