Tour de France Prologue

[Didache]

Hi all

I was in London today for the prologue of the Tour de France. I have about 300 images to sort through, but this is one of them. A daring crop do you think? Does it work?

Cheers
Mike

[Greg McCary]

The crop works very well. The placement of the chase car is perfect. I read one of the cyclist took a nasty spill and was allowed to continue on a backup bike supplied by the chase car.
Greg

[Didache]

Thanks Greg. The rider you refer to was Stuart O'Grady, who is a great Aussie rider (Olympic track originally). He finished in (I think) 10'15" which was a credible time considering his crash - had he not crashed, he would have been up in the top 10 easily.

Cheers
Mike

[LeeIs]

Very good capture Mike. You've caught a great moment IMO. I don't know much about racing but it looks like he just turned the corner with a car in pursuit (to me ) the fact that the car and the driver have the same colours adds to this shot for me, though it might be 'the norm' I don't know. Nice shot.

[Tyson L. Sparks]

Great shot, looks like he needs a drink of water.

[Didache]

Tyson & Leels, thanks for looking, I appreciate it

Leels - in a time trial (ride against the clock) the rider rides on his own and is followed by his team car, which carries a spare bike in case of a crash. The car also has a speaker on the roof through which the team manager can shout encouragement. So it is no coincidence that the chasing car is the same colour.

Cheers
Mike

[Photo-John]

This is nice. I think a little tighter and a shallower depth-of-field to separate the rider would have been nice. But I know how hard it is to get a shot like this. I try to shoot stuff like this with large apertures and always have to throw away 90% because they're out of focus. So setting up conservatively and actually getting the shot is a reasonable strategy

I like the green of the rider and car against all the red in the background. That's one of the things that makes this photo work.

[Didache]

Photo-John

Thanks for your kind words. Yes, it is difficult. Over about 300 images, I really only have a handful of usable ones. These guys are travelling at 50km/hr which is hard enough. Add to that the difficulty of getting a focus lock (impossible to pre-focus as largely their path is unpredictable), keeping a shutter speed high, while still keeping an aperture small enough to get some kind of DOF, and you've got problems! (Not to mention sueezing and jostling from a crowd) From a technical point of view this may have been the hardest shoot I have ever done.

No wonder the pros do it from a motorcycle travelling at the same speed, with fill-in flash to freeze it.

Cheers
Mike

[Frog]

Good shot, Mike.
I always follow the tour when I can, especially when the get into mountains. Can't believe what these guys can do.
I watched some of the first stage this morning.
Have they ever started in London before? Seems strange as it is the tour de FRANCE.

[Didache]

Thanks Frog. In fact, the Tour starts in a country bordering on France every other year: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, etc. But this is the first time it has started in England. However, it has been in England twice before, the last time in 1994. It is really an international event these days - it's televised in 170 countries and the teams come from all over the place. It always finishes in Paris though.

Cheers
Mike

[Greg McCary]

The cyclist come to Georgia in April. They go over a mountian range called Brass Town Bald on the last stage. I couldn't drag a bike up it with a 4X4 truck. These guys certainly have gained much more of my respect since the come through Rome.
Greg

[GB1]

Mike. Decent shot, but just a tad soft. Decent crop to me. I might cut a little more here and there, but add some space behind the car. It's a little on the dark side to me -- English overcast?