[muddy beast]

Thought I would share a few pics with you guys of the first MTB shots I have taken with my new camera (the main reason why I bought it...). It was a short session (like an hour) at the Japanese Gultch (my local trails) with a friend of mine. Anyhow we road the trails place to place and I took some periodic shots here and there...

EDIT: PLEASE DISREGARD THE NO HELMET...Its stupid I know, but thats not what I posted these pics for. THANKS!

Small jump, big air.

Chillin, just about to walk back up to the car.

The take off.

random shot of his bike, I though it looked cool.

Tabling the hip

Let the long walk begin...


Heres my Flickr, I dont have pro so I cant get all my pics up or the full size pics...but you get the drift.

My Flickr

hope you guys like them! Feel free to give me feedback, I'm still learning.

 

[hungryleprican]

ew no helmet

 

[muddy beast]

haha yeah hes one of thoughs no pads guys. I think its stupid...but what are ya gana do ehh?

 

[downhillracer]

i was gonna say. no helmet is retarded.

 

[muddy beast]

regardless of the helmet crap...lets talk about the pics!

EDIT: However, if you look at the bike in the background you can see my helmet on my bike :-D

 

[maniak10]

make sure to post the pics of his head split wide open when he goes down w/o a helmet. Please don't post pics of people w/o helmets. This is something that should not be encouraged.

 

[muddy beast]

wow...guys...I understand no helmet is stupid...but its hes to stuborn to listen to me...so I just take pics.

Please can we get back to the point, I'm not trying to promote no helmet...I'm trying to get advice and comments on my pictures. Disregard the rider...

 

[maniak10]

in that case, if I look past the dude w/o the helmet: Nice pics. Keep up the good work. What camera are you using?

 

[muddy beast]

in that case, if I look past the dude w/o the helmet: Nice pics. Keep up the good work. What camera are you using?

Thank you. Its a Canon XTi with the Canon f/1.8 50mm lens on.

 

[bent^biker]

where abouts are those little jumps? over on the east side of the tracks?

 

[muddy beast]

North, on intermac side not to far from boeing. Their the old jumps that have been their since time began. Also, the smallest ones in the gultch...but it was convenient today. This weekend I'm hoping to get a bunch more pics on the big jumps with some no footers, 360's, can-cans, ect. being thrown down. Should be sick. :-D

 

[dirtburglar]

no helmet + glam shots = eh?

 

[muddy beast]

no helmet + glam shots = eh?

I thought we were beyond this already...but i guess I learned my lesson about posting pics on hear. :-/

 

[Kornphlake]

The shot of the hip needs a little faster shutter speed or smaller aperture and longer exposure, the foreground and background are blurry because the depth of focus is shallow, the rider is blurry because he's moving, it makes the whole picture just a little blurry except for the ground and trees right around your buddy. It's distracting to me, I'd rather see a lot of motion blur to show the rider is moving (second curtian flash would sharpen up the rider's features nicely) and a sharper foreground and background.

It's tough to think about things like that when you're taking the pictures and the little LCD isn't much help. If I'm trying to get a pictures quickly I'll use exposure bracketing to get the right exposure (between the three exposures I'm sure to get one that's at least close as far as exposure,) from there I experiment with aperture and shutter speed to get the right effect. I may take 10-15 shots of the same thing with a few overlapping exposure settings and I'll pick the best one once I get home and can look at the shots on the computer monitor.

 

[drtjmpnjosh]

Helmet?

 

[DBR X6 RIDER]

Sweet pics. I'm no expert or anything, but the angles & all are good. If those are your first mtb pics, then keep at it and you should be just fine.

As far as the other topic of this thread goes, I'll file your buddy under "natural selection". No gloves and/or pads, sure. No helmet, WTF?!? They do make decent helmets that breathe well these days - dare I say they're even stylin' in some cases?

I hope he's at least heard of condoms.

 

[bibs]

good job for your first shots! Keep it up, helmets are for people who are wearing them..not the photog!

 

[muddy beast]

The shot of the hip needs a little faster shutter speed or smaller aperture and longer exposure, the foreground and background are blurry because the depth of focus is shallow, the rider is blurry because he's moving, it makes the whole picture just a little blurry except for the ground and trees right around your buddy. It's distracting to me, I'd rather see a lot of motion blur to show the rider is moving (second curtian flash would sharpen up the rider's features nicely) and a sharper foreground and background.

It's tough to think about things like that when you're taking the pictures and the little LCD isn't much help. If I'm trying to get a pictures quickly I'll use exposure bracketing to get the right exposure (between the three exposures I'm sure to get one that's at least close as far as exposure,) from there I experiment with aperture and shutter speed to get the right effect. I may take 10-15 shots of the same thing with a few overlapping exposure settings and I'll pick the best one once I get home and can look at the shots on the computer monitor.

Wow thanks man. This is the kinda stuff I'm looking for :-D. Yeah I wanted to work on different exposer and things like that but I ended up sticking to the sport mode with the f/1.8 50mm lens...mostly because it was a short ride with photography after riding somewhere, and not much time to play around.

I'll try this stuff out this weekend if I get a chance. And as for the flash...well still no money, but I'm working on it! :-D

And thanks bibs. Glad to you see my frustration

 

[ffonsok]

Someone should give that kid $$ for a helmet.

But really nice pictures. Definately magazine quality.

 

[muddy beast]

Someone should give that kid $$ for a helmet.

But really nice pictures. Definately magazine quality.

Thanks
makes me feel are warm and fuzzy inside.
I'll try to get better ones this weekend, with your guy's feedback in mind.

 

[Kornphlake]

Wow thanks man. This is the kinda stuff I'm looking for :-D.

Photographyreview.com has a forum for photo critiques, they get a little testy if you post a dozen pictures a day, but if there's one that you really like or if you feel like you did everything right but the picture just doesn't look right you can post it there and they will give you pretty good opinions on the photography. That way you don't have to worry about discussion about helmets and where the trail is or how many Pinkbike feet were involved. It's important to remember that critique is a critique, nobody is insulting you, they're just telling you what's wrong with the picture, in some cases it's a matter of opinion, in other cases there is technical reasoning behind the critique.

I'd try to stay away from the preset settings on your camera, use the program mode or one of the priority modes, that way you can adjust how fast the shutter speed is or compensate for depth of focus, that's why you bought a SLR afterall.

 

[V-Dub GTI]

I hope he's at least heard of condoms.

Condoms are for sailers baby!

 

[muddy beast]

Photographyreview.com has a forum for photo critiques, they get a little testy if you post a dozen pictures a day, but if there's one that you really like or if you feel like you did everything right but the picture just doesn't look right you can post it there and they will give you pretty good opinions on the photography. That way you don't have to worry about discussion about helmets and where the trail is or how many Pinkbike feet were involved. It's important to remember that critique is a critique, nobody is insulting you, they're just telling you what's wrong with the picture, in some cases it's a matter of opinion, in other cases there is technical reasoning behind the critique.

I'd try to stay away from the preset settings on your camera, use the program mode or one of the priority modes, that way you can adjust how fast the shutter speed is or compensate for depth of focus, that's why you bought a SLR afterall.

Alright thanks, and yeah I'm totally cool with people critiquing me. As for the preset settings, I dont use them...ever...so I know that. But, like I said, I didnt have time to set things up so thats why I used it. I now regret it...but I'll have more time to set up the ISO and all that next time.

I cant wait to go shoot some more pics :-D

 

[GrapeApe79]

Creative shots. I like the one by the tracks!

 

[Jimmy B]

Muddy Beast how did your shots come out today? With feedback from here and the other site?
Jimmy B

 

[Jimmy B]

One from SST last weekend

 

[muddy beast]

Well...They turned out pretty good with focus and what not. Trick is, on my screen everything looked crystal so I didnt change anything...and left the settings how I had them (1/350 shutter speed, 400 ISO, 50mm f/1.8 lens, constant focusing, ect.) but I put them on my computer and they were way darker then I thought they were. However, they turned out really good despite the darkness, next time I'll work on my ISO a little more, I'm quite pleased with the frozen riders though.

I wont show any pics since none of the 3 riders are wearing helmets. But if you want to look at the pics to see some sick riders throwing down or my photographs...heres the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott_schmitz/sets/72157600306330089/
(^About 80% of them are edited to be brighter...if it doesnt show the camera details on the bottom right then that means I edited that photo)

Keep in mind, its cool to comments my pics...but please do not rant about them not wearing helmets! They cannot hear you...as they are not monkeys.

 

[bent^biker]

sic pics, that place is in good shape. I got out there last time it was raining and fixed/rebuilt the little step down. What do you think of the second lip idea on the second step up?

 

[muddy beast]

Thanks, the guys in the pic do alot of work on the DJs and the step-up and step-down there. The time I was there before this they did alot of work making the step up bigger. The lip on the step-down is much better! I didnt personally hit anything today, cuz my crank arm fell off on the way their and I had to walk everywhere and no one had tools with them...but it looked clean when they where hitting it.

 

[bent^biker]

it'd be sic to ride with you guys sometime. once i get the new rigger dalled i'll drop you a pm

 

[muddy beast]

Yeah let me know, and I'll see if they wana ride with ya. If not, I'd be glad to take you to the spots and take some pictures of ya if you want. I'm not quite in top riding condition...since my crank fell off today, and my shifters off...

 

[StunZeeD]

revive: What are you carrying your camera in when you ride? I am considering the same camera...Do u like it for bike photo

 

[Frorider1]

Nice bike!

 

[muddy beast]

I use the Lowepro Slingshot 100 AW, although I'm starting to wish I bought the 200 so I could atleast stick a water bottle in a plastic bag and in the pack, cause boy do I get thirsty without my camelback on.

And I also just purchased a lowepro holster that fits my camera and a lens. So I may start putting it in my Skiing camelback *much larger then my mule* and that way I can have water with me.