Exiting the rock garden

Taken at a round of the NSW state downhill championships, critiques

are welcomed.

I think this is a good shot except for the fact that it is out of focus.

Hi David, thanks for taking the time to comment. I'm not sure what you mean by out of focus. Is it the blurred backround you refer to? That's an effect I usally aim for in MTB shots, and is actually fairly subdued in this shot. Generally I would go for 1/30 - 1/80 but was at 1/250 here as the elite mens category were blasting off this point at 40kph+, hard to get an accurate panning shot at that speed when I'm only 2 meters from the track.

No, that's fine. I understand about that, it's just I thought the rider was a bit soft, that's all. I even had my glasses on at the time. Maybe it's just the effect of reducing the image that has made it appear soft (or maybe I need new glasses!).

 

It's still a great capture.

Yeh admittedly this isn't the sharpest shot I've taken but I liked the "trajectory" better than others at the same spot. Focus is sharpest on the riders left hand but I think most of the softness is due to motion blur, like I said it's hard to be spot on with panning at the speed these guys travel. Also I did little or no sharpening in PP as it detracts from the blurring of the backround.