[slideshow] Two days ago I got a chance to give some of my gear a heavy workout shooting model race cars. I know you are thinking, "Model cars would never be a challenge!" Well if they go 0-40mph in the blink of an eye they are a challenge. If driven by wild and crazy friends you have a challenge. If the sun is setting you have a triple challenge.

Challenge #1 is to get the tracking techniques down. I was able to use AF-C and either center point or auto select focus point to get an acceptable success rate. Framing the photo was problematic, but became more successful as I got to know what the drivers were doing with their cars. Just like sports, anticipating the desired shot was vital to success.

Challenge #2 was accepting the use of jpegs. My preferred method of capture is with RAW (PEF format) photos. Problem is the buffer would fill up and slow down too much if I used RAW, so I needed to do something I don't normally enjoy doing. I did succeed in keeping my bursts down to two or three shots at a time before I recomposed. In the past the RAW files may have kept me from shooting again while they were processed for longer periods of time than what I experienced that day.

Challenge #3 was getting a safe position and then getting my three kiddos (age 4, 8 and 10) to be safe as well. Trucks flying off the ramp could easily go 30ft in the "wrong" or unexpected direction on the ramp. So safety conscience Dads needed to be a shepherd as well.

Over all I had a blast. The captures were great practice. I processed the photos in Aperture with a mix of presets (from Aperture Expert and MacCreate) and selected photos in the Nik Collection.

Here is a movie I made with the photos! Enjoy!

Monster Racers!