F-Stop Junkie Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 As the pics keep flowing thick and fast, I thought I would stick up a post to try and help the quality of photos posted improve. I'll keep this updated as future points come up. Can this be made sticky? Camera Setup If you have a dedicated sports mode on your camera, use it. A good action photo requires a high shutter speed to freeze the action, sports modes provide this. Forcing the flash to fire can help too as the burst of light is shorter than the shutter speed, helping to stop the rider mid-move. Remember! When it comes to light, the human eye is a lot more sensitive than a camera, so what appears bright to you or I might mean slow shutter speeds and blurred photos. More expensive cameras offer more control over settings manually. By all means try them, but it's easier to make things worse than better! Angles - use of flash When out taking photos, think of how the image looks in the frame. This is so easy now with digital. If there's a lot of spare space around the rider, get in closer - but remember this can be taken out later too! Try experimenting with different angles. Even just kneeling instead of standing can help give an image impact. Try getting up close, laying on the ground looking up, getting up high. Anything different will always make your pictures stand out. Plus the huge advantage of digital photography is that if it doesn't work, then you delete the image and move on. Nothing lost. I always try to get eye contact with the rider, as it adds an extra element to the picture. Unless you're trying to capture a specific obstacle, try and avoid pictures of riders from the back. It's very hard to take one that works, and I've spent years trying... Speaking of big ups, they are the single hardest move to photography, unless it's to a rail. No angle can really do them justice. Cropping and resizing When you want to post pictures, or even just tidy them up for your own use, cropping is the most important step. A simple crop, keeping only what you want to show makes the picture more immediate, with a greater impact. If you're not sure what to crop, then simply cover part of the image with your hand, and see if the picture looses anything. As a rule, large areas of sky or ground can usually be cropped... Don't forget too, if you're posting on the web, make them small enough for screen use. try and keep to a maximum of 800 pixels wide. You don't need high end graphics packages to do this, a great on is Irfanview. Simple to use, and free. Use of galleries While some people post 30 images in a single post, try and limit yourself to 5 or so of the best, then put the rest in a gallery on TF or Trials-Nation. This means that people on slower connections arn't affected by a long load time, and also that your good photos won't get lost amongst the not so good ones. And finally... If you want critiques of your photos, ask for them. If you're just showing off your bike, or a certain move, then fine. If you want advice on how to improve your photos, then just add that at the bottom of your post, and then other users can add their constructive criticism of the photos - as well as the subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Papasnap Maher Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 (edited) Good post chris ... the thing is, some people just dont know how to take pics hahahah... :unsure: Btw, Chris you forgot the basics... "rite, now to take a photo you will need to do the following... hold the camera with the lens pointing outwards this helps to get a pic of the move or whatever instead of holding it backwards and gettins a pic of your t-shirt.....there shud be a big round silver button, that takes the photo" (N) heheh Edited September 21, 2005 by JoeMaher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 What do you do if your didgi cam takes the pic a good 1 second after you pressed the button - apart from throwing it in the bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Vox Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 My camera does that but if you push the button down a little way and hold it then it bleeps and when you push it all the way down it takes instantly. Try that, alot of cameras work like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-Stop Junkie Posted September 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 What do you do if your didgi cam takes the pic a good 1 second after you pressed the button - apart from throwing it in the bin. Yup, the half press trick works. Ultimatley it comes down to anticipation. The more photos you take, the more used you get to it. Newer cameras are getting better and better in this respect though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipkickbs Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Nice post, i used a 200 quid odd, canon compact digital camera to take these shots so its not all about the equipment :sleeping: . This one was in low light so obviously the camera was flash assisted, proving how well the moving subject can be 'frozen'. This one was taken fairly close in to the subject and obstacle at a low angle to add 'height' to the trick. There not the best pics but an example of some of the reccomended techniques F-stop junkie has suggested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-Stop Junkie Posted September 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Plus the top picture - remember that ups are hard to photography - the face is clear and not covered with an arm or handlebar. Makes a big difference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_skj0lsvik_ Posted September 25, 2005 Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 Good topic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nohpee° Posted September 25, 2005 Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 never seen a decent pic on this forum :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_P Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Yeah, in your opinion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nohpee° Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 obviously!! but seriously now they are all pretty lame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicH_87 Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 obviously!! but seriously now they are all pretty lame lets see some of yours if they are so great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phatmike Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 (edited) lets see some of yours if they are so great. He didn't say he was a brilliant photographer though... As quoting a previously used analogy; I might not be a director or producer of movies, but I sure know a crappy film when I see one. Anyway, (no win) Nohpee: some reasoning would be nice, and you must have bloody high standards of photographs to be able to say that; considering nearly everyone that posts photographs on the forum is an amateur, surely it's a bit much to expect an overwhelmingly large majority of the photos posted to be of such a high calibre? Maybe post some examples of some photos you do and don't like, with reasoning? I'm sure it would contribute nicely to the thread, as Chris posted this aiming at inspring confidence, and help people take better photos, rather than to bring people down with such pesamistic comments as your's... If anyone's interested in any of the techniques I used to acheive any of the B+W shots I recently posted, please ask, and I'll do my best to explain here. :P Mike. Edited September 26, 2005 by Fatmike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmowerman Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 My camera takes pics instantly. I had a 6mp one before that and it was utter shite! My favourite pics that ive taken: Fujifilm finepix S5500 :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_P Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 (edited) Hey Jay, liking those pics you have there but on the first one I would of cropped the right hand side of the frame and used a flash to make the rider stand out more against the dark sky. The Fuji S5500 is a top camera and have been using it for a while now! Have you mastered all of the features on the cam like continous shooting, first 3 frams, last 3 frames and continous shooting where it takes up to 40 photos at around 2.2 FPS. Also stuff like manual focus etc, shooting in RAW format!? Sorry not insulting your intelagence or anything, just making sure your getting full use of your cam...any questions add me to msn! :P Rather than post images i'll just let you browse this....CLICK! Bit of everything on there, light trails, abstracts, portraits, trials, landscapes etc! Please browse and tell me what you think, negative or positive! Good topic Chris Rob :- B) Edited September 26, 2005 by Rob P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmowerman Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 I haven't had the cam for very long, the first pic was on my first day using it so the pics came out a little dodgy :- I haven't mastered it yet..... I think I might buy a book and see what i can do from there. Nice pics btw :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipkickbs Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Agreed, some dam nice photos there rob :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_skj0lsvik_ Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 I`m using a Nikon f55... It`s a real good camera but I cant see how the picture is cos` of it`s not a digital cam : ( But, clear pics and that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davetrials Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 I haven't had the cam for very long, the first pic was on my first day using it so the pics came out a little dodgy :( I haven't mastered it yet..... I think I might buy a book and see what i can do from there. Nice pics btw (Y) have u got any pics of your camera? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_P Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 It's the same one as mine.... It's a great cam, get that instead of a digi slr. For more pics look at my link a few posts up! :$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davetrials Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 When taking photos of people get them to look slighlty away from the camera rather than right in to it, and ul never have a case of red eye again thats about all i know really lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Papasnap Maher Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 When taking photos of people get them to look slighlty away from the camera rather than right in to it, and ul never have a case of red eye again thats about all i know really lol. Or...just buy a cam with red eye reduction or..just shop it when you put it on computer :$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-Stop Junkie Posted October 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 The other ways to avoid red-eye are: Have high ambient light Use bounced flash Have your flash as far from the lens as possible. External flash units mounted on a hotshoe will reduce this problem - I never worry about it. Otherwise use remote flash triggers and have the flash any which where. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davetrials Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Is "macro mode", for close up shots of say, a bug on a leaf? for example? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Clark Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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