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Tagged along to mountain bike race event today at the You Yangs. I still can't understand how these guys can do it

Here are a few select images from today:











All pans were in camera and PP inc. sharpening and level adjustments There's no way I'd attemp this in P/shop. I don't have that much time or patience

Great shots Wayne.

It's a shame they have to go through an area, disturbing so much flora and
fauna just so they can have their weekend of fun.

We saw a kangaroo hopping around Same thing could be said for 4WD and car rallies

On the way back to Melbourne saw a few birds, but no idea what they were...all I recognised were three pelicans

great stuff piro, i especially like the first one

whats your technique - are you panning and letting the camera / flash do its own thing or are you doing somethig a bit more involved to give you the great panning blur before the flash fires?

Chris

Piro (if I may shorten your name to that?),

This is inspirational stuff which has a very special quality - The work holds incredible appeal to someone like me with no real interest in the subject. That is a big achievement, not just because of me, but because of all the others who may have become jaded by the plethora of FROZEN ACTION SHOTS.

Here the pace, the close range and the intensity of the bikes racing by comes across loud and clear. These pictures are not just about having a shutter speed of miniscule duration and some super-fast lens as long as the search for the Golden Boomerang. They are about YOU and your vision, your interpretation of the event.

Nothing leaves me so utterly underwhelmed than what I term as KIT & PRESS-PASS photography. We see sports photo exhibitions where someone with access to a prime vantage point and a long lens shoots a swimmer punching the air at the end of the action, or a speeding car or bike is captured at 1/8000th sec., so stationery that even the spokes of the wheels and the nuts on the hub are perfectly sharp.

Piro, you mixed it with the action. Probably got splashed and muddy (or dusty in the drought) and because of that you have taken us all right there with you to where you were. It is a really refreshing change and you have pulled it off impeccably. Well done.

Cheers,

P.S.: It's Monday once more so I hope the chap whose turn it is to pick the POTW is looking.

P.S.: It's Monday once more so I hope the chap whose turn it is to pick the POTW is looking.

Hear Hear!

Great shots, again... PS: Mountain biking is one of the least environmentally desructive activities...

In Canberra most of it is done in state forests and forestry land and many of the riders (I am very much a newbie ameture MTB rider) are quite environmentaly sensitive

Well done Wayne, as usual. Fantastic shots. I dont know how you do it.


Cheers
Alex

Wayne, well done. A great bunch of action shots as SS has already said. For me #3 is the real star - ) can feel the whoosh as the bike goes past

No.1 is my favourite, love the fill in flash lighting up the frame of the bike.

Piro, I agree even more so regarding 4WD and Rally Cars.

MHD, while I have no doubt that a MTB coming through the area doesn't do much damage it all depends on what sort of riff raff it brings with it and how much litter and noise polution it causes to the area.

Great pics but maybe just a little over done with the radial blur.

Sheetshooter wrote:P.S.: It's Monday once more so I hope the chap whose turn it is to pick the POTW is looking.

While I concur that this is great work, you might like to review this PotW thread from May 31 last.

My apologies, I did not realise that lightning had so nearly struck in the same spot twice.

Cheers,

I didn't realise it'd receive that caliber of comments esp from Sheetshooter. To tell you the truth, my photography has been in a bit of a lull lately as I was starting to get bored, uninspired and beginning to doubt myself with my abilites, but yesterday's experience really had me in a good rush and the comments made so far have nullified those thoughts

Chris, I used a variety of front curtain and rear curtain flash for different photos. A slower shutter speed of around 1/50s was enough and manually set the aperture as each part of the course demanded different settings. It didn't help when the sun would decide to come out and say peek a boo every now and then, but that's the fun of the challenge

Sheetshooter, the comments you made really meant a lot and slipping in the mud and dirt (and nearly wiping out my gear) really made it worth the effort I think I climbed that mountain a few times yesterday, so at least I stayed healthy at the same time I've been thinking lately that I need a tele-lens of some sort but yesterday's experience reminded me that I really didn't need it esp. if I wanted to continue photographing MTB events as the kit lens was very sufficient (didn't swap lenses for the whole day).

Kipper rest assured that everyone there weren't riff raff and they were a great bunch of people I know some appear to be not as friendly but everything was certainly cleared up

BBJ, I had that feeling at first but learnt quickly that it depended on the speed of the rider during the different parts of the course.

Heh, I don't think I'd be fortunate enough to receive POTW twice for the same style of photo But who am I to reject it if you do

Thanks again for all the comments everyone, it's greatly appreciated.

Sheetshooter wrote:My apologies, I did not realise that lightning had so nearly struck in the same spot twice.

No apology necessary. It's hard keeping up with these, and with the quality of the work that everybody keeps on posting, the selection process becomes both more difficult, yet infinitely more enjoyable.

Hi Wayne
you have yet again managed to capture action skillfully
The 2nd shot is just brilliant i likwe the intimate crop, it makes you feel like your really there in the bikers face.
Fantastic work!

Do you find using fill flash especially on people who are trying to concentrate dangerous? I am sure the mountain biker had alot of hazards to contend with , he would be surprised by a fill flash that might distract or dazzle him to loose control and fall, how do you get away with this, is there a special technique you use, or are you just lucky the flash didn't affect him?

I ask in curiosity because once i fill flashed a skateboarder doing a flip at the end of a ramp, the flash startled him and he lost control and fell, i felt so like dead at that moment , but he just got pissed and walked off. I was lucky he didn't get hurt or he didn't hurt me in return, I never did that again, i guess a safer way to go about it is to warn them first or get them to wear sunnies.

Wendell,

I think these guys are used to it or they are extremely focussed that they don't care about it. I'm usually off to the side and at the speed they go by, they won't really take notice.

Cheers,

Wayne

Great shots Piro. 1st and 3rd are my picks. May I ask a bit about technique? Ive read that you are using both front and rear curtain fill-flash with about a 1/50th shutter speed. Im presuming that you are also panning. As well as all that, are you zooming during the exposure as well??

Cheers
Rob

Hi PiroStitch,

I find your mountain bike photos truly amazing.
The result of skill and technique is taking me right into the action.
It was said before, and let me repeat this, the way you depict these guys flying down the tracks is just awesome.
Great stuff

Cheers,
CD

Hi Piro, amazing shots!
I am with robboh on his questions about techniques and settings used to capture such great shots, I have some mates who mountain bike and I did a shoot once but the results were no where near as colouful and vibrant as yours. A quick breakdown would be greatly appreciated
C

Hi Wayne
What can I say that has not already been said. These are seriously awesome shots and have taken bike photography to the next level. I do some motox photography down here in Tassie and have been scratching myself on how to introduce flash into the game. I think that you have explained it well and they would not care about the flash after they have seen some of these images of themselves. Do you take care not to flash head on but just from the side and behind ??

I am in the middle of pre purchase planning basically lusting over buying a couple of 600 flashes to compliment the 800 I have.
Could you , and I understand what an ask this is, share on the flash setup and location. If you have any on camera flash and what setting you have all of the flahes on.

again
sensmegginsational work

Cheers

Owen

Great shots here Piro, in your face, mud in your eye type stuff, and Sheetshooter, yes I agree with you. (I don't always agree with your comments Sheetshooter only because I can't always understand what you're saying, I'm not a techno-camera person and don't always understand the jargon ). On these pics, I understand what you're saying, too easy to take the soft route with expensive gear and shoot just what will sell instead of getting down and being part of the action, capturing the moment along the way.

Cheers,

Max

Vrboy, as mentioned, I used the kit lens and tried to get as close as possible to the action without getting in the rider's way. the best thing about mtb races is that you can get right up to the track whcih gets you up close and personal.

For the YY race, I used the SB800 onboard the camera and set my shutter to 1/50 or 1/60 and varied the aperture to suit the lighting condition. I tried a variation of front and rear sync but found rear sync was much better as front sync gave me a bit of ghosting in front of the rider's face. Basically it's a simple pan and follow the rider scenario. The trick is how close are you willing to get to the track and how dirty are you prepared to get in order to get the right pic. An example of this...I dug myself a little rut, looked down and noticed some roo had left their fresh specimen next to where I was.

Owen, for the YY race, I didn't use a remote flash trigger. The previous race I went to I used a remote flash and one of those pics managed to get picked as POTW on May 31 this year. More examples of the previous race can be found [a href=http://www.digifocal.com/pub_photos/granton/]here[/a]

You don't need an extravagant array of flashes when covering action photography, just get the settings correct in your camera and you'll be fine Do you really want to be lugging around all that gear during the day? I know I don't. My shoulders and legs were already killing me after having to climb over boulders, etc with the camera bag

Great stuff again Wayne,

Looks like you have a knack for this sort of stuff.

I think you should call your site PiroAction

Mic.

Damn, these are bloody great images Wayne!!
I love #1 and #3 especially. I can see them on the front of a magazine.
Sounds like you really got into the action and worked hard, and definitely something to be inspired by!
As previously said, you really have a knack for this type of photography.
Cheers, Jase.

Hi Pirostitch
Love the fotos. I think that they depict the true speed and intensity of these cowboys on bikes. BTW What is PP inc (I thought this was post prcessing)?

Cheers
Albert

Digidegs wrote:Hi Pirostitch
Love the fotos. I think that they depict the true speed and intensity of these cowboys on bikes. BTW What is PP inc (I thought this was post prcessing)?

Cheers
Albert

Thanks Albert PP I did was just to bump up saturation to get the trees a bit greener and slight unsharp mask. Besides that, the rest was in camera.

Fantastic Pirostitch. Inspirational. I could swear no 3 moved.

The level of skill of on this forum has grown so much in the past year.
Piro these are fine examples.
Jethro

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it, but Piro's POTW for 31.5.05 is reproduced on its own page somewhere in the latest issue (Oct/Nov '05, IIRC) of Australian Mountain Bike magazine.

--Chuan

Love the use of rear flash sync...done well 9and yours are), this is an awesome technique. Love your shots.