A must read for all cycling significant others. By Andy Shen

I often wish I were in Graham Watson’s position. Shooting from the back of a motorcycle instead of the side of the road, no beer bellies to keep out of frame. Races that take place in the light of day instead of the half light of dawn. However, there are some advantages to shooting cycling from the side of the road, and if you can make full use of them, you can take Watson-worthy shots of your own.

There are two distinct ways I like to shoot cycling. The first uses available light and high shutter speeds. This is pretty self explanatory. With enough light, a high enough ASA, and a bright enough lens you can take some very nice shots. As a photographer I usually find this style a little dull. Cycling is a high paced sport where riders travel forward at breakneck speeds while wheels and legs churn in circles, and shooting at 1/500th of a second can make it seem a little dull and static. Now, if you had Lance crossing the line clinching his sixth tour you’d want to make sure you documented the moment, but with us amateurs I prefer to do something more ‘arty’. It’s a little riskier, but let’s fact it. If I miss a shot, who would really care?

Is it a trackstand contest?

The second style I use involves panning the camera and a fill in flash. This was originally borne out of necessity, since at 6am there’s rarely enough available light to shoot without some artificial light. Here’s a comprehensive overview of the ‘flash in the pan’ style of shooting, which produces results that truly shows the excitement and speed of racing.

Now we’re talking!

Distance

First of all, you have to be close. I mean CLOSE. Those of you who’ve been in races I’ve shot know that you can literally reach out and touch the camera. Position yourself at the inside of a tight corner, where you know the riders will be hugging the curb. And since you’re so close, you’ll need a wide angle lens. I’ve found that a 28mm lens is a good compromise. With the camera as close as another rider, the shot puts the viewer right in the peloton. Sometimes it can even impart a sense of danger.

Get to know your friendly race marshals.

Another reason to be close is that the intensity of the flash illumination falls off very rapidly with distance. An object twice as far away from the flash receives one fourth of the light (the inverse square law). Photographically speaking, that’s practically the difference between being lit and not at all. By being close you’ll need less flash power, which saves your batteries and speeds up your flash’s refreshing time. And, with the subject so much closer than the background, the background effectively receives no light, so there’s no distracting shadow from the flash. I find this particularly important, since I think it’s nice when the artificial light doesn’t call attention to itself.

Michael shot this from the other side of the road. Since the far barrier is only 5% further than the rider it receives almost as much light, as evidenced by the shadow cast. (Photo courtesy Michael Sherry)

Exposure

Since there are two light sources involved in each photo, both will have to be slightly underexposed (about one stop each) so that together they add up to one properly exposed shot. The ratio is roughly one to one ambient light and flash. You can tweak it to make the image crisper or blurrier. The ambient exposure is usually around 1/30th of a second, which is a good compromise between an exciting blur and a hopeless mess. Since the flash puts out its light in a tiny fraction of a second, you’re effectively layering a perfectly crisp still image on top of a blurry background. This is where digital photography really shines. In the old days I’d shoot a Polaroid, wait a minute for it to develop, then adjust the exposure and test again. Then I’d chew my fingernails bloody while waiting for the film to return from the lab. With digital you can instantly check and adjust your exposure, monitoring light changes constantly. And if your test shot is good, it’s a final shot as well.

The Pan

Some people have asked me what I do in photoshop to create my shots. The answer is, aside from slight color and exposure corrections, nothing. It just looks like I’ve applied a zoom filter to the shot. The secret is in the panning action. (Is it just me or did that sound like an infommercial?)

This shot, taken without a flash, shows the apparent zooming effect. Note that only the Colnago logo is sharp, while the rest of the image is radially blurred.

When a photographer shoots a rider from a motorcycle, both are traveling in a linear fashion at the same speed. The background blur is therefore also linear, and matched. When you pan a wide angle lens at high speed, you’re imparting a radial motion to the blur. And since you’re only a few feet from the riders, you’ll be panning at a very high speed (for the same reason that a car appears to whiz by very quickly when it’s next to you, but doesn’t feel as fast when it’s across the street). It’s fast enough to practically spin you off your feet. Since the riders are passing in a straight line, the two motions won’t match up perfectly. In fact, only on one point of the image will the two motions align. Hopefully you’ve panned well, and that point is a point of interest, like the rider’s face. The rest of the image will appear to zoom out.

On the left a photographer shoots from a moto moving at the same speed as three riders. The riders remain in the same relative position in the frame. On the right, a photographer pans as three riders ride past. Even though the lens matches the speed of the middle rider, the two other riders do not remain still in the frame.

As you can imagine, it’s pretty tough to get it just right. This is a very high risk/reward way to shoot, and a lot of your shots will be just awful until you get the motion down. I hold the camera at arm’s length and don’t bother looking in the viewfinder. This allows me to use bigger, less twitchy muscles to move the camera, making for a smoother pan. And point the camera at the rider’s torso, not his or her head. If you aim at the head all you’ll just end up with half a photo of sky.

Focus

If you trust your camera’s autofocus function, then by all means use it. Some will allow you to focus a matrix of points instead of a single point. Continuous, anticipatory focusing helps as well. Another option is to focus manually. Experienced riders will come through the apex of a turn on virtually the same line every time, so you’ll know in advance how far away your subject will be. If I’m shooting at f/5.6, I’ll use the distance scale to set the lens so that everything from 3 to 10 feet will be in focus. This way there’s no danger that the auto focus will zero in on the background and ruin your shot.

Nirvana

When it comes together, the results are nothing short of amazing. You have wheels spinning, legs pumping, the background a complete blur, and the rider’s face razor sharp. As far as I’m concerned there’s no better way to illustrate the excitement of bike racing.

Ahhhhhhh.

Next

Check back soon as I’ll attempt to take the same shots with a consumer level camera. Hopefully I’ll be able to give your special fan some tips on how to trick a basic camera into taking some advanced shots.