Mountain bike photos...4.5 hours of sesh!

[Muddy Beast]

So yesterday I met up with some ridemonkey.com members in my local trails, Japanese Gultch, and took shots about half the time, and rode the other half. Everyone was doing pretty well, throwing down with style left and right. I even proggressed a little on my step-up skills, learned I havent been getting enough speed.

Anyhow, here are a few of the 100+ photos I kept (all on my flickr account) that I would like to share with you! Let me know what you think! And critiques are welcomed!

[Muddy Beast]

More photos...

[Photo-John]

You know I already saw these on your MySpace page. I think you should edit them down a bit, which you've done here. I understand if you want to share them with all your friends. We all take pictures for different reasons and our needs are a little different. I'm obsessed with only letting people see the best, so that's advice I give a lot. But I can see how you might not care so much. On the other hand, the process of editing them down to a few of the best is useful. Being critical of your own work helps you learn what's good and what isn't and you'll actually take better pictures because of it. You'll remember what you kept and what you threw out and shoot differently the next time.

I think these are actually very good. The exposures are great, with the exception of some hot spots. I'd toss out the ones with the hot spots and the ones where the kids are blowing the tricks. I know it's tempting to keep a photo when you've missed the actual trick. But that's really a missed shot. Toss those and try to time it better the next time. And for what it's worth, one area where I have trouble with the XTi is dirt jump tricks. It's so hard to time them perfectly. If I was shooting with natural light and a faster camera I could hold down the button and likely I'd be able to pick the frame where the rider snapped the no-hander or superman perfectly. But with the XTi it usually takes 5 or 6 tries to get the shot timed right.

[Muddy Beast]

Thanks John, as always your tips are very useful! I hope to go out and shoot some more photos this week with my new flash before leaving for Moab (among other places), I'll be sure to post the pictures.

I understand your thoughts on tossing all images that arnt perfect, and I'll take that into consideration for my next photo sesh.

Bummer not many people seem to want to reply to my threads though. I wonder what attracts so many replies to some threads, when mine are left untouched *other then the owner of the forums...*

?

[Jimmy B]

Scott, a lot of folks in here don,t know what a step up is and some of the other ride lingo. I looked yesterday and saw your stuff from SST on another site. Keep at it, like my signiture says "effort = results.
Jimmy B
Some of my posts don't get much in responce, that's the way it is on some posts.

[tadrscin]

The one thing I see is that all of your photos are a bit soft. I can't tell if it's motion blur or if they're just a touch out of focus. Your Exif data isn't there so I don't know what shutter speed you're shooting at. One thing about the Rebel series is that they're a touch slow on focusing compared to Canon's higher end bodies. One thing you can do is set your custom function #4 to either 1 or 3 to separate the focusing and metering (most people use 1). This way you use your thumb on the * button on the back to focus and the shutter to meter. The biggest advantage is if your shooting in one of the auto exposure modes (which hopefully you're not) as it locks the exposure just as you take the shot. This is very helpful in changing light. However, even in manual it helps as you're not splitting the CPU's duties by focusing and metering all the time. On a Rebel this is very helpful since you can use nearly all of the CPU for focusing. Not everyone likes doing this, but once you get used to it, most people stick with it. Which lens were you using? I have the same Tamron and find it focuses pretty fast as does my Sigma. It's a noticeable improvement over the Canon 28-135 that I had. I need to get together with Jimmy and try both lenses on his 30D which is next on my list to buy. Try timing it so that you press the shutter as the rider is at the peak of the jump where they seem to be moving the slowest and also try using a slow shutter speed and panning. Panning is really great for separating your subject from a busy background like I did on one of the Ironman shots. Next time you go to Whistler you should take your Rebel with you and hang out on A-line or Dirt Merchant and practice. That's if you're able to get off the bike for a while which I haven't been able to do myself. That would be some great practice shooting those guys.

Check your PM for some more info I sent you.

[Muddy Beast]

Tadrscin....thats the sort of help I'm looking for, thanks!

Although, I'll be honest, alot of that was over my head.

However...The EXIF data isnt showing up because I use a watermark program, it resaves the photos. But, I can tell you most of the time I was shooting at 1/200 shutter with the stock flash and exposer at +1 and toward the end of the day +2, Al Servo focusing, panning the rider, ect. I've latly been going for more frozen shots, but Im working on motion blur shots now. And the photos probly seem soft, because I was having trouble focusing the day I took these shots. For whatever reason, the camera seemed to hunt and not focus on what I was pointing it at...I believe it was either the lighting or because I was to stupid to change it from the 9-point focus to a specific area of the frame.

[Jimmy B]

Use your center focus point.
JB

[tadrscin]

Well at 1/200th my guess is motion blur. That probably isn't fast enough to completely freeze the riders. You brought up a good point that I forgot to mention. You're better off choosing a single focus point. I always use the center one, but there may be times when you want to choose a different one. I try to place the center point right on the subject's face and work really hard to keep it there. One of the best sports to practice on is hockey. Even the bantam kids move really fast compared to most mtn bikers. DH racers would probably be the most notable exception. Then you move up to the highschool age kids and they seem like they're flying. Jimmy and I shoot some hockey during the Winter so you should hook up with us sometime. If I'm lucky I'll have my 30D by then. In the end just keep practicing, learn the rules of photography and then learn to break them. Being creative is what will separate you from other photographers.