My favs from Freestone this weekend

zoomer · June 8, 2009

I love good motorcross pictures and these are great.
Excellent job with the lighting angles, lots of detail and color in these.
Really nice work!

Zerodog · June 8, 2009

Great shots! Very nice light. Are you using a flash with some of these or are they 100% natural light?

Erbeman · June 8, 2009

Thanks guys. I used a flash all day long.

Matt336 · June 8, 2009

They look great! I really want to make it go Spring Creek in July but I'm not sure it's going to happen. Are you going to all the nationals?

Erbeman · June 8, 2009

Matt336 wrote:

They look great! I really want to make it go Spring Creek in July but I'm not sure it's going to happen. Are you going to all the nationals?

Haha, oh no. I'm not sure if I'll make it to any more Nationals this year. I have to travel on my own dime and there are no other Nationals anywhere close to hear other than Colorado and I don't have all of the off-camera lighting that you need there since it's a night race.

j-bo · June 8, 2009

Cool... I'm the 1st one to say it...you need to use slower shutter speeds so we get the feel of motion.

Oh wait. Nice colors!

Love the Barcia, Reardon, and Short shot next to last.

Which ones are making it to the Vurb site?

Get sunburnt?

Muscle Milk chicks seem to be "the" mx chicks lately.

Erbeman · June 8, 2009

j-bo wrote:

Cool... I'm the 1st one to say it...you need to use slower shutter speeds so we get the feel of motion. Oh wait. Nice colors!

Love the Barcia, Reardon, and Short shot next to last.

Which ones are making it to the Vurb site?

Get sunburnt?

Muscle Milk chicks seem to be "the" mx chicks lately.

Thx, I'm still waiting to hear back from Vurb. We had decided that I would have a wallpaper album available for download. I'll drop the link here whenever we get that going.

I got one of those silly looking floppy billed camo hats before the race and sprayed sunscreen on so I stayed pretty normal, that didn't stop the freakin heat though!!! Dang it was some kind of hot! Yea, I was digging the Muscle Milk ladies, especially the party girl!!

BCSPhotoguy · June 8, 2009

Nice set! Speak for all the males.. THanks for adding some scenery other than the bikes!

Makin it look easy!

Flash on all of them eh? Nicely done!

ian408 · June 8, 2009

Muscle Milk and Monster Energy drink? Ha ha!

I love that you've got the tight shots. Action, great color too.

amadeus · June 8, 2009

Erbeman wrote:

Thanks guys. I used a flash all day long.

these are really sweet. any chance you can post the Cliff Notes on the flash you used and how you massage your settings compared to if you weren't using flash in such good natural light?

at least it looked pretty good on TV. good and hot too.

338 is JLaw right? They didn't talk about him Saturday night. Is he riding 250's or 450's. I never saw the 250 TV coverage.

great shots.

xtnomad · June 8, 2009

Real nice shots. And it was HOT in the sun for the main events. Would love to get inside the fence one day so I could bring the Prime, it is hard to get great color shoots at 300mm with the sigma 170-400 most of the time behind the spectator fence. But it was fun and explored more of the track this year. I will post up some of mine later this week.

Erbeman · June 9, 2009

amadeus wrote:

these are really sweet. any chance you can post the Cliff Notes on the flash you used and how you massage your settings compared to if you weren't using flash in such good natural light?

at least it looked pretty good on TV. good and hot too.

338 is JLaw right? They didn't talk about him Saturday night. Is he riding 250's or 450's. I never saw the 250 TV coverage.

great shots.

Because I used flash all day is the reason the colors are good. The ambient light was very harsh except early and late in the day. I used my SB-900. I can't really explain my settings because they changed every new place I went on the track. I shoot in Manual mode both on my camera and on my flash, so when I find a new area I have to meter off the first few riders, shoot and look at the pics in the viewfinder and adjust if needed. Manual mode is not easy, but it gives me total control over what my pics will look like.

Yea, is was freakin hottttttttt!! Luckily, they had a press tent with fans and iced down bottled water and Monster Energy drinks to keep us cool. I hauled butt to get there after every moto.

Yes, 338 is JLaw, he isn't getting any coverage anymore because he is pretty much riding terrible for some reason. He's off his game inside his head. I'll be surprised if he finishes the season and even more surprised if he's back next year. Karma seems to have come back to bite him over and over for the way he has carried himself over the last 2 years.

You can tell what bikes people are riding by the background and number colors on their bikes. The 450's always have a white background and the 250's have a black background with the exception of the series points leader now uses a red background in MX and in SX the defending champion uses the red background.

beetle8 · June 9, 2009

Great set, I like the head on one where you can see the guys eyes. A few toward the end look like you burned them in post, if that's not the case is it an affect from the flash. If it is the case, then I like the idea but maybe a little less.
There is a dude in the BG of one of your shots that looks like he's handhold shooting a 400prime that's gotta make for a tiring day.

Erbeman · June 9, 2009

beetle8 wrote:

Great set, I like the head on one where you can see the guys eyes. A few toward the end look like you burned them in post, if that's not the case is it an affect from the flash. If it is the case, then I like the idea but maybe a little less.
There is a dude in the BG of one of your shots that looks like he's handhold shooting a 400prime that's gotta make for a tiring day.

Yes, there were two that I burned around the rider for a different effect than what you normally see. I didn't want them to appear normal. I actually had a friend there shooting for the magazine that I usually shoot for that carried a 400 Prime on his canon most of the day! I picked it up once and couldn't believe how heavy and unstable that thing was. I don't know if you can add a battery grip to a Canon, but that thing sure needed one! No way would I ever carry that dude around unless it was on a monopod.

mikeshots · June 9, 2009

That first shot of Alessi coming through the corner is a KILLER shot! (Bummer about the rest of his season, though). I shot Hangtown last year, but didn't bring flash with me. I think I'll give that a try next year.

Erbeman · June 9, 2009

mikeshots wrote:

That first shot of Alessi coming through the corner is a KILLER shot! (Bummer about the rest of his season, though). I shot Hangtown last year, but didn't bring flash with me. I think I'll give that a try next year.

Thx, yea it sucks for him for sure. However it opens the series up to just about anyone now. There is nobody left who is just going to run away with it. So, it should be fun and we'll get to see a first time 450 MX champ. I know KW is freakin so frustrated about now. If he was running the series, he would sure have a shot at the title.

mikeshots · June 9, 2009

Erbeman wrote:

Thx, yea it sucks for him for sure. However it opens the series up to just about anyone now. There is nobody left who is just going to run away with it. So, it should be fun and we'll get to see a first time 450 MX champ. I know KW is freakin so frustrated about now. If he was running the series, he would sure have a shot at the title.

Yep! Reed might be very happy that he decided to ride outdoors this year!

Erbeman · June 9, 2009

mikeshots wrote:

Yep! Reed might be very happy that he decided to ride outdoors this year!

Yup, he may just luck into another championship.

ian408 · June 9, 2009

I just read about that injury--made me cringe...

And speaking of 450's and slightly OT but anyone following the 2010 Dakar nonsense? Looks like it will be 450's (or less) in 2011 with restrictor plates in 2010 for bikes bigger than 450cc.

nw scout · June 9, 2009

Love this one

Nice to see something different with a cool perspective. Very cool!!!

AmateurMX · June 9, 2009

ian408 wrote:

I just read about that injury--made me cringe...

And speaking of 450's and slightly OT but anyone following the 2010 Dakar nonsense? Looks like it will be 450's (or less) in 2011 with restrictor plates in 2010 for bikes bigger than 450cc.

I think the organizers are trying to keep the cost down for the competitors and they're trying to keep people from getting killed. Those rally bikes were just too big and klunky. More guys have been killed in the bike class over the years than in any other category, save for a couple cars getting blown up from land mines.

Hopefully things will be safer all around now that the Dakkar is South America.

ian408 · June 9, 2009

AmateurMX wrote:

I think the organizers are trying to keep the cost down for the competitors and they're trying to keep people from getting killed. Those rally bikes were just too big and klunky. More guys have been killed in the bike class over the years than in any other category, save for a couple cars getting blown up from land mines.

Hopefully things will be safer all around now that the Dakkar is South America.

I think you're right about the cost. I can't recall the number (it was not insignificant) for Rally Pan Am (a local dude). But for those who already race the 690's, the cost to procure new bikes and parts will be significant. I'm sure the restirctor plates won't make for happy campers either

amadeus · June 10, 2009

Erbeman wrote:

Because I used flash all day is the reason the colors are good. The ambient light was very harsh except early and late in the day. I used my SB-900.

please correct me if I'm wrong, but assuming you shoot with some pretty big len's or even 70-300 type's, does the SB-900 lend itself to distance/outdoor applications, or is it your choice simply as the best flash available from Nikon. I'm really wanting a flash, and even more after seeing this series.

Have you ever queried riders as to if the flash was a distraction?

Erbeman · June 10, 2009

amadeus wrote:

please correct me if I'm wrong, but assuming you shoot with some pretty big len's or even 70-300 type's, does the SB-900 lend itself to distance/outdoor applications, or is it your choice simply as the best flash available from Nikon. I'm really wanting a flash, and even more after seeing this series.

Have you ever queried riders as to if the flash was a distraction?

I got the SB 900 because it's the biggest baddest Nikon flash. I also have the SB-600. The riders don't even notice the flash.

rmwphoto · June 10, 2009

Great Shots!!
Awesome shots !!!

I like the shot of Erin Bates great Canadian Girl.

Sucks to see Mike Alessi out with a injury.

Zerodog · June 11, 2009

Erbeman wrote:

I got the SB 900 because it's the biggest baddest Nikon flash. I also have the SB-600. The riders don't even notice the flash.

I have been thinking of getting a flash for outdoor motocycle shots. What do you think of the SB-600 Vs the 900? Now I am using really old Vivitar flashes. One of them is a monster and puts out some serious light. But it is totally unreliable and runs off a PC cord. Sometimes it goes, sometimes it doesn't.

Erbeman · June 11, 2009

Zerodog wrote:

I have been thinking of getting a flash for outdoor motocycle shots. What do you think of the SB-600 Vs the 900? Now I am using really old Vivitar flashes. One of them is a monster and puts out some serious light. But it is totally unreliable and runs off a PC cord. Sometimes it goes, sometimes it doesn't.

If I were you I would definately buy the 900 if you can swing it. It is just a sweet flash. It's more powerfull than the 600 and zooms so much further as well as having all of the other sweet options that the 600 doesn't have.

amadeus · June 11, 2009

Erbeman wrote:

If I were you I would definately buy the 900 if you can swing it. It is just a sweet flash. It's more powerfull than the 600 and zooms so much further as well as having all of the other sweet options that the 600 doesn't have.

wow I've got a lot to learn..

so in a nutshell the SB900 will know what the camera is focusing on and project its flash accordingly?

will it go a full day on one charge of battery? is it a dedicated rechargeable battery as opposed to 8 AA's or something?

I need to go to B&H...

Erbeman · June 11, 2009

amadeus wrote:

wow I've got a lot to learn..

so in a nutshell the SB900 will know what the camera is focusing on and project its flash accordingly?

will it go a full day on one charge of battery? is it a dedicated rechargeable battery as opposed to 8 AA's or something?

I need to go to B&H...

Both the 600 and 900 will auto zoom to whatever the lens is zoomed to until it reaches it's limits. The 900 will zoom to 200m and the 600 will zoom to 85m I believe. I haven't used rechargable batteries on either of them because it's my understanding that if you use them, your flash takes longer to cycle. I need them to cycle as fast as possible. So, I go through plenty of batteries. At Freestone I bought the fancy lithium camera batteries that are supposed to last longer and I went through 12 batteries and had to hobble along at the end of the last moto because the batteries were getting too hot and not working. So, I was having to take them out and blow on them to get them to keep working.

j-bo · June 12, 2009

Nikon doesn't have a battery pack for their flashes?

When we were at N.O.... I had a canon battery back and I used nothing but eneloop rechargeables. I shot all day and night, plus went out and shot a whole race the next weekend without changing one battery.

The drawback on the battery packs is it can cycle TOO FAST and overheat the flash (shooting more than XX amount of shots in sequence), so follow the guidelines on the battery pack to prevent that.

I can't see the downside to using rechargeables.

My favs from Freestone this weekend

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