Photos from Creek Opening Day 2023 (Thursday only)

Those look really good, it would be cool to have a few riding pictures of myself this season.

As an amateur hack photographer, what equipment were you using and what settings were you playing around with? I've shot at a few of the races over the years, just for my own entertainment, and definitely find the lighting to be a challenge. Things are either incredibly bright and blown out or in dark shade, sometimes both in the same frame. I generally shot aperture priority and used the ISO to keep shutter speeds appropriate, then used exposure comp to account for the changing light conditions in the woods vs in the open, but it was hit or miss. Maybe I'll try the DHSE race next weekend.
 
ebarker9 said:
Those look really good, it would be cool to have a few riding pictures of myself this season.

As an amateur hack photographer, what equipment were you using and what settings were you playing around with? I've shot at a few of the races over the years, just for my own entertainment, and definitely find the lighting to be a challenge. Things are either incredibly bright and blown out or in dark shade, sometimes both in the same frame. I generally shot aperture priority and used the ISO to keep shutter speeds appropriate, then used exposure comp to account for the changing light conditions in the woods vs in the open, but it was hit or miss. Maybe I'll try the DHSE race next weekend.
Click to expand...
Hey, thanks for your message and the kind words. This could be the start of a very long thread but, here goes…

For these images, I was using my Nikon D850 (just got it) with the 70-200 2.8 VR (first gen). As far as settings for these pics, my shutter speed is typically around 1/1,000th (sometimes 1/800th) and my aperture something like f8 (sometimes f5.6, or f11). I have had great results with Auto ISO. I said the maximum to 6400 and let the camera figure out what’s best. In my experience, 6400 is the limit that the camera can produce relatively grain free images.

I use the metering to determine whether or not to change the shutter speed or aperture within the ranges stated above and also use exposure compensation here and there as well. Finally, since my objective is to get images right in the camera, I’m shooting JPEG fine, not RAW. It sucks to give up so many of the adjustments you can make in Lightroom, but doing this has streamlined my workflow substantially. I will probably go back to shooting RAW at some point, but it’s not unusual for me to shoot 10-15,000 frames (need to work on overshooting lol.)

You are absolutely right about the difficulty with low light in wooded sections. It can be really frustrating. Between that, and the physical effort required to hike up the course and find good shot locations, I find shooting gravity events really challenging. I much prefer photographing XC, gravel, or my absolute favorite, CX. In a cross race, I can almost always find excellent light and multiple interesting angles, and get all of the riders multiple times.

DHSE will be tough. Mountain creek is in full bloom, everything is so green. Here are my pics from last year, I was not using this gear or those settings (I was more wide open): https://www.rootsandrain.com/event9...reek-bike-park-nj/photos/filters/photogs4300/

I’m 50/50, might not be able to make it up there. Hopefully I will! Weather looks awesome.

Hope this helps!

Kevin
 
kjarrett said:
Hey, thanks for your message and the kind words. This could be the start of a very long thread but, here goes…

For these images, I was using my Nikon D850 (just got it) with the 70-200 2.8 VR (first gen). As far as settings for these pics, my shutter speed is typically around 1/1,000th (sometimes 1/800th) and my aperture something like f8 (sometimes f5.6, or f11). I have had great results with Auto ISO. I said the maximum to 6400 and let the camera figure out what’s best. In my experience, 6400 is the limit that the camera can produce relatively grain free images.

I use the metering to determine whether or not to change the shutter speed or aperture within the ranges stated above and also use exposure compensation here and there as well. Finally, since my objective is to get images right in the camera, I’m shooting JPEG fine, not RAW. It sucks to give up so many of the adjustments you can make in Lightroom, but doing this has streamlined my workflow substantially. I will probably go back to shooting RAW at some point, but it’s not unusual for me to shoot 10-15,000 frames (need to work on overshooting lol.)

You are absolutely right about the difficulty with low light in wooded sections. It can be really frustrating. Between that, and the physical effort required to hike up the course and find good shot locations, I find shooting gravity events really challenging. I much prefer photographing XC, gravel, or my absolute favorite, CX. In a cross race, I can almost always find excellent light and multiple interesting angles, and get all of the riders multiple times.

DHSE will be tough. Mountain creek is in full bloom, everything is so green. Here are my pics from last year, I was not using this gear or those settings (I was more wide open): https://www.rootsandrain.com/event9...reek-bike-park-nj/photos/filters/photogs4300/

I’m 50/50, might not be able to make it up there. Hopefully I will! Weather looks awesome.

Hope this helps!

Kevin
Click to expand...

10-15k frames, holy cow. I've never done the "shoot every rider" thing, so I usually do a lot of experimenting trying to get a handful of shots that I really like from an event, so it makes sense that your approach is a little bit different. I was shooting with a Canon 5D Mk3 and the 24-105 lens at the time, which I still have, just gets less use these days. Was fun digging through to find a few examples from ~10 years ago.

7265267118_1de1175dc3_k.jpg


7265265242_9107328e50_k.jpg


Shot of Gwin that would have been cool if the exposure hadn't been completely screwed by moving from pitch black to blinding daylight in the course of a few feet. Did my best to salvage something in Lightroom.

7240803498_295c27ed69_k.jpg
 
Were either of you guys shooting at MCBP yesterday? I breezed by a photog after the last jump on Deviant
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom