Schlegelmilch Photography
We are a family business with a team of dedicated professionals situated in Frankfurt/Main, offering an extensive range of services, mainly used by publishers, agencies and other F1-involved companies as a picture supplier. Before F1 finally attracted so much interest and developed a massive fan audience, the family was running a studio for advertising photography. As the popularity of Michael Schumacher and other German drivers increased, our customer base developed from advertising agencies to all kinds of publishers who wanted to take advantage of Rainer´s intensive 'hobby' – his legendary motorsport photography.
Rainer W. Schlegelmilch – senior photo designer and doyen of F1 photography
Boris Schlegelmilch – has been shooting F1 since ´97, and is responsible for administration, website developing, image distribution and other internal matters
Heide Schlegelmilch – in charge of accounting, secretarial matters and is our friendly telephone voice
Stefano Luzzatto – our passionate F1 expert, Apple wizard, archivist, layout and image processing specialist
Our Photos
Our archives contain generally Formula 1 from 1962 to the present day, also Le Mans and other sportscar races in the 60s-80s as well as "beauty shots" recording the automotive history from all important series models and sportscars from BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and most British sportscars.
An collection of over half a million original slides covering major championship runs since 1962, provides an in-depth insight into every aspect of the pinnacle of motorsport – technology, pit and paddock action, racing and strong emotions. By utilising the latest search engine technology we will constantly expand the breadth and accessibility of the archive by adding new images to the web archive each day.
Material and Equipment
At the beginning of the 2005 F1 season we made the big step towards digital photography because with the Canon EOS 1Ds MkII a camera is available which provides the detailed resolution associated with a fine-grain slide film.
Cameras: Canon EOS 3, EOS 1V, since 2005 Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II+III
Lenses: 500mm, 400mm, 14-35mm, 70-200mm, 24-135mm etc., all Canon
Photoprint paper: Kodak, Fujicolor
Scanners: Heidelberg Tango drum scanner, Nikon LS-4000 slide scanner
Rainer Schlegelmilch started with black-and-white photography in 1962 and continued to provide it until about 1970, having experimented from 1963 with colour photography with Kodachrome 25 and 64 which he used exclusively until 1990, then he switched to Fujichrome Velvia and Provia 35mm slide film.
Our Offer
We do not only provide excellent photos in our selections, but also to try to capture some of the atmosphere of a Grand Prix weekend by showing our visitors a selection of powerful and at times amusing pictures. Our ‘TopShots’ are examples of more than 1000 images that we add to our archive after each race – showing moments of action on the track and portraits of race drivers concentrating in the pits or relaxed in the paddock. Besides these ‘TopShots’, please check out the various search options in the ‘Extended Search’. We endeavour to update the variety of our digital archive as often as possible, both on and off season, with both actual and historical images.
With passion, dedication and enthusiasm being the driving force behind our philosophy, we have created a comprehensive and still growing Grand Prix library which is constructed to show every style of Grand Prix photography. They range from high-speed dynamic action shots to pit stop refuelling, artistic zoom shots (a technique developed by Rainer with the first zoom lens) and all other types of classic ‘Grand Prix action’.
We are very excited about presenting the rich contents of our 'analogue' archive to provide Formula One enthusiasts with the opportunity to purchase high-quality photographs of Formula One drivers, cars and other F1 related miscellaneous shots.
More than 40 years established as one of the world's largest independent motorsport picture agencies, we exclusively concentrate on every aspect of automobile imagery. Our technologically advanced in-house facilities provide the ability to capture, process and deliver images rapidly to our global customers.
We spend considerable time with each image in the "digital darkroom", removing any unavoidable blemishes and dust bits. All high-end scans fulfill the highest demands, are colour-balanced and can be converted to CYMK if requested. In order to gain maximum quality from the digital images of the individuallly profiled Canon EOS 1Ds MkII we take the photos in 16bit RAW file format.
Manual retouching is realised in Photoshop with some time spent depending on the motive – if requested we remove sponsor and brand logos in order to avoid personal rights infringement in case the image is used for advertising purposes.
Produce your own marketing tools with the ability to develop any of your ideas; but keep in mind the personal rights of driver, team & sponsors as usage restrictions are inherent to the pinnacle of motorsport.
If you have any question which is not answered here, about our working processes or if you plan a professional use and want to inquire copyright fees or licenses, if you have specific needs or you are looking for pictures of a certain driver not yet presented in our online gallery, please contact us or have a look in the FAQ section.
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