Luke abucaba

blinded · May 11, 2004

I've got a shot where you can actually see the transition, but I still thought this on came out nice, even though it looks like hes hopping from flat.

malachite · May 12, 2004

Most people are probably scratching their heads thinking "abucaba?". The unitiated don't know what he's doing really and don't know that he's as montionless in real life as he is in that picture at that point in the move.

I have this problem shooting trials riders. Trying to convey a sense of motion and direction without blur. It's hard to convey the "what's he doing, where'd he come from, how'd he get there, where's he going?" when freezing a moment in time.

I like your pic though. Since I know how he got there it atleast has a good sense of scale to it as that's a pretty good size up to be stalling on even with the approach tranny.

What's helped me the most as of late to capture the scale and motion was going wide angle and getting in as close as I can. 20mm is working the best at low angles. The effect only enhances what's already there instead of distorting the truth.

drlynn · May 12, 2004

malachite said:
Trying to convey a sense of motion and direction without blur. It's hard to convey the "what's he doing, where'd he come from, how'd he get there, where's he going?" when freezing a moment in time.

Have you tried slow sync'ing your flash? If your camera allows for "slow sync flash" or 2nd curtain flash then try using it with a slow shutterspeed.
This gives the long blur, then the flash fires just before the shutter closes to freeze the action at the very end. It gives kinda the best of both worlds, the blur for a sense of motion and the subject in focus at the end of the blur trail.

blinded · May 12, 2004

Ah yeah, I didn't think of other people not knowing what an abucaba is.

Basically, there is a transition (which I should have got more in the shot, but I wanted most of the tree) up to the ledge, he rides up, stalls on his back tire, hops back in backwards and 180's out.

I used a 28mm lens on this, I need a fish for shots like this. Alot of people say that a 28mm isn't needed at all for shooting skating or bmx but I really like using it.

malachite · May 12, 2004

Have you tried slow sync'ing your flash?

I don't a have a camera (or a flash) anymore that I can sync rear curtain. The N90 and SB26 died in a fire a few years ago. It's more of a compositional thing though. I have tons of pics of trials riders on thier bikes, frozen in time while doing something that's cool and all but lack the sense of scale, realism, and basic understanding of what's going on that I mentioned before. I lucked out a few times but I have made notes of everything, broken down by move, of what I need to aim for next time out. It's starting to come together...................

Alot of people say that a 28mm isn't needed at all for shooting skating or bmx but I really like using it.

It's a lot easier to get closer with trials but what I've been aiming for that turns out good all starts around 24mm out to 18mm. A little harder to do with skaters and BMXr's when trying to convince a teenager that the best spot for the camera is IN the bowl.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread with my ramblings but somewhere in there I hope are some tips that might work for you