Cyclist vs Hypothermia

[Shaktipalooza]

It was an interesting shoot. 1" of rain that day and I'm convinced most of it fell during the shoot, stopping just as we wrapped.

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


crew
6.

[swampler]

I like #1 and #5 the best. Not too crazy about the motion blur on #2 and #3.

[templeinmn]

I think 1 and 5 are great. 4 doesn't provide anything for me, no real excitement. 2 and 3 are really close. My mind wants the head, torso and arms in focus, with everything else in a blur or motion. If I could only capture what my mind wants ... 1 and 5 get my vote.

[patterfr]

I'll just agree with 1 and 5 and the desire to have the face in the others with less blur/no blur.

Cool idea though.

[KellyL]

Number 6 is the best because of the awesome satisfaction in the face. That aside, I really like them all.

First one looks like an ad in a magazine. I love the split toning a lot.

The motion blur implies....motion...and it would seem odd to me to have the face sharp and the rest of everything in blur...but that is just MHO.

good use of a beauty dish. Nice work.

[KellyL]

I can see where if the rider were sharp in the motion blur shots that it would be a cool image, but I still think that it stands on its own merit.

[patterfr]

I think a good pan beats a blurry face
But people can like what they want.

Pan for Golden Pictures | Illustrated Photography

[Shaktipalooza]

Thanks folks! About that motion blur...

I use pocket wizards which I'm sure many of you know prevents second curtain synch. This can affect the direction of the motion blur, often leaving it ahead of the subject.

I've been talking to a friend at my local camera shop. He's going to load me a Pocketwizard Multimax tranceiver which allows for a customizable delay, essentially a manual second curtain synch. I'm pretty sure this will go a long way in getting a better blur and have thought about getting one for a long time. In fact I'm selling one of my Pocketwizard II so I can upgrade.

This was easily the worst weather I've ever attempted to shoot in, and I added the 1200ws battery strobe unit to boot. I'm thankful nothing was destroyed.

[Shaktipalooza]

Originally Posted by patterfr

I think a good pan beats a blurry face
But people can like what they want.

Pan for Golden Pictures | Illustrated Photography

I don't think panning is really an option for the compositions I was attempting. A good pan requires the subject to remain essentially the same distance from the subject. In my images the subject is coming towards the camera at a nearly direct angle.

While shooting we were striving to match the speed of the truck with the rider. Much of that blur is from either lateral moves of the cyclist or my bouncing about in the truck.

Things would have worked better if my second assistant had shown up. I was left to manage the boom. This entailed holding the boom with one hand and shooting with the other. It wasn't ideal but I'm still quite happy with the results of this experiment.

[patterfr]

Shakti
Don't get me wrong.
I was salivating at the thought of puting this much planning and fun into a shoot. And lamenting why my lazy carcass never does. But in an effort to think along with you, I think with this set up it would be even easier to get him in good focus(less blur) since when panning from a stationaery point you gotta get your camera moving same speed and since you're following an arc of motion the distance the subject travels by definition is changing the distance he is from the camera. Not the case here and by matching speeds with the cyclist and the truck, the distance can be maintained-hard to do, but possible.

2 things I'd try next time. Maybe have him freeze mid stride and coast for a few shots to avoid upand down and lateral motion. ANd see if you could have him to the side of the truck to more easily match speeds. (I realize this would change the angle of view though)

I'm not suggesting you shouldn't be happy with these, quite the contrary, abd i realize with an assistant and no rain, it'd maybe have been easier, but I also think the rain and wet road adds to the shine and reflection off the road and actually makes these better than if the road was dry.

Just my thoughts. And while Kelly is right that these can stand on their own merit, I think I'd like them better if the cyclist's face and body's motion was frozen a little more.

I might have to go buy a pickup truck now.

[mmeyer]

As a cyclist myself, I really like these shots. My favorites are #1 and #4 in that order. I'm not crazy about the blurred images either, but that's neither here nor there.

As far as Fran's comments, the only one that I know enough about to disagree with is

Maybe have him freeze mid stride and coast for a few shots to avoid upand down and lateral motion.

. This bike is a fixie if I'm not mistaken. What that means is that the gear is fixed and you cannot coast or freeze. If the bike is moving you are moving.

Are these for a magazine or just for the cyclist?

[Shaktipalooza]

Originally Posted by mmeyer

As a cyclist myself, I really like these shots. My favorites are #1 and #4 in that order. I'm not crazy about the blurred images either, but that's neither here nor there.

As far as Fran's comments, the only one that I know enough about to disagree with is . This bike is a fixie if I'm not mistaken. What that means is that the gear is fixed and you cannot coast or freeze. If the bike is moving you are moving.

Are these for a magazine or just for the cyclist?

I'm pretty sure it was a fixed gear bike. There wasn't much time for chit chat was we wanted to get it done as fast as possible.

This was simply a portfolio building shoot and a test run on shooting cyclists. I will be using the images on some marketing materials that I'm using to lure more sports models.

I like the motion of the legs being blurred a bit. My hope is the multimax (and a second assistant) will help keep the facial blur to a minimum.

[k9ofkaos]

Let me the dissenter. I like the blurred stuff. See to me this is less about a person and more about a concept.

[phazeman]

I think N2 and N3 are pretty much the same and i like N2 more then N3
great series ! and a very good strobist work on N5 ! congrats !