Tour of Britain

[poledark]

The Tour of Britain is due to pass my house on Saturday, and I would love to get a couple of good shots of the leading rider/s. I realise I will probably only get a moment or two (they may well be doing over 40mph) so what would be my best approach.

 

I shall be standing at the roadside (could be at bedroom window) on the opposite side to where they will be coming from...road is a B road, not very wide, so distance is not an issue.

 

 

 

Should I try to pan or prefocuss and shoot a burst (8 mpx EXTRA)) from the tripod, then have to wait while camera process' the pics...there is a buffer, but leading riders will be gone before I can get any further shots.

 

 

 

I think I can trust myself to get one good shot by waiting prefocussed and with shutter half pressed, but maybe I should go to auto and start shooting at a lower res (5mpx) and just keep clicking until the riders pass me.

 

 

 

Bear in mind, that with my camera, in all Hi speed modes the focus point is determined by the first shot taken, so some will inevitably be out of focus.

 

 

 

Ideas anyone?

 

 

 

Den

[Guest Jaybee]

The Tour of Britain is due to pass my house on Saturday, and I would love to get a couple of good shots of the leading rider/s. I realise I will probably only get a moment or two (they may well be doing over 40mph) so what would be my best approach.

I shall be standing at the roadside (could be at bedroom window) on the opposite side to where they will be coming from...road is a B road, not very wide, so distance is not an issue.

Should I try to pan or prefocuss and shoot a burst (8 mpx EXTRA)) from the tripod, then have to wait while camera process' the pics...there is a buffer, but leading riders will be gone before I can get any further shots.

I think I can trust myself to get one good shot by waiting prefocussed and with shutter half pressed, but maybe I should go to auto and start shooting at a lower res (5mpx) and just keep clicking until the riders pass me.

Bear in mind, that with my camera, in all Hi speed modes the focus point is determined by the first shot taken, so some will inevitably be out of focus.

Ideas anyone?

Den

 

The bikes will go past you at a fair rate of knots and the closer you are to them the faster they will go.

If you are going to be in one spot then try to choose a fairly long straight with (if possible) plenty of colour opposite you (banners, flowers, crowds etc)

The best option is panning because you can take single shots and do a kind of "burst" pan.

Prefocus in say the middle of the road ded ahead of you. (Put camera in manual focus so focus cant alter))

Pick up first bike in good time - pan with the bike - press shutter when it crosses where you have prefocussed and follow though a little. Immediately swivel back round to pick up a second bike and pan and shoot as before - continue till bikes have past - done fast enough you should get shots of quite a number of different bikes or groups of bikes. Dont worry about being to clever with the shutter speed - slower always works best but you still get good blur in the background at 1/125 or even 1/250.

If you get the chance to move to a corner/bend try always to stand and shoot on the inside of the bend - the bikes will lean over into the bend and you are more likely to get shots of riders sticking legs out or whatever.

 

I'll try and draw a little diagram of what I mean.

Edited August 30, 2006 by Jaybee

[Steve Randles]

I think Jaybee has this one pretty well covered for you Den but I would suggest you try the technigue with cars on a road where they will be going at roughly the same speed. I say this because on my first couple of attempts at using this technique it all ended in tears when I got home and viewed them.

 

Steve...

[Chippy]

I think Jaybee has this one pretty well covered for you Den but I would suggest you try the technigue with cars on a road where they will be going at roughly the same speed. I say this because on my first couple of attempts at using this technique it all ended in tears when I got home and viewed them.

 

Steve...

 

What i'd maybe try, if you can get close enough, is to use a fairly wideangle lens, stopped down to give you a slowish shutter speed, a 1/30 or thereabouts would do, and then use 2nd curtain sync flash and pan to freeze the motion.

 

The wideangle and small F stop will help to ensure it's in focus without to much effort either.

 

Just a thought!

[poledark]

Sounds good to me I did not consider that they may be spaced out, which will of course give me time to make individual shots! Somehow got it into my head that they will all come at me in a huge bunch

 

Most likely will be gaps as they will have covered about 85 of the 93 mile section before getting to me.

 

The road is dead straight (Roman road, or "street" ) hence the Street End name for hamlet I live in

 

No banners Jay, just a grassy weedy bank opposite, probably give a nice blurry background.

 

I will practise tomorrrow morning Steve, I almost stopped a cyclist this morning and asked him to do a rehearsal for me Not sure how he would have reacted:) probably would have felt honoured

 

I will let you know how the "dry run" goes tomorrow evening, Thanks for help,

 

Den

[Leon Roskilly]

And remember, they go slower on hills!

 

(that's assuming that they are going up the hill)

Edited August 30, 2006 by Leon Roskilly

[Guest Jaybee]

The thing to remember about panning is that it really doesnt matter how fast the subject is going.

As long as it is going parallel to you and you swivel fast enough to keep the subject in the viewfinder then the subjects speed is negated - how fast you have to swivel to do that depends on the distance you are from the subject - the further away the slower you can pan/swivel.

Hope diagram helps but as Steve says - try it out first - cars, bikes etc - it really isnt difficult to master - same technique can be used of course to pan birds/insect/ in flight etc.

 

Edited August 30, 2006 by Jaybee

[Leon Roskilly]

Cycle racing is all about tactics.

 

Three riders together go faster, individually losing less energy than a cyclist alone, especially if there is a headwind.

 

And 30 riders have to do hardly any work at all, in a bunch.

 

A good strong rider might decide to go for a break, hoping to build up enough of a lead to stay in front, or at least encourage some riders to come with him to share the load.

 

Others will stay in the bunch, letting the miles tire those ahead, then use their conserved energy to 'reel them' in later.

 

So, you might find a leader, or perhaps three ahead, then comes a 'chasing group', trying to join the breakaway and all get away from the bunch, then the bunch all together.

 

Or you might just be unlucky and find the leaders chased down and swallowed by the bunch as they all pass together in front of you, as a single tight pack at 40mph.

[Guest Jaybee]

Cycle racing is all about tactics.

 

Three riders together go faster, individually losing less energy than a cyclist alone, especially if there is a headwind.

 

And 30 riders have to do hardly any work at all, in a bunch.

 

A good strong rider might decide to go for a break, hoping to build up enough of a lead to stay in front, or at least encourage some riders to come with him to share the load.

 

Others will stay in the bunch, letting the miles tire those ahead, then use their conserved energy to 'reel them' in later.

 

So, you might find a leader, or perhaps three ahead, then comes a 'chasing group', trying to join the breakaway and all get away from the bunch, then the bunch all together.

 

Or you might just be unlucky and find the leaders chased down and swallowed by the bunch as they all pass together in front of you, as a single tight pack at 40mph.

Leon is right of course and there are a dozen permutations of what you could get shots of but it is unlikely that the bikes will be in front of you for long enough to cover every possibility - you may get a panned shot of the leader and then decide to get a long shot of the group coming straight towards you for example.

It's easier if the action takes place on a circuit because then you can spend time at a corner then on a straight ect. In my moto-x photogrpahy days I would always begin each race opposite the inside of the first corner where spills were likely to happen - 30-40 bikes trying to fit into and get round a tight corner was nectar to photographers

Because of the nature of the circuit quite often I could just turn round and be ready for pan shots along the straight - then move just ahead of a jump etc.

You are not likely to get those chances and at best you will be in one place with riders simplky going past you - pre-planning is therefore pretty essential and a good spot may be on the apex of a bend in the road - you could get shots of riders approaching, any action around the corner and riders disapperaing away from you - dont forget you can pan the bikes aorund the corner - same technique.

Chippys suggestion is an excellent one too and is often used in sports photography BUT and its a pretty big but - you really have to know how to use flash and know your flash gun like the back of your hand - also make sure the flash will cover the angle of the lens used.

Edited August 30, 2006 by Jaybee

[poledark]

Or you might just be unlucky and find the leaders chased down and swallowed by the bunch as they all pass together in front of you, as a single tight pack at 40mph.

 

 

 

Could well happen Leon, I live on a hill, not to steep, but after the riders hit the top it will be a good fast downhill run into Canterbury. I am near the bottom of the slope,it is uphill for about 500 yards and about 4/5 miles from the finish, so not to much chance of a sprint going on at that stage , but it is very likely that when they reach the top, there will be a dash down the next couple of miles. I only hope they slow down a bit when they have to make the sharp LH turn at the traffic lights by the cricket ground

 

 

 

Could be a good vantage point ( I love a bit of carnage )

 

 

 

I will have a look at some vantage point near the top of the hill..........

 

 

 

Den