Seb Rogers: mountain bike photography

A tale of eight covers

Well, I said I'd been busy...

Somerset Life April 2009

I don't often get to sell images like this for use on mag covers. The UK magazine market is so competitive and so heavily biased towards newsstand sales that subtlety simply won't cut it, except perhaps with a few extremely well recognised brands. So it's nice to see a big landscape, small rider shot on a cover - and even better to see a general interest mag use real mountain bikers on the cover rather than the usual entirely unconvincing general purpose models plonked on a bike with the brake levers set too high and the saddle too low...

What Mountain Bike August '09

'We'd like a really summery cover', they said at What Mountain Bike. Happy, dusty trails and bright blue skies and all that. No problem, I said. In fact, this is one of very few covers I've shot in the past couple of years that hasn't needed any Photoshop work on the sky.

What you can't see - literally - is the rather fetching clump of purple flowers I deliberately left in the shot to the rider's left. That's because, by the time the cover was festooned with its browsing reader-snaring 'furniture', they'd been usurped by that big yellow rectangle. Such is the way of UK mag cover design.

What Mountain Bike September '09

The shoot for this cover was, by any reasonable standards, epic. Biblical quantities of rain, uncooperative equipment and map-reading cockups conspired to make this the most challenging cover shoot I've had for a while. In the end - and after a wholly unreasonable period of time spent cowering under bracken in driving rain - the location we'd chosen turned out to be a peach. Throw in half an hour of intermittent sun, and the 500 mile round trip even began to look worthwhile. Word is, this was one of WMB's best selling issues this year.

It's fair to say, though, that the image as it appears on the cover has had its fair share of Photoshop wizardry applied. I can't resist sharing the original, because it gives some idea of the conditions in which Ben and I were working. This is what it really looked like:

 

See that black cloud on the far horizon? Twenty minutes later that was depositing its contents all over us...

What Mountain Bike October '09

 

There's some stunning scenery lurking beyond those big black and red blobs, courtesy of the Long Mynd - officially Britain's Oldest Hills (TM). Honest.

Cycle Oct-Nov '09

Cass doesn't normally look that, erm, mad. It's just that, what with my constant berating to not screw up his eyes against the water splash and having to ride the same corner a few times, it looks like he's partway through a particularly rough day on the bike. Still, I like this spot - Mendip spring water to ride through, a curvy, rocky trail and warm sunshine.

What Mountain Bike November '09

it's a fact of life that the weather forecast isn't always right. So what should've been the week's only bright, sunny and clear day actually ended up rather dull and murky. In situations like this there's no choice but to think on your feet, so I ditched the view-heavy location i'd had in mind (on the grounds that the view was barely visible through the mist) and found a water splash instead. 

Once again, there's a great trail winding away into the distance behind that splurge about locks. Ho hum.

Mountain Biking UK December '09

MBUK normally commission their covers as a separate shoot, but they liked this pic of mine so much they ran it as-is. And the odd thing is, it's a close crop from a landscape format shot:

 

All hail the mighty D3, which allows me to shoot stuff like this at ISO800 and still bag a sharp cover.

What Mountain Bike December '09

Sometimes you can't find a cover image for looking. I knew the views from here were stunning. I knew the light would be good. I even knew roughly where to go. But could we find a suitable trail with the view in the right position behind Matt? Could we b******y.

In this situation necessity is the mother of bankable pictures, and sheep are a mountain bike photographer's best friend. After a fruitless hour or so traipsing around on foot, searching in vain for the holy grail of a bridleway traverse, we happened to find a few yards of rideable singletrack thanks to our cloven-hooved friends. Not that riding trails blazed by sheep isn't without its pitfalls - literally...

 

It's all glamour, this mountain bike cover star business 

So that, by my reckoning, rounds off my 2009 cover year: twelve all-in. One a month... that'll do nicely, thanks. Here's to a cover a month in 2010...

Cover: What Mountain Bike July '09

One of the pages I had to fill whilst I was in the middle of my megashoot earlier this year was What Mountain Bike's Bike of the Year cover. Instead of a single rider, the WMB team wanted to feature three riders on the front, each riding one of the BOTY finalists.

Nikon D3, 14-24mm f/2.8, 1/160sec f/13, two radio slaves

Sounds simple enough. As with all such concepts, though, the devil's in the detail. The lead bike - the Bike of the Year itself - would have to be large and prominent in the frame in order to fit in with the mag's house style. That left precious little room to fit in two more bikes and riders, some scenery and a hint of trail, all with enough room to fit headers, coverlines and straps.

So we played it safe and shot a standard single rider cover first, making the most of the stunning Lakeland scenery and unbelievably fine spring weather.

Having got that safely in the can, we moved on to the three rider brief. Just one problem: we only had two riders. With a swift bike and top change and some care on my part to make sure I didn't move too much between shots, the problem was solved with some careful Photoshop work back at WMB HQ to drop in the 'third' rider. Bet you can't see the join.

Now, I know this is going to upset the purists. But the way I look at it is this: if we'd had a third rider the shot would have looked exactly the way it turned out. There's no re-positioning, no putting a rider where there's no trail and no reshaping of the landscape in Photoshop. And be honest... if I hadn't owned up, would you have spotted?

Nikon D3, 17-35mm f/2.8, 1/320sec f/13, two radio slaves

As it turns out, we also got a third crack at the cover. My lakeside packshot nearly made it to the final cut, but was ultimately passed over in favour of the more traditional riding option. That water, by the way, is a whole lot colder than it looks. I was in so much pain after a couple of minutes standing in it that I had to hop to the shore and stand with my bare feet on a rock warming in the sun for while before braving another short session.

On balance I prefer the packshot, I think, partly because it's a bit different but also because - with my 'own worst critic' hat on - I'd like to have been able to inject some more dynamism into the riding image. 

But there you go. Photographers are often the worst judges of their own images, which means it's a probably a good thing I don't get to choose what goes on the cover.

Cover: What Mountain Bike May '09

Nikon D3, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/320sec f/6.3 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

Early March is about the time that magazine editors set their sights on summery covers and increased sales. Happens every year, and every year the logistical problems are the same: how to translate the reality of a post-winter British landscape (drab, tired-looking and frequently slippery trails with bare trees and - usually - overcast skies) into an inspirational slice of feel-good riding that'll make newsstand browsers want to dig their bikes out of the garage (but, preferably, buy the mag first).

This year I had a small head start, in that cover star Cass had spent a large chunk of the winter in southeast Asia and already sported a distinctly un-British tan. We also had a location sorted - Corfe Castle, in Dorset (it's there in the background, hiding behind the masthead).

But the weather wasn't cooperating. Instead of the bright, sunny conditions the forecast had hinted at, we had drab, leaden skies. It wasn't exactly helping to lift the already insipid colours, and the brief for a climbing shot tied my hands in terms of using some dynamic wide-angle action to make things interesting. So I had to improvise.

Cue a pair of radio-triggered flashes - one to add some side-lighting and contrast to help Cass stand out against the background, and a second one to add some rim-lighting. Because the second light was on full power I was only able to grab a single shot for each pass, so I broke out the AF and took the shot when Cass was a.) in the right place to be lit and b.) had one foot top dead centre. Harder than it sounds - luckily for me Cass is fit as a butcher's dog and didn't mind powering up the hill a few times.

Nikon D300, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/320sec f/3.2 @ ISO400, single radio slave

On the way home we also bagged this alternative shot at a location I knew had a strong background. The sun even deigned to appear for a few brief moments before sinking over the horizon, giving a lovely warm glow to offset the single rim light I'd set up.

On a personal level I prefer this shot - the lighting's better, the background's more interesting and Cass is having to work harder on the steeper, more technical trail surface. But as a summer cover image... it's a non-starter. Too dark, too brown and overall too autumnal to make the cut.

(The switch to the D300? That's because I thought the extra reach of 200mm on the DX sensor would be useful for this shot, although in the end - ironically - I ended up shooting this at about 135mm, or the rough equivalent of 200mm on the D3. And the 80-200mm confirmed its place as one of my favourite lenses, delivering razor sharp results even at f/3.2).

Cover: What Mountain Bike April '09

Nikon D3, 17-35mm f/2.8, 1/160sec f/13 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

Another month, another cover...

I rather like this one for its classic Britishness: muddy singletrack, blue sky with added clouds and a distant view of rolling hills dotted with hedges and clumps of woodland.

In fact this was a return visit to a location I'd already used in 2008 for an MBUK cover. On that occasion - as with most MBUK covers - the shot was all about the action. But What Mountain Bike calls for a slightly different approach, and I knew from my MBUK shoot that, if I shot from the side a little more, I could make use of that pastoral backdrop.

What I hadn't reckoned on was that the trail would be covered in that peculiarly sticky kind of mud that turns all but the most open-treaded tyres into semi-slicks instantly. Not that it made much difference, because it turned out that our cover bike had racing semi-slicks fitted anyway. See that look of concentration on Matt's face? It's all real - a knee-gouging wipeout could've happened at any time.

Never mind Matt's worries, though - the slippery conditions meant that his reduced speed gave me a headache creating the right mix of movement and sharpness. In the end I settled on a shutter speed of 1/160sec, which preserved detail in the bike whilst allowing the wheels and background to blur a little. I would've preferred a little more motion blur, but few of the 1/125sec shots I tried were sharp enough in the right places. Yep, 1/3 stop can make that much difference...

Cover: What Mountain Bike March '09

Nikon D3, 17-35mm f/2.8, 1/200sec f/10 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

Gotta love it when it all comes together. It makes all those wasted journeys and hours spent waiting for the rain to stop worthwhile. 

Now, the English Lakes in December isn't exactly the most reliable location, weather-wise. Gawd knows I've battled fifty mile an hour winds and driving sleet there in my time (and still - eventually - come away with the goods). But on this occasion, the weather gods were smiling*. Stable high pressure of the cold, clear kind gave us light to die for all day. All I had to do was find the right location.

Acting on a hunch that a spot I'd seen whilst shooting video would work out, we pitched up early afternoon to find that it was exactly what I'd hoped for in a cover location. Strongly backlit, with a cramped spot for me to work in and a dodgy runout for Rich just off-camera... but you couldn't argue with the view. So I threw some light back into the shadows, put on my 17-35mm to effectively burrow myself a bit further back into the heap of slate... and the job was a good 'un.

* There was flip side to all that sun. One of the other jobs I was supposed to shoot on this trip involved riding as fast as possible through deep mud. Very deep, very wet mud.

Kinda hard to find when the ground's been frozen solid for a couple of weeks...

Cover: MBUK December '08

Nikon D3, 17-35mm f/2.8, 1/250sec f/8 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

This is, as far as I can work out, my last cover of 2008. Yes, I know there's however-many-shopping-days-til-Christmas and then (last time I looked) another week or so of the year to go beyond that, but in magazine publishing world the first of 2009's covers are already being firmed up to go to the printers. Won't be long before I'm asked to come up with warm, sunny, spring-like pics to go on April and May edition covers. Try shooting to that brief in February...

Anyhoo, that's then and this is now. This was actually one of the smoothest cover shoots of the year - the easy one of the two recent cover experiences I wrote about recently. We turned up, identified the five yards or so of trail we wanted for the shot immediately, bashed off a few test shots to get the lighting dialled and had it in the can before lunch. Marvellous. 

I particularly like the way the sky's been left alone in the final cover version, complete with little fluffy clouds and all...

Nikon D3, 17-35mm f/2.8, 1/320sec f/7.1 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

And if anyone's still in any doubt that the details on cover shoots really are sweated, here's the shot to prove that Doddy brought along a complete change of kit for a different look. We shot both outfits with and without Camelbak (and with sun and without, though that particular element wasn't entirely under out control).

Waddya mean, too much choice? No such thing...

The simpler it is, the harder it gets

I just finished shooting two magazine covers in as many weeks. And they could hardly have been more different experiences.

For the first one we pitched up at a location that the art editor and rider thought would work, but that I hadn't previously seen. From a hundred yards away I could see the perfect section of narrow, rocky singletrack. There was a perfect backdrop of rolling hills, the sun was in the right spot and it was clear from the first frame that we pretty much had it in the bag. Job done.

Nikon D300, 14-24mm f/2.8, 1/200sec f/5 @ ISO320, two radio slaves

Second time around also involved a new location, although this time I'd had the opportunity to have a sneaky peak at another snapper's shots from the area and narrow down our search to a relatively small area of remote Welsh hillside. You'd have thought this would make the shoot a shoo-in... but no. For the first couple of hours we rode, walked and stumbled up and down about half a mile of gorgeous singletrack in front of a perfect backdrop, searching in vain for the right combination of rideable trail and perfect viewpoint. 

Finally, after a great deal of frustration, head-scratching and aborted attempts at riding up shallow inclines with all the grip of a greased baking tray, we found 10 yards or so of trail on which the rider could stay upright reasonably convincingly. And it had a view. Bonus.

Nikon D2X, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/200sec f/3.2 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

Neither experience is unusual. I've had cover shoots that have been painful, drawn-out experiences despite knowing and / or researching a location thoroughly beforehand. And there have been just as many that have been in the bag by lunch, in spite of turning up at a spot I have no prior knowledge of.

Hmm. Maybe there's a correlation there? Nope. Happens t'other way around too...

Here's the thing with covers: they're deceptively simple shots that are actually remarkably hard to get right. Glance at the average UK mountain bike mag cover and you could be forgiven for thinking it's just a competent shot of a rider, um, riding. But it's not quite so simple. 

So, in case you fancy having a bash at your own cover shoot, here's a checklist of things you'll need to get right. It's not exhaustive.

Nikon D200, 50-150mm f/2.8, 1/250sec f/7.1 @ ISO100, two radio slaves

- rider close cropped (but check with the art ed, in case more space is needed) with space for masthead, strap and coverlines.

- trail visible, preferably with lead-in and lead-out lines.

- blue sky (waddya mean, it's January and it's raining?)

- view visible in background (but not too distracting, and not somewhere that'll be covered with the masthead, strap...)

- rider's face in shot and eyes visible. This basically rules out any angle other than head-on or front three-quarter... and you'll need to watch out that handlebars (low angles) and helmet peaks (high angles) don't get in the way. Oh, and watch out for deep shadows...

- rider visibly striking the right balance of fun / aggression / determination / whatever for the mag's target market. May vary according to the issue's coverlines / bike being ridden / opinion of the art ed.

- bike and kit cleared with art ed and current, clean and in suitable colour combinations.

- location that has the right combination of trail (is the surface / width suitable for the bike / riding style being portrayed?) and backdrop...

Got all that? Now, here are just a few of the things that can go wrong:

- weather. Rain and fog are complete killers (though I've got covers in both in the past), but you'll also need enough lighting to deal with the inevitable generic murk of an overcast UK day. Flat lighting doesn't sell mags...

- mechanicals. Put a track pump and spare tube in the car. Always. And encourage the rider to bring their own tool kit and spares, too.

- trail conditions. It's a photographer's prerogative to ask the impossible of the rider (as in 'it'd look great if you just trundled down that 45 degree slope and pulled a wheelie drop onto that flat landing at the bottom), but it's the simple stuff that gets in the way. Wet weather's the worst, because it pretty much rules out any climbing. Or cornering. Or, er, anything that looks remotely interesting...

Nikon D40X, 12-24mm f/4, 1/200sec f/10 @ ISO100, two radio slaves

Reading back through these lists, it's obvious to me why I have a love/hate relationship with cover shoots. I love the challenge, and I still get a kick from seeing my work up on the shelves of thousands of newsagents across the country. But I could live without the variables that randomly conspire to make my life harder. After more than 100 covers and 13 years of shooting them I've got most eventualities covered, but there's just no accounting for the vicissitudes of the UK's weather. Certainly keeps me on my toes.

Oh, the pictures? They're just a few of the cover shots from the past couple of years that, for one reason or another, never made it to print.

Cover: What Mountain Bike November '08

I love it when a plan comes together. All the more so when, at every stage, the plan in question has looked as though it wasn't going to happen at all...

Nikon D40X, 10.5mm f/2.8, 1/30sec f/11 @ ISO100, two radio slaves

This is What Mountain Bike's November '08 cover. A while back I wrote about the way the weather seemed to be conspiring against me when I was trying to arrange this shoot. Short version: it rained, then it rained some more. And then a bit more. And then, just for good measure, more still. You get the idea.

I knew exactly what shot I wanted, and where to get it. All I needed was a dry trail and a bit of sunshine. In the end, I got neither.

Faced with a soggy and almost unrideable trail, on overcast sky and an inflexible deadline, I did what all pro photographers do in that situation: I blagged it. Wet trail? Choose the driest 10 yards and ride those (ride a wet trail enough and it'll sometimes dry out a bit anyway). Crap light? Add my own (that was, in fact, the biggest challenge, because I didn't want the flash to kill the feeling of movement).

The resulting image was selected for the cover over the alternative shot that I took that day... and two or three other options.

Yes, it's another stream crossing. Look, there was a lot of water about that day, OK?
Nikon D3, 24-70mm f/2.8, 1/200sec f/7.1 @ ISO200, two radio slaves

And that's not the only reason I'm pleased - it's also the second cover I've shot with my £300 D40X.

The perfectionist in me (every good pro has an imaginary critic whispering in their ear) could easily pick holes in the image I ended up with. At the very least, it's not the one that I wanted to bring home. But, given that when we first arrived at the location I didn't think we could shoot it at all, the fact that it's on the cover at all is an achievement. Bringing home the bacon when the odds (and elements) are stacked against you is a big part of what being 'pro' is all about, after all.

Cover: Cycle Oct / Nov '08

Nikon F6, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/1000sec f/2.8 on Fuji Velvia 100

In this age of digital delivery and ever-increasing bandwidth, it's easy to forget that a significant part of my office is dedicated to filing upwards of 30,000 inch by inch-and-a-half rectangles of celluloid. And that they, in their own way, represent an untapped resource.

The new issue of the CTC's mag is a good example of an archive image being put to good use. This is a tight crop of a landscape-format image shot on a beautiful summer's evening, high above Ullswater in the Lake District. It was just what Cycle's art ed was looking for for their camping and mountain biking cover story, and I'm really pleased with the result (even though I think, in hindsight, that the focus point is slightly wrong - it's on the back of the figure in centre shot instead of on the guy who's laughing).

Film is dead. Long live film.

Cover: MBUK November '08

Nikon D3, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/160sec f/4 @ ISO800, two radio slaves

Before I threw caution to the wind and bought my D3 I had a long debate with myself about whether I really needed all that high ISO capability (hey, I know how to have fun!). After all, I reasoned, I've spent most of my professional career shooting film - and rarely went over ISO200. And with digital I didn't often go beyond ISO400. And... oh, wait. I can see a pattern there...

It seems that as soon as the gear will let me do something I couldn't do before, I find a use for it. Sure enough, this MBUK cover shoot turned out to be another situation where I was glad of the D3's effortless ability to turn out clean files at just about any old ISO (but particularly the big numbers).

The brief called for a sunny feel but the weather was overcast and we were shooting under trees. Solution? Light the rider in a sunlight-esque way and crank up the ISO to lighten the background. Job done, and no need for any noise reduction. With my D2X I would've been shooting at ISO400 and f/2.8... and I'd still have had more noise and less shadow detail.

Marvellous stuff. Thanks, Nikon.