Back in the saddle

[Grumpy John]

My cardiologist has told me to start getting more exercise So I went off last Friday and bought myself a new road bike. While I was at the store I asked the sales guy if he knew of any good bike tracks near where I live. It turns out that there is a criterion track not far from me. They hold competitions there every Sunday morning so I went over to have a look.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6

[Ironwood]

Some good action shots there John, #6 is my pick of the bunch.

One of your 70-200’s ?

[Grumpy John]

Yes, the siggy. No need for the 2x converter either, they let me get up close to the track.

[Isac]

Lovely work John. Seems you have a nice camera to freeze the action. Were these rapid fire shots?

[Grumpy John]

Yes, most at 10fps. and AI Servo.

[Isac]

Thanks John. I t works fairly well then.

[Grumpy John]

What do people think of images #2 & #4. I have had some feedbak from another photography forum that it is not the done thing to cut off the lower half of the cyclist unless it is a facial shot. Fair enough in #2, but I feel that that there is enough interest in the faces in #4 to carry the lack of lower detail. What do others think?

[Isac]

I had the same sort of thing on another forum about cutting the tops of heads off in portraiture. I don't think it is OK but the general consensus was that it's perfectly OK. You can't win in situations like this John, so it's up to your own personal tates and what ever looks good in your eyes. They all look OK to me.

[Jurujoh]

What do people think of images #2 & #4. I have had some feedbak from another photography forum that it is not the done thing to cut off the lower half of the cyclist unless it is a facial shot. Fair enough in #2, but I feel that that there is enough interest in the faces in #4 to carry the lack of lower detail. What do others think?

Some nice photos John.
I am not a sports photographer but I suppose portrait rules would apply here to a degree. Work with what tells the story. Facial shots to show the effort, and full length seem to me to give the overall story of cycling.

Jules

[Grumpy John]

Thanks for the feedback Jules, it all helps.

[Ralph]

Great shots of this. We use to have them coming up here but then they stopped it.
I really not sure if it has been missed.

[HansE]

Well captured. I find #2 and #4 more than acceptable. I am sure the riders would be more than happy to receive a copy!

[Grumpy John]

Carbon fibre frame, nothing but the best.

[Ironwood]

Hope you got some colourful Lycra as well John

[Grumpy John]

You wish

[Ironwood]

What do people think of images #2 & #4. I have had some feedbak from another photography forum that it is not the done thing to cut off the lower half of the cyclist unless it is a facial shot. Fair enough in #2, but I feel that that there is enough interest in the faces in #4 to carry the lack of lower detail. What do others think?

As they say, rules are meant to be broken. Well, I don’t think they should be broken as a rule, but sometimes it can create a unique image.

#2 doesn’t do much for me, there doesn’t seem to be much to hold your attention, I find myself looking around for something to connect to. I don’t think it has anything to do with the wheels being cut off though.
#4 , I really like this image, after looking at them all a few times now, I think this is my favourite of the lot. If I owned a bike shop and could pick one of them to go on the wall, this would be it. 3 faces , all determined, the wheels and bike frames act as leading lines to draw your attention to the riders faces which tell the story. Doesn’t matter at all that the bottom of the wheels are cut off, it could even be beneficial in some respects.

After looking again, I think the composition could be improved by having a little bit more room on the left, and a little bit more room above their heads, and maybe a little bit less empty space on the right, but I wouldn’t change the bottom of the frame at all.

[Grumpy John]

As they say, rules are meant to be broken. Well, I don’t think they should be broken as a rule, but sometimes it can create a unique image.

#2 doesn’t do much for me, there doesn’t seem to be much to hold your attention, I find myself looking around for something to connect to. I don’t think it has anything to do with the wheels being cut off though.
#4 , I really like this image, after looking at them all a few times now, I think this is my favourite of the lot. If I owned a bike shop and could pick one of them to go on the wall, this would be it. 3 faces , all determined, the wheels and bike frames act as leading lines to draw your attention to the riders faces which tell the story. Doesn’t matter at all that the bottom of the wheels are cut off, it could even be beneficial in some respects.

After looking again, I think the composition could be improved by having a little bit more room on the left, and a little bit more room above their heads, and maybe a little bit less empty space on the right, but I wouldn’t change the bottom of the frame at all.

Thank you Brad for your feedback. I agree with you on #2, it is probably the weakest of the set. I have attached the uncropped version of #4, and as you can see there is no more room at the left and I cropped out the foot in the bottom R/H corner keeping the original 3:2 ratio. I kept the empty space on the right as somewhere for the riders to "ride in to", the space above the hads is what I ended up with.

#6 Original image before any cropping.



Here are a couple of square crops, what do you think. I feel that they alter the whole dynamic of the original image and are not as strong.

#7


#8


Feel free to have a play with any of the images.

[Grumpy John]

As they say, rules are meant to be broken. Well, I don’t think they should be broken as a rule, but sometimes it can create a unique image.

Some rules that were not broken in the original image:
1. empty space for the subject to move in to.
2. odd number of subjects.
3. leading lines drawing the viewers eye toward the main subject (bike frame and wheels pointing to riders faces).

[Isac]

All open to individuals interpretation John. You could play for days. I like the idea of it hanginging in a bike shop though

[Grumpy John]

Cool