Mt Bike Race

[klpurkett]

I had the opportunity to go and take pictures of my brother during one of his recent mountain bike races. For this shot I was sitting about 2 or 3 feet off the trail. I used the Sport preset on my Nikon D3100, though I think next time I will just use shutter speed priority for a little bit more control. I was sad that the sky was so blown out, though I guess the detail in the shadows was more important. All comments and suggestions appreciated! Thanks, Kristy

[Digital]

Kristy, nice shot.



Bruce

[Shadowman]

Nice capture, the sports mode can sometimes work in your favor if you eliminate the sky from your composition. Auto settings do tend to expose to the right, so as you've found out; use with caution.

[IzzieK]

Kristy...very nice shot really...I just didn't expect you would admit to using the Sports button of your camera. I guess I am not used to people admitting that... because it the actually the outcome that matters...and this to me is a very very nice shot (well, apart from the sky...)

[klpurkett]

Thanks for commenting Bruce, John, and Izzie!

John, if I may ask a very silly question: what exactly do you mean by "expose to the right?" Is this in reference to the histogram, meaning somewhat overexposed? I feel like this is something I should know by now, but I want to make sure I'm actually understanding it properly and not just making a guess.

Izzie, I guess I figured that by admitting to using the sport preset I would be forgiven for totally blowing the sky out. But in all honesty, I chose that setting because I was nervous and knew I wouldn't be able to think on my feet and make appropriate adjustments fast enough. My brother tends to be in the front a lot, so I figured I might not have many "practice people" to test my settings on before he passed me. I was also just curious as to what the camera would choose for this environment and lighting conditions (shutter speeds, ISO, etc). This exercise gave me some starting points to work from when I try again, setting things myself.

[IzzieK]

One of the things I had learned when I am not sure about my camera setting is to rotate my button to the P setting and point it way beforehand to where my subject is going to be (part of my prep). Then I looked at what it says, e.g. SS 1/50; F10; ISO 200 for instance. Then I rotate my setting to Manual (M) and put that data in, then take a shot. If the sampling is not good enough, I upped my SS (if it is an action shot), sunny day I learned to put my option on auto-ISO. (In my camera all I have to do is press my ISO button and rotate the command scroll to change from normal ISO to auto-ISO.) Then all I have to worry about is the aperture change. Bright day remember Sunny 16 rule but it doesn't really follow so I go down to from F10-F13...

'Hope this helps...

[klpurkett]

Thanks Izzie! That's a great idea a bout taking a shot using the P setting to get an idea as to what the camera would suggest for an exposure setting, and then to modify it from there. I hadn't thought of doing that. Something to try for sure.

[Manfred M]

Kristy, while I am not a sports / action photographer, I do know what to do about the blown out sky the next time you shoot this kind of event.


One has to get out and scout out the area where you are planning to shoot and find a location on the trail there you will get both the view of the riders that you are after and also a background that will not show a blown out sky. Set up there and shoot from there.

The other issue I see in your shot is that the rider's face is in shadow and a touch underexposed (the image is side lit from camera right). The fix here is use your exposure compensation button and dial in +1/3 stop; that should be a good compromise between overexposing everything and brightening up the riders face. Of course, you could also do this in post.

[klpurkett]

Thanks for the feedback, Manfred. I really appreciate it. You're very right about needing to spend more time scouting before hand. These races happen at the same place every week for a couple months, so I'm looking forward to going again, now that I know how it works. I'll be going earlier next time so I can try out several different spots while the riders are warming up on the course. The trouble with bicyclists is that the helmet visor blocks their face unless I'm shooting from a fairly low angle: hence it can be challenging to get the face and not the sky. But, given tall enough trees, hills, and the right vantage point, I would think it must be possible. Thanks again for your thoughts.