Night MTB shoot..

[Ultra Magnus]

So, as a proud owner of a new Sony A700 and the HVL-F56AM flash unit, I thought I'd lug the heavy gear out and see what kind of damage I could do with some night time mtb shooting... Well, luckily, the damage was relegated to a couple of small scratches on the flash, but nothing more.

The first thing I realized while shooting on a moonless night was that its DARK! Geez, my eyse might as well have been closed while looking through the veiwfinder! So, my first problem was figuring out what to pre-focus on. Waiting for my subject to roll in at me and then focusing on him in the dark wasn't working out. Then, I tried to manually focus, and that only netted mediocre results. So, after finishing at our first location, I got smart and rested my helmet (with my helmet lights) shining on where he would be riding through so I could easily prefocus. That worked out better, but still had a hard time getting sharp images, but I'm still new to this camera anyway... It could just be me...

Well, here's the best two from last night's effort, in the mid 40F, 20mph high desert wind...

[BFiredup]

Boy was it dark.....but I think these are great shots.....

[retroactiv]

Those are some great shots, Effort = Reward, and looks like your effort to lug the gear and the creativity of shooting in pitch dark really worked out great, your Reward of these awesome shots. That top one might be a little soft around the edges but it might just be my monitor, an idea for focusing next time is to allow the AF to focus up then set it to Manual so your AF doesn't try to find the focal point when the shot you want comes.

[brmill26]

Excellent work. The only thing I have to say a/b the images is that I wish in the first one the flash was a little more in front of the rider to light more of his face. But it's still an awesome shot and under the conditions, very well done.

[Ultra Magnus]

Thanks for the comments. I agree about the first one, the flashed was aimed a bit too far behind him.

As for the focusing, I tried that same technique, to let it auto focus then turn it to MF, but I still got blurry images. It's just hard to see a good point of reference in the dark. I guess I just need more practice. At least warmer weather is coming!

As for settings, these were shot at F3.5 (wide open on my lens) ISO 400. Would different setting have netted better results? What about a faster lens?

I'd at least like a better turnout from my efforts in the future. I spent about 2hrs getting 2 or maybe 3 good shots. At leat my 'model' was/is very patient, since he gets free photos of himself. Sometimes I ride with other guys and they are in more of a hurry to get the ride moving along.


Thanks.
BM

[splats]

Well I did this shot for a Small bike Light company , and I founf I had the rider stand in the spot I wanted to shoot her so i could Pre-focus on that spot and lock the focus in. then We found we did n't like the scenery behind her being lit up ( we did want the rider to be totaly lit ) , since it was for the Light was only wanted the area in front of the rider lit. so I only used the camera Mouted Flash , and I Cupped my Hand over to top of it it was trial and error.


came out like this