Over the years I've shot most things on two wheels, but it's been a while since I've turned my lens on the skinny-tyred forerunners of mountain bikes. All that's changed recently with commissions from new triathlon mag Tri Plus, who asked me if I wanted to shoot some bike tests for them. I jumped at the chance, because it's an opportunity to look at a familiar subject in a new way.
I shot most of the test (with the exception of some detail pics and a couple of individual bike shots) without flash on a bright, sunny day. Students of my photo courses will know all about my enthusiasm for accurate panning technique, and mine was certainly being put to the test. Flash can cover a multitude of sins including slightly misjudged panning - without it, I had nowhere to hide.
Luckily my eye-hand coordination turned out to be better than my team sports skills would suggest. I came away with some openers like this:
Nikon D3, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/30sec f/20 @ ISO200
The flowers added a splash of colour and a heightened sense of speed, but the success of a shot like this all hinges on whether at least one of the rider's heads (and preferably a good chunk of one of the bikes) is completely sharp. Here's an unsharpened, 100% crop of the second rider's head:
The sun must've really been shining on my luck that day, because through a fortuitous sequence of events I also ended up selling one of the images to the UK importers of Wilier frames for use in a series of ads:
Nikon D3, 14-24mm f/2.8, 1/320sec f/11, two radio slaves
Regular readers will know that I'm a stickler for retaining as many rights in commissioned images as possible - and this is a perfect example of why that's important. If I'd reliinquished my copyright to the commissioning client, I would never have been able to make this sale. The small print in contracts isn't the most exciting reading, but it's there for a reason...
Oooooo
wonder if i can be of use to tri plus.
i do alot of tri stuff.
would it be too cheeky to ask if you have a contact?
Posted by: David | July 06, 2009 at 05:00 PM
Hi David,
Yup, that's pretty cheeky ;-)
I'm sure you'll find the editor's email address somewhere in the mag's flannel panel...
Posted by: Seb Rogers | July 06, 2009 at 07:46 PM
> "Over the years I've shot most things on two wheels,"
Seb is "Unforgiven":
"I've shot just about everything that walked or crawled at one time or another. And I'm here to shoot you, Little Tri Plus"
;)
Posted by: Graham Stewart | July 07, 2009 at 10:30 AM
(through clenched teeth)
'Go ahead, skinny-tyred road bike - make my day...'
On second thoughts, I won't be giving up the day job for a comedy career...
;-P
Posted by: Seb Rogers | July 07, 2009 at 11:08 AM