The Tour of Britain 2014

sean.hinks

sean.hinks

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Hello TP Members,

Having seen the Stage Routes for this years Tour of Britain announced recently and having very recently passing my Driving test i have decided i would like to have a crack at photographing some cycling. I have been interested in cycling for a fairly long time but never have i seriously thought about photographing the sport. I have no experience shooting cycling or any Motorsport which involves high speed only really football and cricket but its a sport i've been wanting to photograph.

Now the kit i have is a Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm kit lens and Nikon 70-200mm f2.8, i also have a 120-400mm sigma lens but wether this kit will do the job i don't know.

I do have a few questions i want to put out as well:

1. Has anyone here had any experience photographing such an event?

2. Will the kit i have be good enough to get any decent results? (i do know that it is down to how you use it as well)

and Finally

3. How would i go about preparing to photograph this event?

If anyone could give me an insight to what its like and perhaps some guidance i'd be very grateful and appreciate any advice.

Thanks, Sean.
 
The only experience I have of photographing cycling is of Crit races so there are plenty of laps to get 'the shot' of the leaders so my experience isn't great but I would say the following ideas:

  • If you can shoot the riders on a climb they will be spread out and going slower so more opportunities
  • Time trial shots are a bit boring on the whole so i'd avoid those stages if you can help it unless you get very close to the start ramp and can get right in close on the riders faces before they start
  • Practice your panning shots before you go as these give a real sense of speed if done well
  • Think about using continuous shooting mode
  • High speed shutter (>1/250th) will freeze the action, a slower speed (~1/50th) for panning
But one thing I'd say is don't forget to enjoy the action when you see it, and the riders. The ToB has recently been upgraded to 2.HC status so will attract some of the biggest names in the cycling world so don't forget to look away from the eye-piece so you can actually say "I went to see the ToB" rather than "I watched the riders go past through my camera's viewfinder".

This is an interesting article about photographers at cycling races: http://inrng.com/2014/03/cycling-race-photography/
 
I have done the ToB three times now on local stages. Your kit sounds fine. Last time I did it I used two bodies, one on a tripod with a wide angle lens on (sigma 10-20 but it doesn't need to be that wide), the other hand held with my 70-200.

The first time I did it I went to the end of one of the sprints to try and get some good action....I ended up getting some nice crowd shots but the bikes shot past and I only got a couple of shots....nothing amazing.
Second time I went to the top of a hill climb....I thought it was a big hill, they didn't. Another big climb, even more crowd (who will stand in the middle of road until the last second and block your view) and they went by just as fast :(
Third time I thought I would try and play clever and went just past the top of a climb to where there was a cattle grid. My hope was they would be slowed by the climb and then again by the obstruction. It sort of worked. They slowed a bit and I managed to get more shots. Sadly the weather was utter crap and my wide shots ended up with unintentional motion blur and the hand held shots were very flat. Can see the photos here - http://liveoopnorth.co.uk/2010/09/tour-of-britain-2010-single-stage/

So my advice would be to check the route out on google maps (street view if available) and find something you think will really slow them down. I sharp bend while climbing would be my idea of a good spot, specially if you can get up some banking to get a good perspective and can then shoot them approaching with your long lens and then some wider stuff as they go past.

Just be warned: They never go very slow, there are always crowds no matter where you seem to go, you will only get a few seconds of action for a lot of prep and waiting around.

P.S not sure where you are based but if the Tour de France Grand Depart is coming anywhere near go and watch that and take a few snaps to give yourself an idea. I think the ToB will seem like a piece of cake after that :D
 
macs said:
The only experience I have of photographing cycling is of Crit races so there are plenty of laps to get 'the shot' of the leaders so my experience isn't great but I would say the following ideas:

  • If you can shoot the riders on a climb they will be spread out and going slower so more opportunities
  • Time trial shots are a bit boring on the whole so i'd avoid those stages if you can help it unless you get very close to the start ramp and can get right in close on the riders faces before they start
  • Practice your panning shots before you go as these give a real sense of speed if done well
  • Think about using continuous shooting mode
  • High speed shutter (>1/250th) will freeze the action, a slower speed (~1/50th) for panning
But one thing I'd say is don't forget to enjoy the action when you see it, and the riders. The ToB has recently been upgraded to 2.HC status so will attract some of the biggest names in the cycling world so don't forget to look away from the eye-piece so you can actually say "I went to see the ToB" rather than "I watched the riders go past through my camera's viewfinder".

This is an interesting article about photographers at cycling races: http://inrng.com/2014/03/cycling-race-photography/
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the tips and advice Rich, now i have never thought about actually enjoying and sucking up the atmosphere of the event but now you have mentioned it its become apparent that its something i need to do.

I'm aiming to follow a number of the stages and i have a few locations on a few stages where i'm thinking of images already but for the others i will probably focus mainly on enjoying and witnessing the event not through a camera.

Interesting article as well, thanks for sharing with me.
 
I can't add very much to the excellent advice from Rich and Tom but last year I was at the start in Sidmouth and although the crowds were big I managed to get some portrait shots of the riders signing in before the race.





OK, I know they are technically not the best pictures but I am happy with them. There will be plenty of places where there are not many spectators but those places will most likely be in the open countryside where they are travelling very fast. The other option is to stake out a place very very early especially where there are barriers that way the only people that obstruct your view will be leaning over and you will get a very short opportunity to get any pictures. One thing that has annoyed me in the past is people using mobile phones to take pictures as they tend to hold them above their heads and it has ruined many a shot for me. As has been said before do plenty of research and enjoy the day.
 
Jimmy_Lemon said:
I have done the ToB three times now on local stages. Your kit sounds fine. Last time I did it I used two bodies, one on a tripod with a wide angle lens on (sigma 10-20 but it doesn't need to be that wide), the other hand held with my 70-200.

The first time I did it I went to the end of one of the sprints to try and get some good action....I ended up getting some nice crowd shots but the bikes shot past and I only got a couple of shots....nothing amazing.
Second time I went to the top of a hill climb....I thought it was a big hill, they didn't. Another big climb, even more crowd (who will stand in the middle of road until the last second and block your view) and they went by just as fast :(
Third time I thought I would try and play clever and went just past the top of a climb to where there was a cattle grid. My hope was they would be slowed by the climb and then again by the obstruction. It sort of worked. They slowed a bit and I managed to get more shots. Sadly the weather was utter crap and my wide shots ended up with unintentional motion blur and the hand held shots were very flat. Can see the photos here - http://liveoopnorth.co.uk/2010/09/tour-of-britain-2010-single-stage/

So my advice would be to check the route out on google maps (street view if available) and find something you think will really slow them down. I sharp bend while climbing would be my idea of a good spot, specially if you can get up some banking to get a good perspective and can then shoot them approaching with your long lens and then some wider stuff as they go past.

Just be warned: They never go very slow, there are always crowds no matter where you seem to go, you will only get a few seconds of action for a lot of prep and waiting around.

P.S not sure where you are based but if the Tour de France Grand Depart is coming anywhere near go and watch that and take a few snaps to give yourself an idea. I think the ToB will seem like a piece of cake after that :D
Click to expand...

Hi Tom, Thanks for the response, sounds like you have a fair amount of experience.

I'm sorry to hear about your first and second attempts and your it being Britain the weather is almost certainly going to let us down.

Thank you very much for the tips, it certainly sounds like preperation is the key and knowing where to position yourself will certainly help. I certainly will try and look up and research places i can get them slowing down. I know the Great Malvern fairly well so i'll be pretty comfortable shooting there its just where the route goes through which is the problem so until I know that I cant find places.

Thanks again for the response and I am based in Watford in Hertfordshire so I certainly will try and get the Tour De France.
 
1dmouse said:
I can't add very much to the excellent advice from Rich and Tom but last year I was at the start in Sidmouth and although the crowds were big I managed to get some portrait shots of the riders signing in before the race.





OK, I know they are technically not the best pictures but I am happy with them. There will be plenty of places where there are not many spectators but those places will most likely be in the open countryside where they are travelling very fast. The other option is to stake out a place very very early especially where there are barriers that way the only people that obstruct your view will be leaning over and you will get a very short opportunity to get any pictures. One thing that has annoyed me in the past is people using mobile phones to take pictures as they tend to hold them above their heads and it has ruined many a shot for me. As has been said before do plenty of research and enjoy the day.
Click to expand...

Hi Andrew,

Pictures look pretty decent to me (y), I know from watching previous stages on TV and your input shows that the start and finish of the stages are pretty packed with spectators and you certainly did well to get these photos.

Thanks for the response and yes, open countryside may offer a clear view with little spectators and for one of the stages I have a few ideas of images I could possibly get but for most It may not be worth it. Again people with mobile phones comes up so what I might do is try and get up on banks and if not i'll try and find places with a little amount of spectators.

Thanks again for responding and I certainly do need to get some research done.
 
I'll be trying to get some shots of the Women's Tour of Britain when it goes through Hertfordshire on Saturday. I'm not getting my hopes up though, the weather will probably be awful and it's my first time shooting cycling. I just want to get some practice in before the Tour de France comes through my village in July.
 
Mandoo said:
I'll be trying to get some shots of the Women's Tour of Britain when it goes through Hertfordshire on Saturday. I'm not getting my hopes up though, the weather will probably be awful and it's my first time shooting cycling. I just want to get some practice in before the Tour de France comes through my village in July.
Click to expand...

Good luck on Saturday and fingers crossed for the weather.
 
sean.hinks said:
I'm aiming to follow a number of the stages and i have a few locations on a few stages where i'm thinking of images already but for the others i will probably focus mainly on enjoying and witnessing the event not through a camera.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Can't give any advice on photographing cycling events but noticed you mentioned "following" stages. Having just spent a week in the Dales and spoken to several locals about the event, if that's where you're planning to shoot, I wouldn't count on being able to get around while the event is in progress.. general consensus was that the roads are going to be locked down and traffic will be chaos !! The best option sounds to be choose a location for each day and stay there

Simon
 
Mandoo said:
I'll be trying to get some shots of the Women's Tour of Britain when it goes through Hertfordshire on Saturday. I'm not getting my hopes up though, the weather will probably be awful and it's my first time shooting cycling. I just want to get some practice in before the Tour de France comes through my village in July.
Click to expand...

Good Luck for Tomorrow, If i wasn't working i would have gone and got some practice as well.
 
simonkit said:
Hi,

Can't give any advice on photographing cycling events but noticed you mentioned "following" stages. Having just spent a week in the Dales and spoken to several locals about the event, if that's where you're planning to shoot, I wouldn't count on being able to get around while the event is in progress.. general consensus was that the roads are going to be locked down and traffic will be chaos !! The best option sounds to be choose a location for each day and stay there

Simon
Click to expand...

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the info, I had that thought in the back of my head and I'll probably choose a location and settle down for the day as you said.

Do you know if there is a detailed map of the route that gets published nearer the event?
 
The weather was kind for me today luckily, unfortunately my gear wasn't! I haven't had this DSLR for very long and my telephoto lens (a Tamron 55-200) was a charity shop find. The trouble was that I hadn't used the lens for anything in motion before and it just wasn't sharp enough. I took around 50 shots today and I think only 5-10 are usable in any way.
So I'm going to grab myself a 55-250 this week and give it some action before the TdF otherwise I've got no chance of getting any keepers.

It was great to see the race though and even though it was a small village and there were other unrelated events going on locally, the turnout was pretty good.
 
Mandoo said:
The weather was kind for me today luckily, unfortunately my gear wasn't! I haven't had this DSLR for very long and my telephoto lens (a Tamron 55-200) was a charity shop find. The trouble was that I hadn't used the lens for anything in motion before and it just wasn't sharp enough. I took around 50 shots today and I think only 5-10 are usable in any way.
So I'm going to grab myself a 55-250 this week and give it some action before the TdF otherwise I've got no chance of getting any keepers.

It was great to see the race though and even though it was a small village and there were other unrelated events going on locally, the turnout was pretty good.
Click to expand...

Glad the weather was good for you. What Camera were you using?

I've not had any experience with Tamron lenses so I cant help you there, although the more experience with your camera and lens the better.

Seems like the weather didn't dampen anyone's spirits and sounds like you had a good day. Was it the first cycling event you've photographed?
 
Mandoo said:
@sean.hinks where are you thinking of going to for the TdF? The Essex county council website has a lot of information on it for stage 3 including a full detailed map.
Essex TdF page: http://www.essex.gov.uk/pages/tour-de-france.aspx
Stage 3 route: http://www.essex.gov.uk/Documents/tdf-TheRoute.pdf
Click to expand...

I haven't really looked into going to the TDF as of yet, only really the Tour Of Britain and I was asking for any detailed maps of the Tour Of Britain, should have made that more clearer but thanks for the links i'll go ahead and check them out.
 
sean.hinks said:
I haven't really looked into going to the TDF as of yet, only really the Tour Of Britain and I was asking for any detailed maps of the Tour Of Britain, should have made that more clearer but thanks for the links i'll go ahead and check them out.
Click to expand...

Ah, ok, no worries. I just saw Simons post above mine and assumed you were talking about the TdF.
Unfortunately the Tour of Britain isn't an event I'll be able to get to due to the locations and dates. It's just too far for me to go around my working hours at that time of year.
 
sean.hinks said:
Glad the weather was good for you. What Camera were you using?

I've not had any experience with Tamron lenses so I cant help you there, although the more experience with your camera and lens the better.

Seems like the weather didn't dampen anyone's spirits and sounds like you had a good day. Was it the first cycling event you've photographed?
Click to expand...

It was my first cycling event so with that in mind, it went really well. I was using a Canon 1000D and a Tamron 55-200.
 
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