christy's ride - cycling shots - wide angle array

met up with a friend after work to do some cycling shots - i'm the farthest thing from a sports photographer but i wanted to give this a shot.

setup my 550ex to camera left, on the ground, tilted up... i think the power was set to 1/64 or 1/32 in manual mode... fired it via cheap radio transmitters.

first shot here is 24-70L @ 24mm - on the 5d

looks good.. just wondering what road bike is she on? i like the green. also the bike sales/ mech in me says that frame might be to small. but with out seeing in person hard to say looks like compact comfort frame. the angle on #2 i may have to try with my shops race team.. many long rides ahead of you great times!
mike

Good job. If you could get a slight sense of motion in them they would be even better.

If you look at the second photo her left knee, which is at the bottom of her cadence, is slightly bent....which would be about the correct frame for her.

#1 is my fav.

Can you come and take some cycling pictures of me?

Maddog12 wrote in post #5925925
Good job. If you could get a slight sense of motion in them they would be even better.

If you look at the second photo her left knee, which is at the bottom of her cadence, is slightly bent....which would be about the correct frame for her.

#1 is my fav.

Can you come and take some cycling pictures of me?

your right about the knee, this is what i tell my customers every day haha. just means the saddle hieght is correct. a 6 ft person could ride a bike made for a 5.2 person but the seat would be a mile high . look at the leg length and picture her standing over the frame just in front of the saddle looks like she would have more then 1in of bail comfort.. always get the biggest frame you can comfortable ride.. alot of this confusion could be an illusion and could just be fine,, im just a bike nut and notice things like this haha.. my website is in my sig.still work in progress
mike

mikeb540 wrote in post #5926017
your right about the knee, this is what i tell my customers every day haha. just means the saddle hieght is correct. a 6 ft person could ride a bike made for a 5.2 person but the seat would be a mile high . look at the leg length and picture her standing over the frame just in front of the saddle looks like she would have more then 1in of bail comfort.. always get the biggest frame you can comfortable ride.. alot of this confusion could be an illusion and could just be fine,, im just a bike nut and notice things like this haha.. my website is in my sig.still work in progress
mike

you are correct in that statement.

I want to ride my bike now!

bike busines is off the hook hear in KY.. between my hobbies i may get to ride soon hahah, we deal with fuji and trek mostly.. i wish i could see the logo better on her bike.. looks maybe like a wsd pilot.. but the letters for logo dont look trek to me haha. err not trying to turn this thread into a bike thread.. great pics!
mike

ps, hope you dont mind but try one with this perspective next time out, youll like the poster you can make.

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I shoot lots of cycling pictures, and I like #2. Her head is up (most people ride with their heads down), it looks like she is focused on getting somewhere rather than just mugging for the camera, and I like seeing spokes -it gives a sense of what caliber bike it is. 18 spokes in this case, indicating that it's a pretty new bike. It seem s that everybody likes to blur the wheels or blur the back ground. Personally, I like sharp pics. Let's see that bike! Let's see that sweat! Let me read the labels on the rims. You can usually tell if the rider is going fast or not without blurring. Nice job.

thanks for all the comments!

fyi - i had my 550ex on the ground, tilted up... hence the shadows on her chest - i will be re-shooting this at some point on a small tripod w/ a shoot-thru umbrella to help push shadows down, rather than up.

all shots were me laying on my stomach - the 2nd shot put me VERY close to her, being at 12mm on a full frame sensor... this also made tracking her while she rode in a bit hard, but it still managed to work out in the end.

also agree that i will work on getting the leg facing camera (for future shots, the left leg in this case) should be in the right angle bent at knee, for aesthtic reasons.

she is barely 5'1" - rides a 47cm 2007 trek pilot 2.1. she was fitted at a LBS and stand-over is perfect for her and she's very comfy riding it.

personally, i'd like to see some spoke blur as well

since this was my first real time shooting sports, and shooting sports w/ off camera flash, please keep the comments coming - really appreciate it all

Nice shots, I like the warmth, did you gel the flash

Jack

Jack - nope, not even an omni-bounce because I forgot it at home.

Mike Panic wrote in post #5927962
she is barely 5'1" - rides a 47cm 2007 trek pilot 2.1. she was fitted at a LBS and stand-over is perfect for her and she's very comfy riding it.

hehe shows how much time i spend around bikes even my guess was a trek pilot, we have had alot of asking for those bike but trek is all out of alot of stuff at the moment, as for the size discusion,, the angle of the shot and the fish eye im sure played games with my view, if a bike fits and your comfy thats all that matters..

the spoke count thing gets alot of folks haha, alls it mean is the rim is stronger then the older ones, we have a trail bike i think has 12 spokes on it hahah crazy stuff. oh got me wondering about the bike being an 07, seeing i think i see the 08 headbadge on it..
mike

mikeb540 wrote in post #5926017
always get the biggest frame you can comfortable ride..

Mike, not to seem argumentative but I go the exact opposite way on this statement. You can manioulate things like saddle height, saddle fore/aft, stem length, add a fork with more/less rake to make a smaller bike bigger but not the other way around. Smaller bikes are lighter, typically a bit stiffer and thus more responsive. They also give more "bail safety". Just take it as another's opinion but I'd never try to max the size of any of my rides. If you look at her chin, it looks to be just behind the top cap of the stem which is right where you'd want it. As you know, that's a function of top tube length, not saddle height and would indicate to me that she's on an appropriately sized bike. Okay, enough tech nonsense....I like the images but they do seem a little soft and some panning to convey her motion would be awesome. Lighting looks nice on the first but pretty hot on the others. Might have been cool to take a piece of foam board with you (even poster board folded up if you were out riding and use a few twigs to prop it up and bounce the flash in for a more diffused and natural effect.

maybe it is an 08... either way she puts 35-50 miles a week on it and is happy. personally, i picked up an 07 jamis leftover from jensonusa for $400... showed up with one of the thumb shifters (very low end sora) broken in half. very functional still, just not as much of a piece of plastic for my thumb to use to upshift my rear derailure. I called, they asked me to take photos, 24 hours later they told me they could either accept it an exchange, if i wanted to mail it back, or they'd send me a replacement shifter. seemed stupid to mail the whole bike back for one shifter, so i accepted the replacement shifter. the very next day I got an email stating that they were regretful that they couldn't do a direct exchange, they were out of stock, they'd be sending a pair of Shimano st-r500 sti shifters - a quick looked showed these sell for around $200 - so I was very happy.

The shifters showed up a few days later - they are still in the box as I'm not ready to change them out yet, mine still work and I'd hate to buy new bar tape just because I'm getting new shifters... but yea, I'm very happy. Got the 07 left over for $150 less then an 08 at my LBS and $200 shifters for free.

I'm overweight, so riding on 12, 18, 36 spoke wheels or even a CF frame won't make me go any faster.. i gotta loose weight first - which is why i'm riding

Mike Panic wrote in post #5928467
maybe it is an 08... either way she puts 35-50 miles a week on it and is happy. personally, i picked up an 07 jamis leftover from jensonusa for $400... showed up with one of the thumb shifters (very low end sora) broken in half. very functional still, just not as much of a piece of plastic for my thumb to use to upshift my rear derailure. I called, they asked me to take photos, 24 hours later they told me they could either accept it an exchange, if i wanted to mail it back, or they'd send me a replacement shifter. seemed stupid to mail the whole bike back for one shifter, so i accepted the replacement shifter. the very next day I got an email stating that they were regretful that they couldn't do a direct exchange, they were out of stock, they'd be sending a pair of Shimano st-r500 sti shifters - a quick looked showed these sell for around $200 - so I was very happy.

The shifters showed up a few days later - they are still in the box as I'm not ready to change them out yet, mine still work and I'd hate to buy new bar tape just because I'm getting new shifters... but yea, I'm very happy. Got the 07 left over for $150 less then an 08 at my LBS and $200 shifters for free.

I'm overweight, so riding on 12, 18, 36 spoke wheels or even a CF frame won't make me go any faster.. i gotta loose weight first - which is why i'm riding

sweet deal Mike! Good on ya for hittin the road too. I strayed from road riding after years of racing as I got more into DH mtb and bmx but have been spending a good bit of time on the roadie this year and I'm now remembering how nice it really can be. Keep at it and pretty soon you'll feel so great you'll be justifying a custom Seven Ti frame with a DuraAce setup!

Wouldn't you be happier running Force or Record?

Just say shima-NO