Improving Mountain Bike Shots In A Forest?

[dagza]

A mate of mine was kind enough to pose on his mountain bike in a forest whilst I took some photos. It was the first time I have shot anything like this and I have only had my DSLR for about 3 weeks so I was just experimenting and am not completely gutted with some of the results but I don't feel the shots are as sharp / in focus as I could get them.

I was playing with different settings such as AI servo focus or locking focus on something and waiting for him to reach that point. I was also playing with panning, continuous shooting, hand held, tripod and so on so results varied! I was avoiding using the built in flash as much as possible and was using the kit lens 18-55mm with IS on.

Any tips on how to sharpen things up for next time?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dagza/s...7613335137939/ (Ignore the last handful as they are older ones)

Thanks

[Jim Bryant]

Got some good shots on there. With that lens, you'll need to bump up the ISO to maybe 800 and sure a higher shutter speed to stop the action in order to get sharper photos. But what you got posted are pretty good motion shots. A little blur doesn't hurt from time to time, but if you want to stop the action, you need to use a higher shutter speed. About 250 sec and above.

[dagza]

Thanks a lot for that. I think I need to be braver with the ISO in lower light situations! I will certainly bump up the shutter speed to what you said next time also.

I have just got the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens today. I mostly bought it for shots of the family but wonder would that give sharper results for this kind of thing or would there be no difference / better off with the kit lens next time?

Ta

Darren