The Bunch

[John 2]

The City of Lancaster, so I discovered the other evening, has an annual road race. What makes it different is the fact that it is run on the back streets, most if not all of which are cobbled. From a photographers viewpoint, it is the perfect event because unlike a normal road race where you get one chance as the riders pass, this is a circular course and they all pass you several times. I ran out of memory ............... This is the first of the few that I think are worth processing. Taken just as the race started.

Fuji XT1
55-200mm Fuji X @ 135mm
1/500th sec @ f4.4 ISO 400

[deetheturk]

Great image John!

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured. There seems to be an increase in clubs doing this type of racing. Definitely worth the effort to practice sports photography. Let's see some panning shots!

[Stagecoach]

I like the way you have picked out the main subject in this one John, well done.

[bnnrcn]

Nice image

[John 2]

Thanks David, John, Graham and Binnur. John, there are surely some to come.

[gregj1763]

Very nice John, I like the way you have accentuated the focus on the central rider with the B&W conversion and a bit of Dodge & burn I'm guessing

[Manfred M]

A very nice shot John; your timing and focus are bang on. Are you shooting single shots, or is this one of a burst?

I find the post work a touch heavy-handed; it's just the rider you have focused on seem to be a bit too bright for the rest of the image.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful image! Incredible capture!

[ied]

Great image. I like his focused look.

Irene

[juznobsrvr]

Greatly captured and composed, John. The selective focus does not work for me here. It is a bit too heavy handed for me. I also noticed that there are some areas behind the main subject that appear to me as though you may have inadvertently missed when blurring them out (I'm assuming you did), like the two helmets of the bikers behind her shoulders. Overall it's a nice image. Cheers.

[John 2]

Thanks all for the additional comments.

Greg, not much dodge and burn but certainly vignette. I was lucky in that the central rider had a yellow jersey which is what caught my eye. The rest had were mainly in red and/or blue so that I could highlight him through the mono conversion.

Manfred, definitely on continuous shoot - hence running out of memory. I'm not that good that I can capture shots like this with a single effort. Tend to agree with you on the central brightness. I think that I have pushed the yellow channel a bit too hard.

Rob, (eagle eyes) with little exception the selective focus is SOOC - 135mm almost wide open. If you notice, the two riders on either side are at least 1-2 bike lengths ahead of him. The exceptions are the two riders on his shoulders. They were very nearly in focus and I have blurred them and taken them down a bit to avoid distraction. However, it's a bit of a sloppy job. No good blurring their faces and leaving their helmets. Must do better. (BTW it's a He)

[Mike Buckley]

Great capture! Well worth taking the time to post-process it to your highest capability.

No good blurring their faces and leaving their helmets.

And leaving their bicycles and feet. Similarly, the street has to be realistically in focus or not; currently, it's not.

My guess is that the image will be fine to leave the depth of field as captured. Considering that the rider that you want as the primary subject is wearing yellow and everyone else is wearing red or blue, perhaps you would be better off not converting to monochrome (keeping in mind that I regularly make monochromes, so I have nothing against them).

[John 2]

............And leaving their bicycles and feet. Similarly, the street has to be realistically in focus or not; currently, it's not...................

Guilty as charged. Actually Mike, I quite like the Colour version as well I but thought I would post a mono for a change since it was a good candidate. This hasn't been selectively processed so you can see where I have applied some blurring and the vignette.

[juznobsrvr]

Guilty as charged. Actually Mike, I quite like the Colour version as well I but thought I would post a mono for a change since it was a good candidate. This hasn't been selectively processed so you can see where I have applied some blurring and the vignette.

Hi John, I'm more of a monochrome guy but I prefer this colored version. Good show, man.

[bnnrcn]

Certainly the colour one John

[John 2]

Thanks Rob, thanks Binnur.

[Loose Canon]

I think this works well and I like the way you have treated it John.

What I see?

The two riders in front have darker jerseys, shades, and lighter colored helmets and looking downward.

The subject just the opposite. Lighter jersey, dark helmet, and looking more toward the lens.

And I think the separation and featuring of the subject works better in mono.

Well done John.

[John 2]

Thank you so much Terry.