Last summer (July 2008) I’ve purchased an external flash following an epiphany I’ve had while mountain biking in the French Alps. I wanted to get it anyway, but an epiphany is always a good excuse, right?
Anyway, while being quite happy with those few images I took as first attempts, I knew there was much to improve. A comment was made on that post to support.
Equipped also with a professional grade lens ( The excellent Olympus 12-60SWD ), I’ve taken to the local slopes of Misgav forest, where a downhill competition took place.
DH competitions are fantastic for action photography practice, not only that you know exactly where the riders are coming from and which way they’re headed, there’s also a very useful one minute timing between each competitor leaves the start line. Took me a bit of walking up and down the hill until I found the spot to set everything up.
The scene is composed of a nice curvy part of the trail (turning always adds a nice dimension to the photos), some nice trees, the trail markings and a bit of blue skies. I was photographing straight in front of the competitors as they were taking a slight right turn. The flash was set up to the front and left from the camera’s point of view. The results were great; I got the competitors in a nice pose, with the flash highlighting details in their faces and from the bikes. The new lens contributed to speed and sharpness, and for an extra touch I did a moderate HDR enhancement for the images, to make the forest colors come out alive.
As said, practice makes perfect (although there’s still a way to go).
Did you get some nice action photos? You can post them on The Wide Lens too!
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