First attempt at shooting cycling

JoesInBoston

I should say, my first attempt with a D-SLR (Just bought a Canon 40D). I've been using my Canon S5 prior to this with mediocre results. Anyways, here's a few shots I took about a week and a half ago. Please give me some constructive criticism











I cropped the first one and the last one with smugmugs photocrop tool and I feel like it degraded the image quality a little and they aren't as sharp as when I originally took them, am I just imagining that or is that common?

2whlrcr

Not bad for a first attempt. At least you didn't cut their heads off.

I think they are all slightly over exposed. Plus they are all backlight. This can give a nice effect sometimes, but I think it's better to try and get the light on the faces of the riders. This can be hard to do, based on course conditions, but I think it's important. Fill flash my also help, if your close enough.

On the single rider shots, I think you need to fill the frame more. Do this with the camera and not PP. As you noticed, a significant crop will reduce the quality. Also make sure your camera is set on the highest megapixel setting. I believe the 40D is a 10mp sensor, so you should be able to get signifcant cropping with little loss in resolution, if it's needed. But it's best not to resort to this. I always try to get the good shot in the camera and not rely on PP.

My 10 cents (inflation...you know)

jrowphoto

I've hot a LOT of cycling, so I've gotten better with practice. Definitely get in close as you can (not too difficult at criteriums with a 70-200, and you get 60 laps worth of practice!). Use either a wide aperture and fast shutter speeds (for the head on type of shots) to freeze motion. If you're shooting them going by perpendicular from the side, try to work on panning with a slow shuuter (1/30 - 1/80) and keep the rider in focus and blur out the background. Also, if able, try to find clean backgrounds or interesting colors that will blur nicely if panning.

It looks like some of your photos are "in between". Not fast enough shutter to freeze the shot and get it sharp, but not really panning either.

You can check out some of my cycling photos here.

http://jrowphoto.smugmug.com/Sports/605725

Good luck and let us know how you do!