10 of my fave MTB shots

Great pictures mate one day I hope my mountain bike shots come out that good.
 
Great set. Love the turn photo at Fort Bill.

Colin
 
Great pictures mate one day I hope my mountain bike shots come out that good.

Cheers. Keep practising and they will. :D

Great set. Love the turn photo at Fort Bill.

Colin

Thanks ST Colin (y)

Nice photos !!! Saw some of these on pinkbike. Def fav is the guy from all terrain cycles !

Cheers Chris. The ATC rider is Ben Whitehead, and the shot was taken at Dunkeld. Particularly nice lighting at that point in the day, with some low(ish) sun peeking through the trees. :D
 
Have you got any tips on how to take a good shot of them I might go up to where they are this Sunday weather permitting.
 
6 & 7 are just superb.
I keep meaning to take my camera to Dalby with me.
 
Have you got any tips on how to take a good shot of them I might go up to where they are this Sunday weather permitting.

Hi Zetec. Do you have off-camera flash capability? It's a big help, as it allows you to get the rider to stand out against the background. But generally speaking... think about your backgrounds. Try to keep them simple. You'll notice in the pics I posted, that the backgrounds are on the whole, pretty clean.

If you're shooting head on, go for a shutter speed of 1/250, to get the rider nice and sharp. You can go a lot slower for panning shots - ridiculously slow with off-camera flash. I think I've gone a slow as 1/25 with good results. But sitting on the inside of a corner, with shutter speed at 1/160 will give you good results too, keeping the rider sharp, but still showing some motion, whilst still showing details of the surroundings.

Up until now, I've always pre-focussed on the spot I want to shoot the rider. It's a bit limiting, but the camera is just that bit quicker when it doesn't have to focus. Although I'm certainly going to be giving the Dynamic AF on my D300s a good work out, to see if I can trust it.

To keep ISO low, fast glass is always going to be a big help, although not quite so important if using flash. But if you get your exposure right, you can still get decent results up to maybe ISO 800.

Anything else, just ask :D

6 & 7 are just superb.
I keep meaning to take my camera to Dalby with me.

Thanks Scott. (y)
 
Thank you mate I don't have off camera flash well my Sunday is taken care of now this weekend lol. I will not use auto modes I am going to be brave and at least I can delete them as I go if they are rubbish unlike back in the day with film.
 
Thank you mate I don't have off camera flash well my Sunday is taken care of now this weekend lol. I will not use auto modes I am going to be brave and at least I can delete them as I go if they are rubbish unlike back in the day with film.

Great stuff. Without off-camera flash, I would use Shutter Priority, then you can simply adjust your shutter speed to suit the type of shot you're trying to get. Bump up ISO whenever the lens isn't letting enough light through.

I'm out shooting on Sunday, too, at Hamsterley. God I hope the sun shines!
 
Ah, thanks Bob. Always nice to hear comments like that. You've got some crackers on your Flickr too, including the Motocross stuff, which I dabble in a little myself.

Are you gonna go again for the 2010 Enduro in Kielder? Great events. There's going to be 3 next year. Kielder, Ae, and er... somewhere else :shrug:

(y)

cheers mate :) im lucky to have a MX track 10min walk from home! just love shooting things that move!

look out for 'Crooks Gentlemen's Cycling Club' (CGCC) at Kielder 2010 there will be 30 of us racing! (I will prob be hard tail single speed!) will shout hi when I see a flash! :)

If you ever in the chester / north west area give me a shout, would be nice to get out with other MTB togs :)

bob
 
cheers mate :) im lucky to have a MX track 10min walk from home! just love shooting things that move!

look out for 'Crooks Gentlemen's Cycling Club' (CGCC) at Kielder 2010 there will be 30 of us racing! (I will prob be hard tail single speed!) will shout hi when I see a flash! :)

If you ever in the chester / north west area give me a shout, would be nice to get out with other MTB togs :)

bob

Hey Bob. Which Enduro do you mean. I was thinking you meant Avalanche, but maybe you mean the Montane Kielder 100?? I'll definitely be at both.

I may well be at Hit The North in February, if you have any plans for that...?
 
7 & 8 are my favourites, they are all good shots though, hope you sell more shots next year.
 
Hey Bob. Which Enduro do you mean. I was thinking you meant Avalanche, but maybe you mean the Montane Kielder 100?? I'll definitely be at both.

I may well be at Hit The North in February, if you have any plans for that...?

The avalanche series... but will google the 100 montane.. im suspecting 100mile race.. hum..:thinking:

no plans really for the northwest, there is lee quarry (north manchester) which hold races and trials, other than that north wales for the NPS DH Llangollen which is nice and steep! some enduros races north wales way... i struggle to take shots as i get there and just want to ride! :)

hopefully catch you in the hills... :)

bob
 
those down hill ones are epic
4. is my fav its sick!
 
dont know much about this field of photography, but I do know these are amazing photos (y) I can see why they would be in the biking mags.
 
Wierd,I'm sure I commented on this thread before. Anywho, I'll punt it back to the top of the pile and say that #2 and #4 are stunning. Really liking the subdued colour palette in #4.

Lee
 
Wierd,I'm sure I commented on this thread before. Anywho, I'll punt it back to the top of the pile and say that #2 and #4 are stunning. Really liking the subdued colour palette in #4.

Lee

:LOL: There was a very similarly titled thread created a little while after this one. (and you did comment in it)

Thanks for your comments though, Lee. Really chuffed with those 2 shots. No2 is on my wall, and I'm not sure why 4 isn't. :LOL: It's a popular one!

Cheers! :D
 
Absolutely stunning shots.... how do you get so much background movement in #6 whilst keeping the rider sharp?? Is that all down to the rear curtain sync?

Thanks Rogan. Indeed it is purely down to rear curtain flash. It's not a particularly hard shot to get I don't think, although of all the shots I posted, 6 is the only one that is actually set up. I had quite a few attempts at the shot, and they were all largely ok, so it was just a case of picking the best.

Shutter speed was 1/60, and aperture was f/13 (it was a VERY sunny day).

It won a little competition that a bunch of us (MTB Photographers) set up, and part of the prize was that it was made POD on PinkBike (Picture of the Day). As a result it got seen by PinkBike kids allover the world, and the only thing they could say in the comments was PHOTOSHOP! Typical PinkBike! :bonk:
 
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