Bike Race

[razmaspaz]

The local road race was yesterday. This was the result. I was trying to capture the tower in the background because it is a landmark of sorts.I'm curious about composition, the tilting, and if the tower just falls to the background or if it is noticed. Also any general comments are welcome.



EXIF:

Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 36 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

[ericw]

The tilt bothers me and I don't think the radio tower pops out in the background like you were hoping it would. The reason that it doesnt pop is that other things overpower it: The tree on the left, for example, obscures a large portion of the tower, and is taller (due to the angle) than the tower, making it seem more prominent. The same is true of the second rider. I don't knwo if there's another spot you could shoot from that wouldn't have those trees interrupting things or not. If it was just one rider (so as not to interfere with the tower), it wasn't tilted, and the trees weren't there I think the tower would stand out nicely and you'd still have your low perspective and it'd be pretty dope.

Where'd you focus though? why are the riders so blurry? shutter speed too slow?

[74fpv]

The first thing that comes to my mind is that it appears to lack "movement" Even though the riders do seem to be a touch out of focus.
Personally I'm not a of the tilted angle although I do like the down low perspective. As in the other post the radio tower does tend to get lost with all the other action going on.

I really love the colors that you captured.

Cheers.

[razmaspaz]

I threw some more up in the same set on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/razmasp...7617663601474/

The one closest to this one is:



@74vpf - as to movement I took a few panning shots that turned out well. I can't figure out a way to get the movement of panning and still get the background to be sharp. Maybe a long shutter and a good flash would do it?

[ericw]

That's more of what I was picturing. See if that tree wasn't there and, in my opinion, the second rider. Then the tower would really stand out along with the rider and you'd get a strong sense of place.

You're not going to be able to pan and get the background sharp unless you flash the background. What you could do is keep your camera still and set the flash to rear curtain sync (end of the exposure). This way the riders will be moving (blurring) through your frame, but will be frozen by the flash at the end of the exposure. Try and get your settings right to expose the background properly.