Southern Freerider :: [Article] Capturing the Vibe: A Photographer's Perspective

Trail_Builder · Site Admin

Capturing the Vibe: A Photographer's Perspective

So, yeah, I've just got back from a ride/photo session and thought it might be a bit more interesting to discuss the phototaking process for me a bit more. Just think it could be a bit cooler than just showing you the shots, and might be interesting for other photographers out there.

First up, Im all shots were taken in camberley side of the Swinley Forest. I call the area "camberloops" cause its kind of like kamloops in camberley. but hey, its just a name. o yeah, they are all self portraits too. tripod and self timer.

My main goal of the shots was to try and "capture the vibe" of the evening sessions I have by myself in camberloops. I havn't really tried getting those "vibe" kind of shots before, so it was quite an interesting shoot for me lol.

Straight off the bat I knew I wanted that kind of goldeny light, mellow feel to it, cause thats what I feel like when I ride camberloops. I also wasnt as bothered with the crisp/sharp look I usually go for, as I think it can kind of ruin the mellowiness in these kinds of shots. I also knew the section of singletrack I wanted to shoot. its my fav bit of camberloops, and its a big hill that goes straight into some super sick singletrack you can just hare it down.

My first idea for a shot but kind of inspired by Sterling. He did a shot for seasons of matty hunter of a similar thing. i knew i wouldn't get it as good, but I kinda thought the setup was nice for it so gave it a go. The first problem was compositiion. was kind of a bitch. i knew wide angle would look crap, so went for 70mm. Timing the self portrait was fine cause I had a lot of room for error. The only thing was a bit annoying was trying to get the DOF blur right. I decided to cheat in photoshop instead haha. o well. I like the end result Smile

even if its not as good as sterlings. I still dont think the composition is quite right, I wanted a tree on the left for balance, but the singletrack isn't show at the best angle now. o well.

-----------

for the next shot I wanted a slightly more close in shot. i had a bit of a vission for it when walking back up to the top. kind of close in, looking from behind, and getting the DOF blur with the long, lush grass. the kind of thing you saw in the original collective. i kind of wanted to like show where the rider has been, as opposed to where he's going too. breaking the rules a bit, but hey, they are made to be broken. I followed standard photographic rules of lines, by composing the singletrack making you eyes goes from one side to the other. I like how that worked out Very Happy

The main problem was getting the focus right with the timing. because I was running a short DOF with the 70mm, and timing the placement of the rider too was hard. only took 5 attempts which tbh, I was stoked on Smile

haha. ive been known to take 20+ attempts to time shots. yet again, I played in photoshop to exagerate the blur Smile

hehe. stoked on the result again. caught the manual too Razz

though isnt obvious rom this angle.

-------------

The next shot, was kind of a weirdy. I wanted to try and get an "Im stoked on riding this track" kind of vibe. wasnt sure how to go about it, so went for a pretty obviously contrived shot hahaha. composition is a bit ugly, but kind of just ended up that way. took a good number of flash placements to find the right one, and the sky is a bit blown too. I did my best to fix it by o well lol. its nice and sharp Razz

hehe. i would've liked to show the singletrack in the shot too, but you can't have everything and I wasnt quite as keen on the shot as first. Not quite sure why I would be doing that pose when out riding, but it just kind of happened. haha. I'm a bit ambivalent with this shot. not sure if I like or not. but Im kinda not digging it too much. im more happy with the flash lighting that the shot as a whole hahaha.

-------------

the last one is my favourite Smile

all inspired by that opening shot in roam of matty and romo walking up the singletrack through the long grass. I wanted to get that kind of vibe, and think I did quite well Smile

this shot went pretty faultless, other than getting the focussing right, and the enough DOF blur, so again I photoshoped a bit more blur in too to make me happy lol. did quite a few dif body positioned too, and liked this one the most.

overall, I think the photo session went really well, and liked the end results. had to play with the blur alot in photoshop, which given my lense I dont think I could really help. alos had to play with the colours alot too, and wasnt quite sure if I got the right kind of golden lol. it shall have to do. the main thing I think I would work on next time would be getting my composition a bit more dialled, but we're all learning Smile

.

wow that was probably alot of pointless rambling but who cares eh lol.

feel free to make any comments and/or slag me off.