FBD Insurance bicycle race

dinneenp

HI,
Has anyone taken picture of this before? I'd presume anyone can turn up and take pictures?
FBD Insurance Cycle Race- through Galway
STAGE 4, WEDNESDAY 26Th MAY

Roundabout, 2nd exit, dir. Dublin Lynch 11:26 (11.39 if backwind)
Roundabout, 2nd exit, dir. Dublin 11.44 (12.06 if backwind


Any advice? Use shutter speed I'd presume, try some panning, slow shutter for blurred effect shots.
Anything else?
best place to stand, need to be there early etc?
Cheers,
pa.

AnCatDubh

Last year in Trim

http://pix.ie/ancatdubh/album/343581

The route will be so big that you should have no problem finding a clear spot but study the route and be choosey about where you will shoot - you may be able to get majestic scenery to backdrop your images (which I didn't really get in my attempts).

Get to your chosen location early. If unsure of the route ask a Garda who will be on duty and pick your spot.

Fast shutter speeds needed so you might need to bump the iso depending on your available light and choice of aperture.

Continuous shooting also strongly advised - They pass by in about 1 minute flat (that includes the stragglers) - the leading bunch go by in about 20-30 seconds.

Because of the above, You won't have time to choose who you shoot. You won't get to look for anyone in particular - perhaps a yellow gersey, but pffft.... stick it on continuous with continuous auto focus and shoot like feic. Worry about what you actually got after when you get to download the images.

So essentially you need to be ready. When you arrive and select your vantage point, get all your settings as you would hope them to be fire some test shots at cars which will pass by to make sure you get enough "stopping the action" with your selected shutter speeds.

I shot them as they came out of a "down the hill" followed by a "roundabout" so they had naturally slowed but they will pass you by in next to no time. Really, first time doing it last year but I couldn't believe how quick it happens.

good luck with it and do post the results.

AnCatDubh

dinneenp wrote: »

Any advice? Use shutter speed I'd presume, try some panning, slow shutter for blurred effect shots.

Oh, just on this - again as mentioned above, with it happening so fast - my experience was that you won't have a chance to alter your settings to "try" things out. In the experience I had, prepare a single setting to achieve what you want to achieve and that you think will work and simply stick with it.

ACD, I don't know the first thing about this sorta stuff, but would they not be doing more than one lap of their route? Thus giving an opportunity to try other stuff out each time they pass?


Or do you get 60 second of photography and call it a day?


(Again, to stress, I don't know anything about this kinda stuff)

AnCatDubh

Actually, what you say is entirely plausible and you may be quite right but the Trim stage of last year was a single pass through - so for me, it was 60 seconds (30 seconds really) of opportunity.

Best to check what the route is and the format for the stage is around your area.

You'd be in a better position if the stage involved laps of a predefined area.

Borderfox

they only have a set number of laps on the last day, the one I did finished in Dun Laoighre and had about an hour of laps in the town centre. If its one of the stages in the middle of the race then its 60 seconds and gone.

YeahOK

Used to do a bit of cycling. These guys will fly past... my advice is get yourself to the steepest section of the stage that time permits. You may literally have 10-15 seconds max anywhere else on the stage... ISO of at least 200. Practice on the cars that preceed the cyclists in terms of finessing your settings. Really though it's very hard to get anything of value when they whizz by and you are stationary. For best shots you want to be hanging off the back of a motorbike travelling at 40- 50 mph in front of the bunch when they are strung out in a line with their tongues hanging out:-)

For great cycling shots, see Graham Watsons work here He's without doubt the best cycling photographer bar none.

Edit: Should have mentioned Peter Purfield's stuff as well on Irish Cycling for some home grown photographer talent that is cycling related.

magicbastarder

you're probably best heading to the start or the finish, more scope for candids and the like, as people mentioned, it's a lot of work to get a minute's window of shots of a subject you're not familiar with.

i went to the finish in the phoenix park a few years ago, and there was loads of scope for candids, as well as the opportunity to sit on a corner and take shots for an hour.

dinneenp

Cheers for the replies.
Think I'll try to position myself on the N6/bypass up the hill.
Set to continuous drive obviously
Should I go for aperture priority to try to get blurred background
Or shutter priority to freeze them?
Or manual
or P and let camera work it out.

Lastly better to use 18-55 lens or 55-300 (can control blurred background better then). I suppose it depends on how close/far from the road I'll be.
With kit lens I could get more group shots and always crop afterwards, with the zoom lens (is it slower to focus) would get better bokeh (presuming I can be positioned far back enough).