Bike Racing Pic Taking - Hints & Tips?
 

I've been asked if I would offer advice or help on taking photographs of bikes (I guess in light of the recent DD round at Mallory where lots of different people have taken cameras along to the round and captured the action).

Although I may appear vocal on the board/s (internet anonimity confidence etc), I am quite shy and would not post a photography tips thread just cos "I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt etc" for fear of appearing big-headed or arrogant, which the fact I'm not at BSB this year proves I'm not.

I'm more than happy to help out "family" if any of my experiences can be of use to anyone.

If it's something you want me to do then let me know and I'll offer advice where I can.

(please note the request was not because any detrimental views were expressed about any of the photos that have been posted, it was more cos I've done it at a higher level and might be able to help if peeps are shyer than me in asking)

Regards, Guy

Big 'ed ;) - nice one!!

Why no BSB this year,Guy?

You know I'd love to know how to use my camera, maybe when you're up we can talk although I'll be racing not snapping

How to choose location at a circuit is certainly one I need help with.

+ how to get good 'mood' shots as well ;)

Did I really just say that?

Cheers - Frank

You are the Track day Photo God Guy.

Craig

advice and criticism would be most welcome Guy, i'd like to pick your brains concerning filters, if i may

In short Rich, I can't cover my costs (costs=finanical outlay, time spent at meetings, time spent uploading shots to mags and editing, personal sacrifices like being away from home 14 weekends in the summer, couple all that to people earning from my work/efforts but refusing to pay and I have kind of become disollusioned with it all)


Will try and cover this in my lesson/s Frank (did I really just say that??? LOL!!)


Thank you Craig, genuinely touched.


Night before Oulton Jon, it's a date :) I'll bring the plonk


Never used filters MM998 except circular polarisers when there's a lot of glare so might not be able to help too much here.

Ok folks,

I've put together some pointers as to the steps I follow ( and lengths I've undertaken) in order to hone my trade.

There's some basic 'suck-egg' photography in here but you'd be amazed by some of the questions I get asked that prove not everything is simple or fully understood by all those with cameras.

It's a real skim of the surface, as to put over 25yrs of photo taking into a few slides is pretty difficult.

These steps are some of what I do. It is "skim of the surface" because how I get the shots is largely down to my own hard work, blood, sweat and effort and I'm not about to divulge everything on a public forum when I struggle to make a go of it now without giving all of my secrets away too.

When you read this stuff and the work and thought that goes into what I do, you can probably understand why I get so insulted and disollusioned when someone wants me to give my pics away as though saying "it's easy so why should I pay you".

I'm a perfectionist so what I do won't apply to all I'm sure, but it'll give you something to think about that might just improve your output.

As I've said in the pages, Photography is a thinking man's game.......so it's not just down to hints and tips although I'm sure they help.

Please contact me if you have any queries at all, and I'll try and help where I can.

Happy reading :)

Guy

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3 - part 1

Lesson 3 - part 2

Lesson 3 - part 3

Lesson 3 - part 4

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

That's very generous of you Guy, nice one and thanks. :)

thanks v. much, we have previously tried taking thousands of snaps hoping one would be good often failing. Will try harder now with your on line tutorial.

No problem folks,

Although I sound like a cynical, obnoxious tw@t (which I am obviously :) ) I'm not in the flesh and am happy to help where I can so either phone or email and I'll help where I can.

Gc

Looks like I'm at Brands now so if anyone's around I'll be there Sat pm and all day Sunday milling around the JHP garage with a beer in my palm (for the 1st time in 4 years and boy am I looking forward to it)

Thanks Guy.

Much too valuable a post now for 'Idle Chat' so I'll move it into the Your Photos Forum I think and stick it there :D

Frank

WHat a co-incidence: posted at 9:04 lol

Guess I'll have to update it at 9:44 (feeble SS joke, I guess)

Guy, you are a star!

John

Hi Guy, thanks very much for the tips I am sure they will be really useful.
Might also be at Brands Sat, looking at the forcast I think they will need a snowplough for Sunday.

Gordon

Many thanks indeed Guy. I read through that last night, and I am one of the guilty ones that thinks if I fire off as many as I can one of them will be a good one. So many times last night whilst reading your guide I said AHHH so thats how you do it or so thats what that setting ment. The main intresting part for me was to get a clear shot of the rider with a blurred background. I have been trying for ages with out success. Now thanks to your guide I can see why.

Thx again

Craig

I'm not taking cameras to Brands so will be plugging my Motorsport Photography Learning Business (LOL :) )

Even though it's skim of the surface detail that I've put in those 'lessons', there's still a lot to think about. You'll start to see why after photographing a race, I couldn't tell you who's won. That's how I knew I'd been doing my job "properly". If I was concentrating on all the different aspects of the photography (which there are loads of eventualities to consider with bike racing), I didn't have time to register who's leading etc.

My advice on the lessons is to take one and digest and put into practice the info before moving on to the next one otherwise you'll be out with your camera and brain and they'll both be more like a rubik cube than useful tools.. as they'll be bamboozled with stuff.

So to recap........

Bike's coming towards you at 160mph sideways.

Shutter priority or Aperture?
Is there enough light, do I need to change the ISO?
Do I rely on the camera or should I go Manual and overide everything?
RAW or Jpeg?
Where am I going to put the sideways bike in the viewfinder?
Do I need to change the focus zone?
What's that in the back of the shot.....Shlt......it's a yellow ambulance, I don't want that?
Where do I lock on, I need that logo on his visor pin-sharp?
........Cr@p... it's starting to rain

Sound of brain exploding...............

Guy that explains why my photos are **** then I don't think any of those things I just click the button!

Holy Moley if I could do all that in a half hour that would be going it some for me. :lol: :lol:

Some of that Craig is down to your budget. To get the best sharp bike/fuzzy background shots you need an f2.8 lens. Most tracks have huge run-off so you're a fair way from the subject when you hit the shutter so that's why you see pro's at football, motorsports etc with what are commonly called "Bazookas", 400mm fixed length f2.8 lenses (like I have). To buy new they're in the £5000-£7000 range. You have to change you're mindset when using one cos you can't zoom in or out like you can with a small zoom. You have to be far more precise with your compositions.

Adding teleconverters extends the 'reach' of your lens but you lose f-stops (i.e. your f-numbers go up/higher) which as my guide states increases the depth of field which limits how much 'losing' of cluttered backgrounds you can do.

So for example, this shot of Haga, taken at the exit of Surtees at brands in '04 was with my £700 Nikkor AFS 300mm f4 lens



Yet this shot of Tommy Hill taken at the BSB Round 1 last year from exactly the same spot illustrates the benefits of a 400mm f2.8. You have far more 'reach' (the subject is closer in) and I've completely thrown out the cluttered background to the extent that you can't recognise what's there unlike the Haga shot. This puts far more emphasis and focus on the rider, pose, action which is where you want the viewer to be looking.





HTH

Gc

Guy, those are what my shots are like for your Harga, well nearly as good:lol:

Brilliant shot of a point in time but distracted by all the clutter. I used to then try and zoom as much as I could to try and loose the clutter then ended up missing bits of the subject and you could still see the ice cream van through his wheel.

Now I'm not about to go out and buy me a 7k lense but with your guide I think I can get a half decent amature Tommy Hill shot.

Craig

Well there you go. If I can help in some way then it's worth it.

Without sounding too arrogant, I feel I put alot more effort and thought into my work than some with simillar credentials do and as such my results are often better, but the fact that no-one pays for shots nowadays (regardless of the effort put in or final quality) is the reason I'm watching rather than snapping this weekend.

now I have some time on my hands, I'll have a good read of the stuff you've put up.

top bloke

maybe you could start you own online club/school??

The thought is crossing my mind Paul.

Just don't buy a 400mm f2.8 lens. They're enough to put your shoulder out and that's the last thing you need at the mo :)

Maybe one of these might help Guy. Made by Nikon for the CIA and such sneeky beeky organisations.1200mm-1600mm Comes with its own trailor I believe :lol:




Top marks Guy for the tips and guidance. One good thing about digital though, a large Raw Image can be crop quit succesfully to get a good picture I tried this out at Mallory with my f2.8 200mm, giving me an effective 340mm lens on the D200 digital camera which does help to get into the action.

Guido
Some very interesting stuff written there. My son is about to start getting in to photography and there are some great tips and advise.

Paul

.....hmmmmm Wonder if my 2x converter would work on that.


"For Sale. Close up images of the sun's rings. Blind photographer has no use for them"

:lol: :lol:

The trouble is Guy, and I took several thousand shots of bikes in the 70s/80s, that when you end up with a superb capture-of-action, it could be anywhere.
I now prefer stuff that shows you where it was taken cos its got reference points and you can say 'I was there !' and empathise with being 'there' when 'that' happened.
Mind you, some of my favorite shots only have kerbs and such in focus, but I still know they were Druids or Gerrards :lol: