Cycling Photography

[squirrels]

So, a friend of mine does cycling photography and has asked me to second shoot a couple events with her. I'll be renting a 70-300 AF-S VR for both rides, picking it up the day before and playing with it to feel comfortable. I know that fast shutter speed is key to freezing motion (she says don't go under 1/250), always get the chain side of the bike, and try to get the eyes, and I've been looking a cycling photography examples on the web. I also have a practice run on a practice ride scheduled, I'll only have my kit lens to play with for that.

She'd be fine without me, but I'd like to do a good job for her. I wanted to ask if anyone here has important advice (or trivial) that I might not have picked up.

 

[tirediron]

Try and find a location with a bit of a curve in the road/path so that you can get a good 3/4 profile of at least one rider, with others visible in the background. If possible, scout the locations in advance and depending on the size of the event, stake your turf early (e-books on your smartphone are a GREAT way to pass the time). I suspect that if this is a road-race type event, 1/250th might be a tad slow, 'though a little motion isn't necessarily a bad thing. I would also practice panning, since that's a great way to isolate a fast-moving subject.

 

[runnah]

Ask her to pop a wheelie. If that fails have her jump over something.

 

[The_Traveler]

The advantage of being on a curve is they slow down a bit.
Look for hills - to get at the top
Be careful of sun position.
I've shot a bunch of cycling (my son-in-law is a cat 1 rider) and the classic shots are on curves at wide apertures to catch single riders isolated from pack and also on curves with very wide angles on the inside of curves.
Road races are tough because you may only get one shot at the riders; criteriums are much more fun as the loops are typically every 2-3 minutes.
Try to find a good position to get the sprint at the end.

But, to be honest, cycling gets really boring pretty fast.
The 300 f2.8 is a favorite lens both because of the reach and also the isolation you can get at 2.8

 

[nycphotography]

One recipe that works and is dramatic:

One (or more) off camera speedlights, a faster shutter, a smaller aperture... darken the ambient and pull the riders with the flash.
Wide lenses can accentuate motion distortion.

Is it a race? A crit (criterium) will be several laps past a single place... great for setting up
A circuit race will have a couple laps past a single place... ok for setting up, but flash cycle time becomes an issue.
A road race goes ppoint to point so you'll have to shoot, jump in the car or motorcyle, leapfrog, and repeat. Impossible to really "set up" for each spot... you need one setup that works everywhere.

Mountain biking.. downhill = 1 pass per rider.
cross country you may get a couple passes / laps.
cyclocross = 4-5 laps per class.

A few examples of the style:

http://www.rogerkramercycling.org/HTML/uploaded_images/bicycling-730718.jpg
http://www.nosweatlaundry.com/images/BicyclingMagazine_cover_medium_000.jpg
http://www.imbikemag.com/images/issue4_cover.jpg

 

[gsgary]

If your shutter speed is too fast you will make them look as though they are balancing on the spot

 

[squirrels]

Thanks so so much you guys. This is great stuff. One is a charity ride and the other is a road race with 3 levels of difficulty/distances. I'm in luck in the sense that we'll scout together, but she's going to place me.

Try and find a location with a bit of a curve in the road/path so that you can get a good 3/4 profile of at least one rider, with others visible in the background. If possible, scout the locations in advance and depending on the size of the event, stake your turf early (e-books on your smartphone are a GREAT way to pass the time). I suspect that if this is a road-race type event, 1/250th might be a tad slow, 'though a little motion isn't necessarily a bad thing. I would also practice panning, since that's a great way to isolate a fast-moving subject.

Thank you. Panning. Right, I need more practice.

Ask her to pop a wheelie. If that fails have her jump over something.

Do I need to stop calling a group of bikers a pelican?

The advantage of being on a curve is they slow down a bit.
Look for hills - to get at the top
Be careful of sun position.
I've shot a bunch of cycling (my son-in-law is a cat 1 rider) and the classic shots are on curves at wide apertures to catch single riders isolated from pack and also on curves with very wide angles on the inside of curves.
Road races are tough because you may only get one shot at the riders; criteriums are much more fun as the loops are typically every 2-3 minutes.
Try to find a good position to get the sprint at the end.


But, to be honest, cycling gets really boring pretty fast.
The 300 f2.8 is a favorite lens both because of the reach and also the isolation you can get at 2.8

Thanks, Lew! This is good stuff. I'm glad she's doing most of the heavy lifting re the locations. Another promising note, since I don't get out much these days; it should take a while for boredom to set in! Oh, she's covering lens rental as part of the package, so I don't get the beautiful f2.8. I'm looking at the slower lens unless local camera shop cuts us a better deal.

One recipe that works and is dramatic:


One (or more) off camera speedlights, a faster shutter, a smaller aperture... darken the ambient and pull the riders with the flash.
Wide lenses can accentuate motion distortion.


Is it a race? A crit (criterium) will be several laps past a single place... great for setting up
A circuit race will have a couple laps past a single place... ok for setting up, but flash cycle time becomes an issue.
A road race goes ppoint to point so you'll have to shoot, jump in the car or motorcyle, leapfrog, and repeat. Impossible to really "set up" for each spot... you need one setup that works everywhere.


Mountain biking.. downhill = 1 pass per rider.
cross country you may get a couple passes / laps.
cyclocross = 4-5 laps per class.


A few examples of the style:


http://www.rogerkramercycling.org/HTML/uploaded_images/bicycling-730718.jpg
http://www.nosweatlaundry.com/images/BicyclingMagazine_cover_medium_000.jpg
http://www.imbikemag.com/images/issue4_cover.jpg

I have a couple OCFs (three if you count an old 283) that would be really fun to play with. Maybe if I practice a bit I could do that for one location in one race when she's covering the safe shots in case I have equipment failure.

If your shutter speed is too fast you will make them look as though they are balancing on the spot

::taking notes::


Thanks again you guys!

squirrels

 

[vintagesnaps]

You better get out and practice - especially if you haven't done sports/action (even if you have to practice on cars driving by, the dog running around the yard or whatever). I found panning took a lot of practice and I still don't feel like I'm real good at it, even though I've done lots of hockey and have had plenty of practice capturing movement/fast action etc.

You're getting the lens the day before?? I'd use something you already have and at least practice freezing action, and panning if you're going to try that at the event.

If you have never done sports I'd honestly not encourage doing something like this as a second shooter. If you got invited by a friend to come along just for the fun of it then it could be a good experience, but if she's expecting you to produce results to be used for a particular purpose I'm not sure how that'll work out. Practice, a lot.

 

[imagemaker46]

Look for the cleanest backgrounds.

 

[squirrels]

You better get out and practice - especially if you haven't done sports/action (even if you have to practice on cars driving by, the dog running around the yard or whatever). I found panning took a lot of practice and I still don't feel like I'm real good at it, even though I've done lots of hockey and have had plenty of practice capturing movement/fast action etc.

You're getting the lens the day before?? I'd use something you already have and at least practice freezing action, and panning if you're going to try that at the event.

If you have never done sports I'd honestly not encourage doing something like this as a second shooter. If you got invited by a friend to come along just for the fun of it then it could be a good experience, but if she's expecting you to produce results to be used for a particular purpose I'm not sure how that'll work out. Practice, a lot.

Thanks Sharon, "second shooter" is overstating what I'm doing. Anything I produce that is useful to her will be icing on the cake that she is baking or gravy for the biscuits or whatever. On the other hand I am the second person playing part of her team for the day, so of course I do want to do the best I can.

This was advertised as "It'll be fun." I'm savvy enough to not agree to that for a wedding if someone says that, but not savvy enough to say no for this when she asked me. :meh:

Hmm, I've got several weeks between now and then. Just for good measure I'll have another talk with her about expectations while I'm practicing on one of the practice rides.

 

[gregtallica]

Ask her to pop a wheelie. If that fails have her jump over something.

In a world of "superman-seat-grabs" and "triple-tailwhip-to-fakey's", the wheelie is still, hands down, the greatest trick ever invented.



So yeah, get some pictures of those.