Downhill Mountain Biking

[Aidan]

hey guys. been stalking here a while and finally got the confidence to post a picture to see whats thought of it.
Got myself a flash and wireless triggers, so theres a bit of a strobist in me too.

i smashed my wheel, so decided to break out the camera last saturday.

amongst the photos i took, i got this:



took a few runs to get the angle, and exposure sorted, then all i had to do was wait for the rider to 'nail it'

it might not look to extreme, but the photo is of my mate Ben jumping from one banked corner into another, a left then a right, both at 90 degrees to each other.

EXIF: Camera: Canon EOS 30D
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 18 mm
Exposure: +0.70
ISO Speed: 640
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Srobist: Metz 54 af-1 on cactus triggers 1/8 power at 24mm zoom 6m to camera right

[Loving It]

Welcome Aidan
I think this is a very good shot. Good exposure and color. There is only one thing I would change. It is hard to tell how
much air Ben got from that angle. Next time I would take the shot while you are lying on the ground. It would make the rider
appear higher in the air.

[ericw]

I really like this. I'd agree with Loving It, try and get a little lower next time. Also if you could clone out the bike sticking out from behind the tree in the background that would help it. I'm not sure about the exposure, the background seems underexposed but I think it helps the rider stand out. Next time tell your mate to wear some bright clothes and you can try exposing the background more.

Did you try any slow sync shots?

[daft_biker]

Cool shot...where's the trail? Have been up your way and done some riding at Learnie and Balnain...Glentress & Innerleithen is my local

Can see the take off and run up but I think it would work better if you could see the landing....I take it he's jumped off the berm on the left to land and rail round the berm to the right? To me the exciting bit is the landing in the corner at speed rather than beeing a foot of the ground after take off.

Good job with the exposure and freezing the action in a dark Scottish forest

[Aidan]

Originally Posted by daft_biker

Cool shot...where's the trail? Have been up your way and done some riding at Learnie and Balnain...Glentress & Innerleithen is my local

Can see the take off and run up but I think it would work better if you could see the landing....I take it he's jumped off the berm on the left to land and rail round the berm to the right? To me the exciting bit is the landing in the corner at speed rather than beeing a foot of the ground after take off.

Good job with the exposure and freezing the action in a dark Scottish forest

yeah, thats what i was trying to show. but like has been said, i do think being lower would have helped this, as it wouldve made it obvious that ben was jumpin from berm to berm, almost hipping.

ericw's idea of slow sync would be fun. not tried any to date, but ill try some tomorrow.
2 mission objectives then, get lower, and slow sync!

thanks guys

theres some more photos on my Flickr

[DanaD]

Your set looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing.