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Howdy.
The lens you have prob won’t be fast enough with the crap weather and light we have here, especially in winter. Ideally you should have a 70-200 f2.8 You’re going to need as high a shutter speed as possible while trying to shoot them as they are moving so you don’t get motion blur. You could porbably get a Sigma version of the 70-200 for about €600
You can also use a flash with your current lens instead to freeze the cyclists as they go past but this might piss them off after a while.
Hi John. I’ve never tried cycle racing photography, except taking a few snaps at the tour de France a long time ago (and they were rubbish :lol: ). But as you say you are a novice to this, I will try to give a few tips. Others more experienced can give more advice. Put your camera in Auto mode as this will allow you to concentrate on the cycling itself. One of the biggest problems in this type of photography is trying to get a decent vantage point.
Crowds of spectators tend to gather in certain areas, such as the finishing line, and make it very difficult to get any decent shots, as they tend to lean out into your field of view. Get to know the route of any race beforehand as this will show you some of the better areas to get good shots. A steep hill where the cyclists will be climbing would be a good area, especially for closeups of their faces, showing the strain and they will be moving a lot slower. Go beyond the finish line and zoom in to take a head on view as the leaders come in (a safe distance away), these are usually good shots too.
On level ground, panning with your camera will add a sense of speed as the background will become blurred.
Some of the cyclists on the site should be able to tell you, what works and what doesn’t. As you will be the clubs official photographer, you may get to travel with the race in one of the support cars, and should be able to get some good shots from that. I would also suggest, visiting cycle racing sites and reading cycling magazines and view other photographers work, as it will give you a few good ideas. Hope this helps and good luck with your venture.miki g wrote:
Hi John. I’ve never tried cycle racing photography, except taking a few snaps at the tour de France a long time ago (and they were rubbish :lol: ). But as you say you are a novice to this, I will try to give a few tips. Others more experienced can give more advice. Put your camera in Auto mode as this will allow you to concentrate on the cycling itself. One of the biggest problems in this type of photography is trying to get a decent vantage point.
Crowds of spectators tend to gather in certain areas, such as the finishing line, and make it very difficult to get any decent shots, as they tend to lean out into your field of view. Get to know the route of any race beforehand as this will show you some of the better areas to get good shots. A steep hill where the cyclists will be climbing would be a good area, especially for closeups of their faces, showing the strain and they will be moving a lot slower. Go beyond the finish line and zoom in to take a head on view as the leaders come in (a safe distance away), these are usually good shots too.
On level ground, panning with your camera will add a sense of speed as the background will become blurred.
Some of the cyclists on the site should be able to tell you, what works and what doesn’t. As you will be the clubs official photographer, you may get to travel with the race in one of the support cars, and should be able to get some good shots from that. I would also suggest, visiting cycle racing sites and reading cycling magazines and view other photographers work, as it will give you a few good ideas. Hope this helps and good luck with your venture.All of the above makes lots of sense and is good advice. Except the highlighted bit.
Don’t put your camera anywhere near Auto mode! :) Seriously though, the camera isn’t going to know that you will have speeding cyclists going past or if you want to pan so you will have to do it yourself.
I’d recommend you use manual mode all the time. The first few times you will find it a little difficult to get the settings right as the cyclists will be going so fast but you’ll get the hang of it very quickly. Big white skies behind an oncoming cyclist will drive the metering on your camera bonkers so you’re better off setting it yourself. This isn’t landscape photography so the only thing you should care about being in focus and exposed correctly is the cyclist. If the sky is blown out then so be it.
High shutter speeds for close up action shots of the cyclists.
Slow shutter speeds for panning a cyclist to give impression of movement.You can use off camera flash also (if you have one) for more artistic type of shots.[/u]
I see you are in Kildare as well, I’m in Clane. I have a Sigma 70-200mm that you can borrow from me if you want to have a go with it and see what it’s like.
Edit: I just noticed that it’s Nikon you use. My stuff is all canon so not much use to you!! Sorry.
Tried a bit of cycling photography this year and it is harder than you think
The good thing about your kit is the D300 as you can use a higher ISO and get away with it
Do you have a flashgun?A decent flash will help you also(rear sinc)
Also give a go at panning as these guys can go a hell of a speed and the panning gives a good
sense of speedGet out on the guys normal club run and practice the type of shots you might want
Enjoy
Cathal
I’ve experience from both sides of the camera with regard to cycle racing. As with most subjects you need to know your subject. Cyclists are vain…very vain. They love being seen at their best..I mean, who else would wear feature hugging yellow lycra??? So you won’t have any problems with flashes or your positioning to take a photograph.
OK – your subject. What does the club want…really?Races suggest action but the start, sign-on, stewards, presentations and finishes mean a lot to a club and its volunteers. For the papers you would be better suited to individual shots…not group shots so isolate your members. I find our local paper likes this best and the presentations. For the site it’s a similar story but you can be more liberal. The suggestion of hill shots is perfect…there’s always a few laughs at Johnny nine-bellies purple in the face coming over the crest of a hill after blowing a gasket.
For the finish don’t stand at the side of the road to get your shot. Stand well back past the finish but face on to the cyclists and use full zoom as if you were on the line as they cross it…it makes a difference. I’d also suggest getting low on the inside of corners so that you are looking up at the cyclists. If you consider that they lie along the bike you have a reduced vision of them…head and shoulders mostly. Getting low, with flash, does provide some attractive shots.You could reverse engineer some of these shots for inspiration:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/2009_tour_de_france.html
Best of luck.
Alan.
Hi John,
I have the 18-200 lens and have to say its a handy all round lens, but when I compare it to a 24-70 or 70 – 200 there is absolutly no comparison in sharpness / contrast, I think you will get away with it as I don’t think you will be stopping down to 2.8 (to try and get the DOF and enough of the photo in focus). You will be spending more time in Photoshop sharpening you images shot with the 18-200 than one of the 2.8 lenses.
Good luck
Marc
jKennaPhotography wrote:
Thanks Alan,
You think the 18-200mm will do for the time being until I can afford to get a faster lens?
You ever do any cycling with any Kildare clubs? Reason I ask is I have heard of a cyclist that also does photography from Wexford, I was told by this club that they would put me in contact with this guy.Thanks again,
John.I’d be more of the photographer that used to cycle at this stage!! :lol:
The 18-200mm will do fine…but the faster the lens the more keepers you’ll have. Bump your ISO – I’d rather have some images with noise than blurred ones. I started with a kit lens then a Minolta F4-5.6 70-210mm and I got reasonable shots. I now have a Tokina 80-200mm f2.8 and you can tough the people in the images. For sites I’m sure the lens you have will suffice but like most sports it’s speed you really want.
By the way – what’s the club?
Round the back of the circuit where the spectators are scarce, get down low for shots looking up into the competitor’s faces. Where the crowds are thicker, use a set of aluminium stepladders to get a bit of height. Useful everywhere actually! If using flash, which you may well be, due to crappy weather conditions, make sure you’re on second curtain (also called rear curtain) flash, otherwise you’ll find, like I did when photographing Aaron Baines in a West Down Whirline Wheelers Hill-climb, that you have a ghost image in front of the rider. Same as having the tail lights in front of a night time car shot. Check out the Cycle Ireland website and also Banbridge Cycling Club website. Andy Potts does a lot of photography for Banbridge CC, see if you can track him down online. I don’t know him personally, but you could try contacting him. I was Banbridge CC’s banjo player (really!) and I get to events occasionally, but I haven’t had a natter with Andy as yet. Early season events can be good, rain, hail, snow and sleet, lots of grim faces to shoot! Have fun, Alex.
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