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Ali C - Ride Inspired Photobook


Mark W

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While we were filming for Ali's Ride Inspired video, we shot a bunch of photos as well as getting clips filmed. I've been waiting to put something together with them, and here it is:

http://issuu.com/inspiredbicycles/docs/ali_c_-_ride_inspired

It's essentially a load of unseen photos, an interview with Ali and some details about the Arcade line. Some spoilers:

ali_frontover1k.jpg

ali_nose1k.jpg

ali_sidewall1k.jpg

ali_tree_fish1k.jpg

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Really enjoyed this Mark, photos are excellent throughout. Something I really miss about trials is decent photographs of streety riders, maybe I am just looking in the wrong places, and I'd also imagine that the accessibility of HD video in the modern day almost supersedes photography.

Interesting to read Ali's perception of his internal demons. In my opinion he has improved massively over the past couple of years, which can't be easy considering the standard of riding he already had (/end of brown nosing)

Ali - I look forward to seeing all the 'banger' lines if this is what you think of as just 'tech'. I hope you get the lines you wanted on camera, because I definitely want to see them.

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I think there are a few reasons for it really - people engage with videos much more, but also for the most part it's easier to film something to what could be deemed a 'good' standard than it is to shoot a photo to a 'good' standard. With video, you're basically always compromising on exposure and composition (to an extent), so it's never going to be perfect. With a photo though it's basically all about exposure and composition so it basically has to be done better to look 'good'. Not to mention the timing aspect of photography too :P

Part of it is probably equipment people are using as well though. I think there's probably only a couple of photos in that photobook that don't have off-camera flash used in them, and that makes a massive difference to how photos look. Because I spend most of my time filming, when I go back to shooting photos it always amazes me how much difference there can be in how a photo of a move looks to the clip of it, and flashes are the big difference with that. As a not-so-great example, this is the photo from the cover - the first photo on the left was when Ali was just feeling it out and I hadn't set up any flashes. On the right side, there's a flash in front of Ali to the left of the frame which is just lighting Ali/the bins up, then there's a smaller flash behind Ali to the right of the frame acting as a rim light to pick out the back edge of the bit Ali's taking off from (and also to pick Ali out a bit better too). It's not an amazing photo by any means and there's things I would change about it, but it's a reasonable example of the difference between the two. Without flash it's pretty flat/uninteresting, but with flash it makes Ali pop a lot more and just gives everything more depth.

comparison.jpg

Just in case anyone thinks I'm going down that road, I'm not saying that "you can only shoot good photos if you're using flashes and stuff" because that isn't true, but they can help make an OK photo into a better one. Certain photos wouldn't have been possible without them too - the ones in the woods were really dull without a bit of fill flash, and ones like that to-front on the rail wouldn't have been visible if I hadn't lit the shit out of it :P

In spite of his ravaged face and haggard looks, Ali's actually pretty photogenic when it comes to riding so that's also a big help. Ali's good at helping create the right moment in a move to shoot the photo with his positioning of the bike and how he moves on it. The type of riding he does is good for that as well - with most trials riding, there isn't really that 'perfect' moment where a move looks best. When I was shooting photos of BMX there was usually a pretty easily spot-able 'right' time (e.g. the bars being at 180° for a barspin, fully stretched arms for a no hander, etc.), but I really struggle with doing that for certain moves in trials. Gaps are a particular twat - Adam seems to be able to time gap photos really well, but I find it hard to get it to look good.

Anyway, that's gone on for a bit - basically, photos are a bit more involved to get right, videos are a little easier to set up for and people engage with videos much more (which is probably due to the lack of magazines in the trials world - in BMXing and skating photos are still much more relevant, but there's a stronger culture there) so I think it's just the way it is.

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Cool Story Bro.....:P

Seriously though, that was actually a nice little insight, being a noob photographer. Obviously I understood there were flashes involved, but its nice to see the comparison between (almost) identical shots. Obviously you don't have the 'perfect' background scenario in, i'd guess, 70-80% of shots of Glasgow, so making Ali the centrepiece is most easily done with flashes, or in post?

On that point actually, did you do much or anything at all with the computer?

On your point about trials not being photogenic, if I had to put it down to one thing (obviously there are numerous reasons), I would put my money being on the fact that trials is very repetitive, how many sidehops (as an example) have you seen photos of with the massive tuck. It's impressive when someone is going huge but then its essentially the same photo and hard to make interesting / different while incorporating the feat being achieved. As you kind of insinuated, its always going to be easier with a rider who stands out from a crowd.

Anyway, good effort on the photos. mighty impressed. Something Ali will be able to show people in the future and be proud of. Still want him to go out and get the big stuff he missed out on filmed though....

Edited by ben_travis
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Haha, I thought you'd probably prefer a slightly more in depth reply than just a "trudat" :P

I'm really bad at using Photoshop so I generally try and avoid using it as much as possible. You can try and bring the rider out a bit more in post, but I don't think it really looks quite the same as bringing them out using lighting like that. Getting light hitting everything from different angles brings out different textures too which I don't think you can necessarily do in Photoshop to the same extent too. Even if you've got the ideal background a bit of fill-flash or rim lighting helps add an extra dimension to it, so unless it's a super bright day I'll usually have at least one or two out. Back when I was shooting photos full time I had 3 flashes which made lighting stuff pretty awesome, but flash and trigger death has limited me to two for now...

I think part of the thing with photography as well is taking into account the location more, so looking for something a bit different to shoot a photo on, or at least stepping back and looking for something to change the composition of the photo a bit. That's why on a couple of the long shots there's some kind of tat in the foreground to break it up a bit, like in these:

STUFF.jpg

railhop.jpg
(Although this isn't a great example as it would have been better if Ali was just against the sky rather than having his tyres covering the trees/buildings a bit)
...and also from while ago this:
10495329_10152410358743751_5249564873717
As well as breaking the image up with stuff like that, from a technical perspective having some kind of vertical object near the edge of the frame stops your eye and helps keep you looking at the image (rather than drifting off). On the flip side of that, you can use horizontal/diagonal/vertical lines to 'direct' people through photos in a way which is why this worked out kind of nicely in the end:
whatevz.jpg
Like you said though, if the thing you're getting photos of is the same then it's harder to actually make it look really interesting or different without having to get too OTT with the way you set up the photo. If you're not used to doing it then stepping back or deliberately looking for an alternative angle isn't always the first thing you'd think of doing, especially if the photo you're taking is just going to end up appearing briefly on someone's newsfeed on FB or Instagram. I always notice when I go back to shooting photos I end up doing the same kind of shots, and it takes me a while to start actually doing stuff differently, but that's just because I find photography kind of hard and don't do it enough to really improve...
Again this is kind of running on a bit so I'll leave it at that :P
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Cheers dude. I'm using a pair of Canon 550D bodies, a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, a Sigma 18-50mm, a pair of PocketWizard transceivers, a Nikon SB-28 flash, a Sigma EF-500DG Super flash, a couple of little cheap telescopic Jessops tripods to act as lightstands, a Flycam Nano (I think - I can't really remember what it is, I bought it cheap second hand from Ian Johnstone) and a really heavy shit tripod that I've subsequently replaced with a way nicer Manfrotto one.

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If you're pretty comfortable with setting up and shooting stills (and I've seen enough cool photos from you to know that you are :P), shooting video is basically the same thing. The only difference really is the shutter speed side of things in terms of taking into consideration, then things like the 180 degree shutter rule too. If you Google that you'll find loads of info about it, but if you use MagicLantern then the 'safe' shutter speeds come up in green when you scroll through them so it makes it really easy to work out.

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