Atherton & District Amateur Photographic Society

I went to the BMX Championships in Manchester today and managed to get a decent place to shoot next to one of the jumps. Here is a photo of Olympic hopeful Shanaze Reade. You may remember, she was favourite going into the final in Beijing, but crashed in the final.

Fantastic shot Phil. I love the way tou have handled the light, In what looks like "Gloomy" conditions.. Did you throw many away...?

Phillip

You have caught the moment brilliantly. I wish I had been there.

But, in my opinion, you have not done the picture justice in post production.
With a couple of tweaks (curves, levels on selected area etc.) you can actually see the girl's eyes and make the wheels sparkle.
If this is in RAW I would give the shaddow slider a serious nudge.

Theo

Stuart, the main ones you throw away are out of focus, as opposed to bad light. The light is constant, so helps, but you need to use a fast shutter speed to get the action. To get them in focus, as you are so close, I had to use ISO800, 1/1000sec @ f4, with a little bit of high speed flash, that I still can't decide whether it made a difference.

As you are so close, they come at you so fast, and then they've gone

I've tried to do something a bit different with these than I have previously, as event photography always looks a bit dull. I've got a couple of publications interested already and I only put the gallery up last night: http://photoboxgallery.com/bestdayofourlives

Theo, I take your point. Maybe there is something with my screen, as I can see her eyes, but I'll have a look. I admit about the bike sparkling, but I can tell you, the amount of dust in that place is unbelievable. This wasn't the best photo I took, but it is the most recogniseable.

Theo Dibbits wrote: in my opinion, you have not done the picture justice in post production.
With a couple of tweaks (curves, levels on selected area etc.) you can actually see the girl's eyes and make the wheels sparkle.
If this is in RAW I would give the shaddow slider a serious nudge.

Hi Philip

I've never tried to do this type of photography and have little idea of the kind of shooting situation you were in. Overall, I think you've done a decent job.

However, having read Theo's comments, I opened up the image and had a play with it and I agree with him. The image has the potential to show much more if you adjust either Levels or Curves. It's quite dark and could go one or two stops brighter. If you do the same I think you may be surprised.

The other thing that competes for attention in the image are the distractions - the white beams in the ceiling, the men with their arms folded, the pair of white trousers beneath the back wheel of the bike. I'm thinking that a much shallower depth of field would have let us concentrate more on the biker.

But not bad overall.

Thanks
Paul