Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125892
rn • • . Il'lI Il'lI ...::I g ~ g L."'l ...... Cl ...... >R ight : Here 's a good peak-of-action shot that emphasizes the raw physical stress of riding motocross. ~ .. ~ - Below: Don 't fo rget that the object of motocross is racing: t wo or more riders trying to be first when only one of them can be. By varying the "sco pe " of your sh ot s, and the numb er of riders in th em, y ou avoid th e nu mbing "loo k-alike " sy ndrome in your work . ... .. co mpe nsate fo r the abrupt camera movem en t and betters your chances of co rn ing home w ith c risp pi ctures. Don 't wa ste film by us ing 1/1000 second on side views. The spokes, tire kn obs and all will 'b e stopped a nd th e picture will lose a ll se nse of motion . It 'll lo o k st iff. One o ther place that th e super-quick speed co m es in handy is in long len s (300mm an d over) he ad -o n shots w here it helps curb b lu rr in ess ca used b y camera movement without h urtin g the effect of this t ype of phot o. 1/ 5 0 0 second. This is the speed that your ca m era should be set o n w hil e yo u're walking around between photos . It's good fo r grabbing surprise sh ots without free zing the action co m p le te ly . It also gives sligh tly greater depth- offield, for those times when there's n o time to fo cus precisely , than 1/1000 second does. (My standard setting for sunny days is 1/ 500 @ f II with a medium yellow filte r and Tri-X.) Th e 1/ 5 00 speed is also a good general - use speed for head-on a n d 3/4 view shots. It stops motion if y ou're foll o wi ng the action, (ra t h e r than holding the ca m era still while the rid er comes through) b UI it shows blur in the spokes and tire knobs a n d adds just a touch o f motion to an otherwise st op -action photograph . It's good for side-views only if there's some spe cta cular ac tio n invo lved : for example, a jump. wheely , or if there ' s a lo t of dirt being b lasted aro un d. 1/250 second . I p e rsonally don't us e this speed as often as I should, being lur ed aw ay from 1/ 2 50's subtle e ffe c t by the stronger statement of movement offered b y 1/125. What 1/250 gives, is exce llen t wh eel b lu r and just en ough background blur to suggest m ot ion and e m p hasize th e sha rp ness o f th e m ain su bject. It 's a "ni ce" shutter speed , whi ch is so rt of lik e a "n ice" girl: ni ce a nd dependable bu t. . . 1/125 second . Com p ared t o "nice " Ms . 1/ 2 5 0, this number is a re a l fox . And co n seq uen t ly , sh e's sometimes hard to !(et along with . Whil e 1/250 promises a high perce ntage of sharp images with relatively lit tl e effort , 1/125 demands m ore atte ntion. In fa ct , if you like t hose vivid ly st reaked b ack gr o unds as much as I do, but req uire a needle sharp rid e r/b ike : you 'd b e tter be p repa red to do some practicing on y o ur pan ning te c h ni q ue . The m e t h od reco m mended here will insure a fair ly high p ercentage of good frames o n your proof sheet. "Panning" is a technique used o n sid e-view ph otos wi th a shutter sp eed o f 1/2 50 or less. T he object is to foll ow th e rid er al ong, getting th e came ra t o follow along a t the same rate as the subjec t , so th at t he subject rem ains in th e sa me p os it ion within th e viewfinder while the ( s ta tio nary) b ack gro und "mov es" and is subsequently b lurred. The m ost reliable m ean s I' ve di sco vered to keep th e cam er a m oving w ith th e subje ct is to chose a po int o n your focusing screen and concentrate on holding that pinpoint on an o ther poin t on the rider, usuall y in the helmet/shoulder area. Naturall y. yo u must be pre-focused on the area wh ere th e subject w ill pass th ro ugh , a nd y o u should h av e an idea where the rider will be located in t he frame. Then, when the rider ap p ro ac h es , brace the ca m era firmly, turn a t the w aist following the subject, and direc t all yo ur attention t oward keepi ng th e viewfinder p o in t lined up on th e shoulder / h elme t p oint. Squee ze th e b u tto n very gentl y, and follow through smoot h ly afte r firin g th e sh ot. Panning gives suc h a neat e ffect th at the amount o f pra ct ice ne ce ssary is mo re than w orthwhile. 1/1 5 and 1/ 4 sec o nd. T he se are tw o special speed s that will p rob ably see use on ly occasio nally , and th en o nly if yo u turn into a real m oti on (h lur ) freak . Don't lau gh, it ha p pens eas ily . T ru ly sharp images are rare at the se spec ds .b ut wh en y ou do ge t o ne it's a happ y occasion w orth y o f ce leb rat io n . The ph oto s are art-sy kind of things that express th e idea of sp ee d rather than re alism. Bu t they 're fun a nd make good I I x 14 dis p lay p rin ts . At 1/15, ju st fo llow the st a n dard 1/125 p a n ning meth od. It just gives y our w ork a heavy' case of th e super-streaks . Of co u rse , you can do the same thing with 1/4, but you gen erally cap ture n othing mo re than solid sc h mear. At 1/4, t ry th is: liste n (o r feel) for the m irror t o flop up: th en att em p t to suddenly sweep the cam e ra ah ead of the subject in the middl e o f the 1/4 second expo sur e . Righ t. It's very t ricky. But the e f fec t you ge t is a fairl y sh arp subje ct image w it h st rea ks flowin g a lo n g b eh ind, plus the normall y b lurred b ackground. It ' s similar t o th e ghost images y ou m ay have go tte n in strobe/ flas h ac t ion sh ots. Kinda n ea t. One m ore ca t ch : Tri-X fi lm is too fast to allo w th ese slow shutter spe ed s durin g d a yl igh t h ours. T he remedy : Use neutral d ensit v filt er s o ver th e len s : use a slower speed film ; or w ait fo r a ve ry clo ud y d ay . Sta nce / H o l din g th e ca me ra stea dy is esp ecially important when us in g slow shutter sp eed s, but it p ays to d ev e lop a firm shoo ti ng sta nce th at you n atu rall y assume wh enever vo u aim th e ca mera. A numb er o f p ho t o m ag-azin e s have printed co m p lete art icl es o n th e subjec t a nd h av e furn ish ed a w ide-ranging dis pl a y o f ph ot o s d e mo ns trati ng the st and a rd pr on e . s i t t in g , kneel ing , lean in g, and stand ing position s . Sa we'll not repeat mu ch of it here . It is only critical tha t yo u keep ca me ra stead iness in mi nd and b race up as m uch as possible wh en eve r yo u shoot. D on 't st ick yo u r elbows out like a startl ed seag u ll, b ut tu ck t he m in fir ml y agai nst vo u r sides so t ha t h ead , sho u lders. an d m o ve as o ne wh en yo u pi vot at the wais t. Place yo ur fee t in a good so lid pos it ion. Make it a habit. a rms Camera angle Of co urse ther e are no se t rules o n how you must dete rmine ca m era angle. There 3 TC o ne or two gener al rules o f th u mb th at usu all y work : but it mus t be em p hasized that varietv is th e most important fac tor. For example , if you accept t hat jump shots m ust be taken from a kneeling position, look ing up at th e su bject : you' ll bring home good p ictures . The o n ly ca tc h th ere is that they'll all start looking the sa me in a very sh ort while , and y o u ' ll be com e b ored wi th y our w o r k. Even though it's re ally good . Variety is the ke y word. Us e y o u r imagination. Experiment. Sometim es . u sing a different len s for a pl ace wh ere y o u 've used n oth ing other th an yo u r favo ri te telephoto will inspire a nevv approac h to a fam iliar problem. Lighting You can't chan ge it ; so j ust be aware of it . If yo u foll ow a regu la r circui t of local trac k s, you sh ould k now where , at any time of year. the sun rise s and sets . You r d ay ca n ea sily b e plann ed aro un d the lo catio n of the su n in rel ati on to the partic ular features o f a n y track. Avoid direc t b ac k -lightin g which encourages len s fl are : an d avo id direct front lighting wh ich fills in sha dows a n d "fl attens" o u t d et ails an d kills th e 3-D look. Sid elight (ear ly m orning/ lat e afte rnoo n ligh t ) illuminating th e su bj ec t fro m a 3/4 angle is b es t. High n o on ligh t is not rea lly in te res ting , bu t as long as MX remains day time sport. w e 'll j us t have to live with it. It ' s a h elluva lo t b etter t han hav ing to us c a strobe . H e re we a re, a t t he e nd of t he page , and me wit h a th o u sand th in gs left un said. But let ' s ca ll it qu it s. Hopefully you 've had a q ue sti o n o r tw o ans wered. and/o r have go t te n a co uple new ideas to try at th e n ex t race . Send us so me o f yo ur finest, alo ng wi t h a write-up and results . You can becom e a poor-b ut fam ous co n t rib u to r. • .41 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _rdIIIIIIIII