some shots i'd like feedback on

[jamesw]

shooting an interview for this fella, here are a couple of shots that I like but wouldn't mind some feedback on.

cheers,

james

[Bindii]

I like them too...they are sharp... and you have caught the action very well.. but damn that background as he is kinda blending in there... I don't suppose you could have gotten down any lower in the first image to frame him against the sky?...

[olrac]

Perhaps some selective darkening of the background would make the riders "POP" a little more.

given that you usually shoot at night and the background is allot darker making the riders stand out more these shots dont inspire as much as others i have seen from you.

[jamesw]

i'll post up some other versions of the first later this evening. i really dug the sky in that shot... it went from nice blue sky to overcast really, really quickly. you guys will probably like the composition a bit more in the other shots, and josh was really popped out from the sky in them too.

the second shot, i was going for more of a natural, balanced light rather than stopping the ambient down heavily. with that said i was shooting at 1/250th, f10, iso 100... middle of the day shooting presents some challenges

[Pehpsi]

Second shot is great, at first I thought he was flying through the air!

What's the minimum shutter you would use for these kind of shots?

[jamesw]

it really depends on the look you are trying to achieve, and how much ambient light you are competing with.

at night you can shoot at like 1/60-1/100th without worrying too much about blur.

during the day you want the shutter as high as you can get. unfortunately the d200 only syncs at 1/250, there are some tricks to getting around it but they can be limiting on your compositioe...

as a rule of thumb, they say you need at least 1/500th to really freeze action without flashes.

[Pehpsi]

Cool, thanks.

I don't understand why the D70 syncs at 1/500 and the D200 at 1/250? Why would they do it this way..

[Alpha_7]

Cool, thanks.

I don't understand why the D70 syncs at 1/500 and the D200 at 1/250? Why would they do it this way..

The difference is that D70 has a mechanical and electronic shutter, where the D200 only has a mechanical shutter. The electronic shutter allows for faster sync times.

[Pehpsi]

I should've known that, I read it recently

Next question is why they left the electronic shutter off the better camera?

[moz]

The composition is pretty good, but if you could go wider aperture I think you'd get better separation from the background. Or use a fill flash if the rider is ok with that, so you get a darker background. You will probably want a diffuser on the flash I think.

[jamesw]

The composition is pretty good, but if you could go wider aperture I think you'd get better separation from the background. Or use a fill flash if the rider is ok with that, so you get a darker background. You will probably want a diffuser on the flash I think.

was using two flashes for fill. you'll notice that the sun is coming from behind in the second shot.

i'd need to shoot a lot later to be able to achieve a wider aperature. this shot was taken about 2-3pm on a sunny day.

if i cut the shutter speed down and opened up the aperature, i lose flash sync-ability... only solution would be to shoot when there is actually less ambient.

[jamesw]

I should've known that, I read it recently

Next question is why they left the electronic shutter off the better camera?

electronic shutters are generally considered inferior... i believe the reason why the d70 d50 et al had electronic shutters is because the shutter component used was of a inferior build to more upmarket nikon dslrs, and the mechanical shutter is only used up to about 1/125, after that its electronic.

does that make sense?

personally i'd really like the option of an electronic shutter, to achieve higher flash syncs.

[Pehpsi]

Makes perfect sense, cheers..

[DebT]

Hi, great action almost too crisp - may have almost been better with a bit of action blur.
These look like excellent candidates for the photoshop technique 'Border breakout' to make the action Pop and remove the distracting background - done a couple for my son and he loved them .
A free tutorial can be found at
http://www.thedigitalphotographyconnect ... orials.htm

Let me know how they work out if you give them a go
Deb T