sundays mountain bike racing.

TRiP

TRiP

TRiP

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Joined
16 Mar 2004
Posts
982
Location
Uttoxeter
just a few pics from the Specialized Winter Downhill Series. only posting these three pics cos i didnt get many im happy with. it was very dull and i struggled with high iso, wide apertures and freezing hands.

it was a really good day despite the weather. the top of the course was so foggy you could berely see 10 metres ahead and with the wet weather, it was very muddy and slippery with a lot of exposed tree roots to catch riders out. around 150 riders turned up with the fastest riding the course in just under 3 minutes.





 
I like the second one best, I'd hate to be racing down a mountain and only look about 10m in front... yikes.

What kit did you use to grab these shots, as they look like a bit of fill in flash would have helped.
 
had a quick tinker...
thought this shot would benefit from a level adjustment so i had a play:

before:
swd121955ai.jpg


after:

mbk.jpg


there was a great deal of shadows missing on the l/h side of the histogram. hold down alt as you move the slider from left to right to make sure you dont clip too much and the forground fog disappears and you get back some more definition.

hope you dont mind...great shots btw...looked like difficult conditions to shoot in.
 
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also used my new favourite 'pop' trick in cs2...

unsharp mask:
amount: 5-20% depending on the shot
radius: 200px
threshold: 0

basically the same as doing a 10-30% opacity duplicate softlight or overlay layer which i use a lot...horses for courses.
 
You've frozen the action well in number 2 and 3 - but as others have said, you could do with some fill flash.

Get yourself a flashgun and a wireless setup (can be got off ebay for around £50) and then position your flash as safely as you can near where you wish to capture the rider, then reposition yourself and you're away :)

sharpened_image040.jpg


you'll be amazed at how much it helps your shots.
 
cheers morgan, will try that on some pics, i try not to use photoshop to much because i find it makes shots look un-natural but that looks good.

MrSix - i have a 550ex flashgun already, will look around for a wireless thing and give it a go. id be worried about distracting the rider though, id feel quite guilty if i caused a crash because i blinded someone.

where abouts did you go for that pic?
 
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That was taken at Chicksands.

Also, I wouldn't worry about the flash - provided they can actually see it, so it doesn't take them by surprise, you'll be fine.
 
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