Creative Cycling pictures

[Boonen]

A special portrait of my buddy in Tucson.

I really like your buddies t-shirt :top:


Oh and Rasmus, will you get those hubs build already!

[LJ]

Yeah, his t-shirt is cool. Dunno how those came about

As for Ras...is he trying to compete with me.....or am I trying to compete with him? I may be sensitive like madcow but he invaribaly pops one into this thread as soon as mine go up, obviously taking the gloss away from old LJ. Ras...whats ya problem dude?

[Wilier]

LJ good progress, but Rasmus is still the professor!

joke You two both make excellent photos! Keep up the good work

[Boonen]

I'd say each have developed a bit of their own style, don't know who is 'best' but does it even matter? All I know is I definitely can't compete with any of them, but to not break our own rules here is another one

[Rasmus]

Oh come on, you guys won't be able to provoke a contest where there is none. Competition can be good but I do prefer inspiration. And thanks, Willier!

@Boonen; I'm just not sure my spoke length calculations are correct. Plus, straight pulls are somewhat difficult to get hold of. Apparently. And I have at least a couple of other excuses handy as well

[Boonen]

Oh come on, you guys won't be able to provoke a contest where there is none. Competition can be good but I do prefer inspiration.

And I have at least a couple of other excuses handy as well

Lol, that's alright, I'm running out of pictures anyway As for your rim choice, do you think a 28h DT1.1 will be stiff enough? The hubs are nice, they remind a bit of Mavic's in the way they are built. I raced those for a while as well laced to Rigida rims in a complete wheelset they had years ago. Heavy but strong.

[ash]

Here i was thinking that people were running out of inspiration .. and boom, some fantastic shots pop up everywhere.

My question is tho, will bokeh help sell my frame!?



Do i go for the artsy crowd, or just take some normal flat shots?


Ash

[ash]

Rasmus,

Your pics look amazing. I've just started trying to get some action shots at a local "Dirt Crit" It seems as tho im torn between getting blur to sho action, or just freeze framing it. With a slower shutter speed, and some panning, it seems as tho there is too much movement in too many directions to get the bike/rider frozen and the background blurred (and keep the whole picture framed nicely )

[Wilier]

[maxxevv]

Ash,

focus on the eyes. If you want everything to be fast and yet sharp with the background panning blur, then you'll have to up your shutter speed. But likewise, your panning blur will be reduced.

One way to get around this problem is to get really close and pan really fast. Say a 50mm focal length and 1/250 shutter speed. Then pan really fast focused on the face or eys of the rider.

A good panning shot takes quite some practice to get it the way you want 'everytime'. Else its more often than not a hit or miss affair.

Below is a sample I took some months back, 1/50 of a second, f7 aperture. Shot in Ai-Servo mode, one of series of 8 I took. I only had 3 keepers !

[Wilier]

Time trailing...

[TiesT]

I'm the full colored guy in the left.

[ash]

Ti Bling anyone?

[Wilier]

Man, those spokes are nice!

[Rasmus]

@Boonen, yeah, I was a bit worried the DT rims being single eyelets as well, but what else is there? The almighty CXP33?

@ash, thank you for the kind words! And yes, there's some technique behind panned shots. You need to figure out the shutter speed -- for my velodrome shots I found 1/200th and 1/250th of a sec best at 130-200mm focal length. Rule of thumb says shutter speed should be 1/focal length to avoid excessive lens shake. Of course, it also somewhat depends on whether or not your lens has image stabilization. Then there's the focal length itself. If you try panning with anything below 50'ish mm you'll inevitably get blur around the edges. Over 50 will be easier. The most important thing though is to either shoot manual focus or with servo assist on the auto focus. With servo assist you don't get a focus lock - the camera keeps tracking and focusing for you. This one was shot on servo, at 200mm (equals 320mm on a traditional 35mm film SLR) and 1/250th of a sec with an f/14 aperture and IS enabled.

And since I have to post a pic: My dirty winter bike! (ISO200, 55mm, f/2.8, 1/250th sec, and the flash off and to the top left)