bmx shots from my 40d.

first post!

simply copied(and edited a little bit) this post from a bmx forum i'm on.

a bunch from today, i was shooting with my 40d with the 28-135mm is usm lens.
really getting used to shooting this camera(coming from an sd1000 point and shoot),
and i'm probably going to buy a lens soon that goes down to f/1.8 or 2.6 for better low light shots.
i'll have more up tomorrow after i get home from downtown.
oh, and i'm in the white.

In the first picture the exposure is OK, the rest of the images are quite under exposed.. so they are very dark.
I think in some of the shots there is a lot of bright sky at the background, which seems to be exposed more properly.. where as your subject (the cyclist) is left as an under exposed shape in the foreground.
So you need to try and get the image properly exposed to the guy on the bike, rather than the background. Also you need to watch out that you don't 'blow out' the sky.. the best way to learn this is just by trial and error (or reading from books/online).

also, keep checking the shutter speed, as some of the images are quite soft, so a faster shutter speed and more accurate focusing will get you the sharp images you are looking for.

One last it of advice is that shoot in RAW .. I did that on my so far only MTB/BMX shoot and by doing that managed to bring back some over exposed sky to a reasonable level... I know that's cheating but still...

what i usaully do when shooting biikes in lowish light is
manual mode
flash (430ex ettl)
higest shutter speed avalable with flash
lowest aperture ( usaully f4.0/5.6)
then if its underexposed slow the shutter
if the over exposed shrink the aperture


complex but it works for me

thanks.

i'm going to the city today with a few friends, so i'll end up with a bunch more shots to share. i'll take your advice and try to make my pictures better. i learned about exposure and aperture last night, which is after i took these.