Seb Rogers: mountain bike photography

A hat-trick of What Mountain Bike covers

I've been a bit slack keeping up with my published cover shots lately. Which is how I find myself with three consecutive What Mountain Bike covers to share:

Nikon D3, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/250sec f/6.3 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

Nikon D3, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/80sec f/6.3 @ ISO800, two radio slaves

Nikon D3, 24-70mm f/2.8, 1/200sec f/7.1 @ ISO640, two radio slaves

There's something these three covers have in common: none of them are shot wide. The shortest focal length in use was 70mm, and the longest 130mm. Why does this matter? Because, as students of any of my courses will know, long lenses take the viewer away from the action and slow things down. Looked at another way, shooting a mountain bike in close with a wide lens is a good way to involve the viewer in the action, adding a dose of drama and movement even in situations where there's not much of either happening. Step back, put a longer lens on, and the viewer involvement decreases. 

In other words, the further you are from the action, the more you're relying on visual cues to impart the sense of movement. It's very easy to take a boring shot of mountain biking on a long lens, particularly from head on. There needs to be something going on to grab - and hold - the viewer's attention. Usually, in the absence of obvious movement, it's all about implied movement.

So in the first shot, we've got a climbing rider working the bike hard, out of the saddle and about to put in a power stroke. Timing is critical in an image like this - bike upright and pedals level just won't cut it. The fact that the rider's smiling doesn't imply hard effort (although it works in this context, because publishers like readers to feel that riding a bike is fun), but his body position does. You won't be able to see it here, but there's also enough movement in the front tyre's tread to show that the bike's moving. 

The second shot also makes use of the rider's body position and facial expression, but it's helped along by a slow shutter speed and the added interest of plenty of backlit spray. The bike's hauling - and you know it. I actually tried some wide shots of this corner and they didn't work as well...

The final shot is all about the rider's position on the bike - elbows bent, body low and pushing the bike into the corner. The shutter speed's higher than I'd like on this one, but what you can't see is that as soon as i'd taken the shot the rider needed to straighten the bike and push it the other way into a berm. My attempts at slowing things down just resulted in too many shots with blurred handblebars or face. The first isn't ideal; the second is a definite no-on. Details matter, and it's my job to get them right.

Nikon D4: a video camera with a dSLR bolted on?

Nikon's D4 has been officially announced. Headline specs, in case you missed them, include the following:

- 16mp FX sensor with EXPEED 3 processor

- 10fps with full AF and AE; 11fps without

- tweaked 51 point AF system with more sensitivity

- ISO100 - 12800 native; expandable to ISO50 - 204800

- 91,000 pixel RGB sensor to replace the previous 1005 pixel version

- lots of ergonomic tweaks including illuminated buttons and two extra joystick controllers

So far, so evolutionary. The D3/s have a devoted (and deservedly so) following. They're accurate, reliable and capable of turning out incredibly clean files in all sorts of challenging situations. Nikon would've messed with that succesful formula at its peril. Still, taken on their own, there's not really enough here to persuade a happy 3-series owner to upgrade. A few extra pixels, a tiny bit more speed... at the price Nikon's asking ($6000 or £4800) those incremental extras are looking expensive.

Oh, and inevitably the forums are already full of doom and gloom about the fact that Canon's forthcoming competitor is, apparently, better (summary: 'OMG the Nikon D4 is 2 smaller and 2 slower. WTF?'). Can I be the first to point out that this isn't remotely like the D2H vs the 1DII? (in case you weren't there, Nikon's 8fps 4mp D2D was launched weeks ahead of Canon's markedly superior 8fps 8mp 1DII, although it wasn't the pixel count that killed the D2H. But that's another story).

The real story is away from the internet sideshow and the D4's basic specs. The real story is video. Because Nikon has been working hard to build as much video goodness into the D4 as it possibly can:

- a full set of 1080p and 720p output options inluding 30, 25 and 24fps (60fps only at 720p, though)

- reduced rolling shutter effect thanks to faster data processing

- B-frame compression to improve H.264 output

- uncompressed video output available via HDMI port

- stereo headphone jack

- stereo mic jack with manually adjustable level

- video-specific controls 

- full manual exposure via shutter speed, aperture and ISO

- full-time AF with face detection

- full HD integration with crop modes (1.5x and 2.7x)

It's an impressive feature set, for a stills camera at least. If you need to produce video as well as stills, it's possibly worth a look. But (unfashionably) I'm still not convinced by video in dSLRs. The biggest problem, as I see it, is that dSLR ergonomics are just plain wrong for video shooting. The D4, as a stills camera, is designed for fast, portable operation. Decades of design experience have gone into the user interface (I can trace the basic design of many of the D4's controls back to my 1989 F801). It's a camera that'll work very well indeed on the fly, off a tripod, with a photographer who's not afraid to follow the action. I can say that with confidence because, in all important aspects of design, it's barely different from my D3.

Switch to video and it's a different story. A video-enabled dSLR really needs to be tethered to a tripod - and a solid one, at that. While you can certainly make the case that that's good practice for any video shooting, dedicated video cameras are at least useable handheld. A dSLR? Not so much. The ergonomics for video are just plain terrible, and that's not really surprising. I'm as impressed with video in a dSLR as I would be with a stills function built into a video camera.

Much of the original impetus for incorporating video into a dSLR came from big news organisations, who were clamouring a few years ago for multimedia content. But the revolution never really happened, partly because (surprise, surprise) the budget wasn't there. It may sound attractive to a commissioning editor to ask for video and stills from a single photographer, but have you ever tried shooting both at a single event? It's not easy. And, contrary to popular belief, simply having a video mode on your stills camera doesn't actually make it any easier.

So I'm left with the feeling that video is an extra that relatively few photographers need, let alone know how to make effective use of. If you strip away the big sensor / shallow depth of field thing (which has become so over-used in the past few years that it's now a visual cliche), the only remaining 'benefit' of incorporating video into dSLRs is the 'two into one' argument. And, as I've just argued, I'm not sure that's compelling either commercially or in ergonomic terms.

None of which would matter much, if it weren't for the fact that video is clearly eating up more R&D resources and almost certainly adding to production costs.

Will I buy a D4? No. Would I buy a D700 with the D4's sensor (and no video) in it? Probably.

The Nikon D4 is coming. Lock up your credit cards...

Hot on the heels of Canon's pre-announcement of its new, all-things-to-all-pros full frame 1DX, Nikon is scheduled to announce the D4 this Friday. Unsurprisingly, the rumoured specs are very close to the new Canon. If you're comparing to the D3(s), there's more of everything. More speed. More pixels. More high ISO capability. More video gubbins. You get the idea. (Inevitably, the spec-sheet doomsayers have already decided that there's not enough more-ness, but that's another story).

I'll have more to say when the launch is official and all the specs are confirmed. For now, though, I'll just point out that, barring surprise spec details that haven't been leaked, this is to all intents and purposes an incremental upgrade. Successive generations of Nikon's top pro dSLRs have, until now, offered substantive gains over their predecessors. Given the stellar and proven performance of the D3, though, the new model has its work cut out to persuade working pros to upgrade (and that's before we know the price. If Nikon matches Canon's new price point there'll be a lot more credit cards staying warmly nestled in wallets).

As for the rumoured D800 with 36mp... it occurs to me that many of its target buyers are likely to bolt it to a tripod, stop the lens down as far as it'll go and lose much of the extra detail advantage of all those pixels in diffraction (which may account for the rumoured anti-alias-less version). But who am I to argue? I'm sure it'll go down a storm.

Check back on Friday for more...

Happy New Year

2011 marked the end of my 15th year as a full time pro photographer. If you'd asked me back in 1996 (when I was just starting out with a few hundred pounds in the bank and an F801 with a couple of lenses) if I'd still be a photographer 15 years down the line you probably would've been met with a blank look. Still? I hadn't even turned a profit yet. 

If you're a regular here you'll know from some of the posts I've written over the past few years that it's not always been an easy ride. From a pro's perspective costs are up, there's more competition, budgets are down and fees are static or falling. 2011 didn't change any of that. There's never been a more important time to be good at the 'pro' part of pro photographer. Luckily, it appears that I can still add and subtract reasonably well.

More importantly, there are enough clients out there who appreciate a job well done for me to continue to earn a living doing something that I love. The people that I work with - from magazine editors and art directors to the riders who turn up with enthusiasm, in all weathers, to ride that corner 'just one more time' - are fantastic. If you've worked with me over the past few years... thank you. I couldn't do what I do without you.

So 2011 turned out to be a pretty good year despite recession gloom. It turns out that more people like riding bikes than ever before - and who can blame them? Bikes rock. All I do is try to capture that essence of that simple truth. Over the year I scored 17 covers across 4 magazine titles, which equals my previous best. Then again, I didn't ride my bike as much as I'd like... but there's always the next 12 months to put that right.

Whatever your plans for 2012, thanks for reading over the past year. Here's to 2012!

Golden hour. Scott Nicol, Santa Cruz CA

Nikon D300, 50-150mm f/2.8, 1/500sec f/4 @ ISO200

New sebrogers.co.uk website coming in 2012

Photographers are an odd bunch, in many ways. As a group we'll obsess over - and pay a lot of hard-earned money for - the latest gear. And yet, when it comes to putting our name out there, presenting ourselves to the world at large and asking, in effect, 'got any work for me?', many of us would rather gouge our own eyes out than pay for a decent website. Or so it would seem, anyway.

Back in 2004, when the current version of my website first went live, I had a simple goal: to build the best website of any UK-based bike photographer. That meant skipping anything with a template and going bespoke. And that, in turn, meant handing the job over to someone who knows what they're doing. Could I teach myself to do this stuff? Maybe. But I don't have the time or the inclination... and I might turn out to be hopeless at it. Plus, there's a lot to be said for bouncing ideas off another creative mind...

By the standards of the time the site was clean, fresh and (for the most part) easy to navigate. Some nifty Flash animation meant there was always something going on, even if you were waiting for a gallery to load. It's served its purpose well.

Seven years on, though, and it's overdue a change. So I'm starting completely from scratch, with a fresh-from-the-ground-up design that'll be bang up to date. I'm taking my time on this build - we're three months in with another three still to run before it's ready. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive considering the work that's going into it, either. And I'm getting pretty excited about what it'll do:

- in the background there'll be a custom content management system, enabling me to keep the image galleries fresh and add caption details where appropriate. I'll also be bringing the blog on-board (don't worry, the old one will be archived). There'll be more content and more information.

- the new site will make full use of the available monitor space, whether you're viewing it on an 11 inch netboook or a 30 inch Mac cinema display. Biiiiig pictures with room to breathe and no distractions.

- best of all, the whole thing will integrate seamlessly with iPad and iPhone displays. You'll see a different version of the site on each platform, tailored to the screen's characteristics. And (this is the geeky techy bit that's got me really excited) the iPad and iPhone's swipe functions will be fully supported, making it even easier to navigate the site without stabbing at tiny buttons on the screen.

I can't wait. But I'll have to (and so will you), at least until March 2012. Watch this space...

 

Chris Smith Day in the Life: Privateer 6

In case you've not seen it yet, Privateer 6 is in the shops now and features my 'day in the life' story with UK pro freerider Chris Smith. The first time I worked with Chris was around seven or eight years ago - I needed a rider to shoot a 'how to' feature, and Chris was both local and available during the week. I'd been told he was good, but I didn't realise quite how good until he made everything I asked him to do look easy.

It wasn't long before I was working with him again, this time on his own terms. It was quite an eye-opener. Back then Chris was a rising star with a point to prove and he was arguably going bigger, further and higher than just about anyone else in the UK. Over the next few years we collaborated on several projects, working together to put together picture-led pieces tailored to the UK mountain bike mag market. These are typical of the images we've shot together:

Nikon D3, 16mm f/2.8, 1/200sec f/5 @ ISO3200, two radio slaves

Nikon D3, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/250sec f/2.8 @ ISO1600, two radio slaves

Nikon D3, 14-24mm f/2.8, 1/320sec f/8 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

The thing is, despite working with Chris over all those years, I'd never really seen how he operates when there isn't a photographer around. I know he spends a lot of his time riding, building new lines, videoing himself and working towards new mag features... but I'd never actually seen any of it.

So late last year I turned up at Chris's house one morning and spent the day being a fly on the wall. Well, a fly with a D3 and a bag full of fast lenses, anyway. Chris went through a normal day, I poked a camera in his face from time to time... and the resulting story and pictures are splashed across several pages in the new issue of Privateer.

It was refreshing to have no particular story to work towards, with the bonus that Privateer is effectively a blank canvas for features. There's no particular house 'style' to shoot for, leaving me free to take an approach that doesn't normally work. First, I left the flashes at home. Despite the fact that it was a dull day, I knew my fast lenses and the D3 would allow me to deal with anything that I came across - and for once, I wasn't concerned with lighting any set pieces. Second, I shot mono. Or as close as you can get with digital - I shot with mono in mind, then converted the raw files using Bibble's mono processing plug-in.

Actually, I briefly flirted with the idea of a desaturated, 1970s colour neg look, like the pics below. But, after days of indecision, I stuck with the original mono plan. Check out the results for yourself by picking up a copy of the mag at your nearest stockist...

Nikon D3, 200mm f/2, 1/1250sec f/2 @ ISO3200

Nikon D3, 85mm f/1.4, 1/60sec f/5.6 @ ISO400

Nikon D3, 200mm f/2, 1/1600sec f/2 @ ISO1600

Nikon D3, 200mm f/2, 1/800sec f/2 @ ISO3200

Cover: IMBA calendar 2012

For the second year running the guys at IMBA have chosen one of my images to run on the organisation's calendar. Which means a prime chunk of British riding will be adorning the walls of IMBA supporters across north America and the rest of the world. Nice.

That's riding skills guru Clive Forth sticking his elbows out high above Patterdale and Brother's Water on a blustery February day, by the way. 

IMBA is the only organisation I donate images to. It's my way of giving something back to the sport that's enabled me to earn a living over the past couple of decades. Although it's a US-focussed effort, they're arguably the only orgnanisation with anything approaching a global reach to understand the needs - and campaign on behalf of - mountain biking.

You can buy your copy of the calendar here.

Ideal Christmas gift for the mountain biker in your life - and now at 20% off

Update 8th December 2012: only two frames remaining. Get your order in now!

If you're looking for the ideal Christmas gift for the mountain biker in your life, I may have the answer: a limited edition triptych* print. Framed, signed and ideal for filling that awkward-shaped space on the wall in a workshop, lounge, study or office, for the rider who has everything it's an unusual, distinctive gift that'll bring a bit of mountain biking magic indoors all year round.

Each print is limited to a run of 10.

Last year I ordered too many frames. So to clear the surplus frame stock, this year I'm offering, on a first-come first-served basis, a very limited quantity at 20% off the previous price.

Yep, you can get a signed, limited edition framed triptych delivered to your door for £79.99 (previously £99.99).

The surplus frames I have number in single digits, so don't hang about. If you'd like to order one, please drop me a line and I'll send you payment details.

Themes? Here they are (some now available in very limited quantities indeed). Click to view at a decent size:

1. Best of British

2. Mountain 2

3. Speed

4. Mountain 1

5. Sky

6. Water

* Tripwhat? A triptych is a series of three prints on a theme, mounted in the same frame. More distinctive than a single framed print, the rectangular frame shape also fits well in rooms with limited wall space.

 

It's all glamour

Sometimes shoots don't go quite according to plan. On the whole I try to avoid hailstorms, particuarly when there's a gale force wind powering those little pellets of ice. But there are occasions when you've just gotta get on with it. And it's at times like this that I have to keep reminding myself... part of the reason I'm paid to do this stuff is having the ability to extract a good result from what looks, on the face of it, iike a disaster. Hint: it helps to have head-to-toe Goretex and the ability to repeat 'it'll be fine' ad infinitum.

I'd add a picture to this post to show you what I'm talking about, except that that would defeat the purpose of the entire shoot. All will be revealed in 2012.

Cover: Cycling Plus Nov 2011

Although I spend most of my riding and shooting time on bikes shod with fat tyres, there's more to life than mud-packs and compression damping settings. Road is massive right now. A perfect storm of resurgent British pro cycling fortunes, subsidised bikes for riding to work, rising fuel prices and a whole bunch of other factors are conspiring to drive (no pun intended) more people out of their cars and onto bikes.

As a result, road bikes are sexy again. And, although there are some differences in the way that road and off-road bikes need to be shot, the basic principles are the same. So, although I sold my own road bike years ago (I was weary of dealing with the stress of too many near-misses caused by poor driving), it's great to be involved again with a sport that's very much alive and kicking.

Nikon D3, 14-24mm f/2.8, 1/320sec f/9 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

To prove the point, here's my first Cycling Plus cover in, ooh, over a decade. Smooth Tarmac, blue sky, warm sun... what's not to like? I gave my neck muscles a good workout by lying in the middle of the road for a beetle's eye view of the passing rider. It almost makes me want to go out and buy a road bike again. Now that can't be bad...