newb sports shot....

[CHUM]

got a new camera recently (Canon 450D) and a couple of Tamron lenses (decent quality for the price).

Figured I'd use it to capture fun moments with my brand-spanking new son and some mountain biking shots with my buds (who are all now faster than me.....dammit)

Here's my fist attempt at a 'sports' shot.....i set up for good daylight at a section where riders had to slow a bit.....i wanted primary focus on the rider with a slightly blurry background.....

i think i should have pushed it more with the blurred shot....next time i'll choose a faster section of trail..

1/60
AV 16.0
iso 400

photoshop - cropped, resized, unsharp mask....and a RGB contrast pass (it punched the colors a bit)

OK......let me have it

[Greg McCary]

Just looking at your settings I think 1/60 is a bit slow for your shutter speed. Also your AV could have been a little more open, giving you more room for a faster shutter. A faster shuttter will freeze the action more and cut down on camera motion.

[CHUM]

Just looking at your settings I think 1/60 is a bit slow for your shutter speed. Also your AV could have been a little more open, giving you more room for a faster shutter. A faster shuttter will freeze the action more and cut down on camera motion.

unfortunately that's exactly what i was trying to avoid - a 'frozen' image.

I set the speed low so i could track the cyclist in focus while leaving the background blurred...but, i didn't push it far enough.

I think the subjects focus is OK.....but the trail, DOF, etc is not "right" yet......urgh...

[cm_mtb]

f/16 is a pretty small aperture. You could open it up to f/5.6 or so to help get the background blur that you are looking for... although it won't be the "action" blur that I think you are imagining. Compensate by lowering your iso, and you can keep your slow shutter speed too. With careful panning, you can keep the subject (face is most important) sharp at slow shutter speeds, which it looks like you managed to do here quite well. The lighting is also pretty good - the rider is evenly lit, and I like the rider's shadow. Overall, I think you did very well for a first attempt.