Mtn Bike Jumping

[tadrscin]

So I finally brought my camera out riding with me last night and got a some pics of my wife and 2 other guys at our local jump park. One thing I've noticed with my flash is that it doesn't take long before I can only get one shot with the flash going off and then I get 1 or 2 where it doesn't fire and then 1 more when it does. This is with the 30D set at 5fps. What do you guys do about batteries with your flash and would the 580 help me much with this? OK so the original ones looked like garbage so I'm redoing them and I'll add them back.

[BLS439]

Strobing a sequence shot takes more than just battery juice. Some pros will use the stroboscopic (sp?) mode of their flash for sequences or get down to 1/64 power (though the 580 goes to 1/128) to get the flash to be able to pop so frequently.

But, be forewarned that a flash is not really mean to keep up with 5-8 fps. The flash tube can only handle a few of those sequences before getting way too hot and blowing. I forget where I read it, but Canon recommends letting the flash cool after taking 10 full power pops (or something like that).

Nice pics. The backgrounds are a bit blown out causing my eye to wonder in the background rather than look at the rider. I can't wait to see more shots from you. keep up the good work.

[tadrscin]

Thanks for the comments. Hopefully you'll look at them again now that I have reposted them. Don't ask me what I was thinking when I first edited them. Clearly I was not thinking properly. As for the flash, I'd just like to get 2 or 3 tops. One thing that I did again was forget to take off my Omnibounce :mad2: I've decided I'd just better leave it off unless I specifically need to use it.

[Photo-John]

These look pretty good. I agree with Dave that the backgrounds are distracting, though. I would try setting your exposure so the background is underexposing by a stop or more. And I'd also slow the shutter speed down and pan. That will blur and soften the background even more. You don't want your background competing with the rider. Plus, panning adds a feeling of motion that I think is really important. The rider has to be doing something really spectacular for a completely frozen photo to be interesting.

I have never even tried strobing my flash. That's cheating!

Time that sucker right and get it in one flash!

[BLS439]

I agree with PJ. Meter for your background then drop it a stop (or a little more), pan the rider, and time it right for a single pop of the flash. I have a bunch of shots in my gallery looking like that.

I hope you dont mind, but I played with your third photo a little in CS3. I just did some really light basic stuff. played with the levels a little bit to get a better black, pulled the curves a bit to lessen the background distraction, and popped a little saturation. I will remove the photo if you do not approve it being re-worked.

[tadrscin]

Thanks for the comments guys. The reason I want to do several shots in a sequence is for evaluating our jumping technique. My wife and I have been filming each other with my P&S, but I can't get any good quality stills out them to use for comparison. I will do some panning when I shoot there otherwise. I did a lot of panning practice at the race the other night. I'll also play around with the exposure for the background as well. I have noticed that a lot of DH race photos that are shot in the woods do have a darker background. One thing I really need help with is using the flash. I'd like to find a class to take in the Seattle area, but I haven't been able to find one that doesn't cost a ton. If anyone can recommend a good book that would be great.

I don't mind if anyone wants to play around with any of my photos. I've been trying to learn PS more, but I just don't have much time during the Summer. I have a basic understanding of levels, but I just don't get curves at all. I read a book on using Camera RAW which did a pretty good job of explaining things, but I still never quite understood curves. Plus that was last Winter and since I don't play with stuff often enough during the Summer I forgot a lot of it anyway I've been shooting in jpeg right now since I don't have time to do much PP, but normally I prefer to shoot RAW as I tend to get better results. Probably because it's more forgiving

[tadrscin]

I spent some more time working on these photos. I tried my hand at curves which I still don't really understand. I mainly used curves to set the black point which helped a lot. I also used Shadow/Highlight to bring down the highlights a bit. Let me know what you think. You'll probably have to refresh the page in your browse to see the new version.

[desmo13]

I really like the first one. Mainly because thats what I ride

I use curves also. I do not understand how it works, I just play with it until I like the look of the pic.

I have not had a chance to shoot mtb in RAW yet, but have been using it for other photos. Ilike it so much. I use the RAW editor that is included with the canon software.

[tadrscin]

Yeah that's my wife on my bike after she loosened up the shock mount on hers. She has the Type R.

Here's a link to a tutorial on Curves that I read last night which explains it really well. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tut...hop-curves.htm
Here's another one, but not quite as clear I thought.
http://www.thegoldenmean.com/technique/curves1.html

Between the 2 of them I think I understand how Curves works now. I still don't understand what the difference between Curves and Levels is though. It seems as though Curves is like Levels with way more control.