after some advice

J

jayp1601

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Jay
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hi, guys and girls
i'm after some advice for taking biking photos, i do alot of downhill biking, today took the camera out to get a few shots of friends riding, i found it really hard to get a clear shot of the rider rather then the background. i'm using a Nikon D3000 camera with the standard lens it came with, i'm running the camera in AF as most of the settings currently go over my head.

the sort of places we can ride local doesn't offer much air time so needs to be a quick shutter speed.

i'vr had the camera for a few years but always been used for static photos, cars, people, animals, ect. this is the first time trying to capture a action shot.

would be greatful for any advice on taking photos or setting the camera up for this sort of photos

thanks Jay.
 
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Hello Jay, There are lots of knowledgeable people on here, I'm surprised you haven't had an answer yet. I don't shoot this type of shot, but here's how I might attempt to do it :

If you want a bit of motion blur, you'll need a slower shutter speed - something like 1/500th will get you something, depending on how fast they're going and how bright it is where you're shooting.

If you want to freeze the action, nothing less than about 1/1000th (so you might have to adjust the shutter speed)

Put the camera into "S" mode on the dial on the top of the camera on the left, then move the spinner wheel thing on the right until you get one of these shutter speeds - this means the camera will adjust the aperture and ISO to get you what you want.

I'm not sure if you have 'continuous focus mode' on the D3000, but I suspect you do - you'll need to check where it is on your camera, you'll be looking for something that says AF-C - this allows you to half hold down the shutter (which makes the camera focus) and as long as your finger is half way down, the camera will keep on focusing on whatever the moving object is.

Hope this helps, and I'm looking forward to seeing the results!
 
Can't say I do much cycling/downhill stuff - apart from few little bits each year - so maybe not the best person to give advice (but I do hate to see a question go unanswered here :-) ).

One thing that popped out to me was that you said that the place where you ride/photograph, doesn't offer much air time. Guessing this means that it's pretty tight space where you need to frame your image??
What you could try - is, if you want to take pictures from a set place (where the bikers go past you in certain place) - you could set your lens on MF. This way you could use your 'live view' mode to make sure you have focus on the right place.
And when the bikers whizz past you down the hill... you know you would have your focus set in the correct place, and the camera/lens would not loose focus or have to search for it.

I know this doesn't give you a wide field to grab the shots at, but it is technique that I use sometimes when shooting with an extreme wide angle lens, and where the action is fast and moves about a lot.

Sorry this isn't exactly help on the AF of your camera/lens combo - but it's something that might get you few more keepers from your next visit to the hills/track :-)
 
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