Unadilla MX 2014

RDenhardt

No longer a newbie, moving up!
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
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I saw a thread earlier showing off some motocross shots, and it gave me the itch to want to get out to the track and shoot. Cant do that with all this snow on the ground so ive decided to go through my gallery from last years race and pick 5 that I thought were my favorite. I ended up taking about 800 shots, 500 or so being usable. This was basically my first time picking up the camera for an MX event so I was happy


DSC_0367 by robdenhardt, on Flickr

DSC_0416 by robdenhardt, on Flickr

DSC_0512 by robdenhardt, on Flickr
DSC_0818 by robdenhardt, on Flickr

DSC_0966 by robdenhardt, on Flickr
 
Watch ur backgrounds.
What do you mean by this? Are you referring to the last photo? The goal was to blur the background give the illusion of speed.
 
Your backgrounds are distracting and busy. Look for clean and simple. Most beginning photographers look at the subject only. The key to good photography is the the background. Find a clean background then take the same shots.
 
Your backgrounds are distracting and busy. Look for clean and simple. Most beginning photographers look at the subject only. The key to good photography is the the background. Find a clean background then take the same shots.
Ah I can understand that, I can see where there is some distractions. Thanks for the feedback!
 
Not a fan of all the head cutting off that's going on, IMO those last three are way too tight.
 
Not a fan of all the head cutting off that's going on, IMO those last three are way too tight.
I agree. They were coming towards me at an angle at that part of the track and I wasn't fast enough to zoom out and refocus after the corner prior. I am not a big fan of cutting of the heads either
 
I've done quite a bit of motocross and feel that I may have some useful advice. It's all personal preference so take it with a grain of salt.

1.) Lighting. Ideal spot for photos is in a nice even shaded area, or a nice overcast day with even lighting. Direct sunlight is your enemy. If you must shoot in direct sunlight, never shoot in the direction of the sun or you'll get photos like the first one where the subject is far too dark and the background far too bright.

2.) Background. This makes or breaks the photo. A busy background is bad. Nice and clean and simple is good. Generally the sky is bad in 90% of weather conditions because it will be brighter than your subject and blow out. Trees or track make the best background IMO. People, vehicles, etc. do not. A good fast telephoto lens (70-200 2.8, etc) can help with this by way of bokeh, but you still need to pay attention.

3.) Perspective: nobody wants to see photos from a point of view they could get in the grandstands. It looks like a fairly small track, talk to the owner or manager and get track access! The old rule is that if your photos aren't good enough, you aren't close enough. Obviously keep safety in mind and don't get hit, but don't be afraid to get down low or get close to the track to get interesting points of view.

4.) Framing. You want each photo to tell a story; show what the rider is going through. As a general rule, photos of riders that don't contain the ground or track do a poor job of this. If you see a photo of a rider that's in the air but no ground there is no context. You don't know how high they are or what is going on other than the fact that they are in the air. Also, try to lead the rider a bit: That is, to have more open space in front of them than behind them. This helps to tell a story by showing you where they're going a bit, and increasing the sense of forward motion.

5.) Panning. If you're trying to show motion by blurring the background, slow your shutter down a little more than you did in the last photo of the first set. With it only being ever so slightly blurred, it looks more out of focus than motion blurred.

Again, all personal preference when it comes down to it. But this is the type of advice members here gave me that helped improve my motocross work, and I think it could benefit you.
 
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