Lake Placid Ironman

[Icebear]

Spent last weekend at Lake Placid NY watching my son-in-law compete in the 2010 Ford Ironman. The D700 confirmed all the hype as far as I'm concerned. I've put up three galleries, none very big. The first has lots of images of the race overall and my SIL in particular. The second has a couple dozen shots of competitors I found interesting, and the third is a collection of a half dozen representative images shot late at night under crappy vapor lights at ISO 3200 and 6400.

I am a real newby at posting in the Sports forum, so please, any criticism or hints will be sincerely appreciated. Here are a couple appetizers:

The 7:00AM start (actually, this one was shot with the D300):


Hi-speed pan shot:

[johng]

I kind of like the first shot - kind of a where's waldo. On the cycling shot, I suggest doing some research on panning technique. You have two standard shots from the side with cycling - panning to show motion or tight frozen shot to show exertion, tension or emotion. This shot doesn't work for either type. The bike is frozen which looks odd and the face of the rider isn't particularly sharp. And, because of the lack of pan and the narrow aperture you've got kind of a bothersome background. For just starting out I think you've got a good start here but take a look at some other cycling shots to get a better idea of what I'm talking about. I'll admit I dont shoot tris so I can't show you photos for demonstration.

[ian408]

In addition to what John is suggesting, I'd like to suggest a lower angle. In the first, the lower angle would maybe make the sea of red caps standout and still give you that cool look the shot's captured. And in the second, a lower angle (and panning) would bring life to this shot.

[Icebear]

Originally Posted by johng

I kind of like the first shot - kind of a where's waldo. On the cycling shot, I suggest doing some research on panning technique. You have two standard shots from the side with cycling - panning to show motion or tight frozen shot to show exertion, tension or emotion. This shot doesn't work for either type. The bike is frozen which looks odd and the face of the rider isn't particularly sharp. And, because of the lack of pan and the narrow aperture you've got kind of a bothersome background. For just starting out I think you've got a good start here but take a look at some other cycling shots to get a better idea of what I'm talking about. I'll admit I dont shoot tris so I can't show you photos for demonstration.

Thanks! The blue goggles did it for me! Serendipitous I'll admit. I agree about the bike shot. It's neither fish nor fowl, and I have dozens like it. I guess my shutter speed was too high, cause they were coming by at 25-30 mph, and I was definitely swinging the camera as they passed, but I was thinking boekeh, and didn't want to stop down any more. Heck if I'd opened up to 2.8, I'da had an even faster shutter speed. Guess I could have dropped the ISO from 400, to allow for a slower shutter. So, your answer is what . ? . ? ND filter?

I was using a monopod. Do you find panning to be more effective without any support? Part of my problem (and I knew I had one) was that I couldn't step back from the road so I could swing more slowly with a longer lens. As soon as I did, people would get in front of me .

[Icebear]

Originally Posted by ian408

In addition to what John is suggesting, I'd like to suggest a lower angle. In the first, the lower angle would maybe make the sea of red caps standout and still give you that cool look the shot's captured. And in the second, a lower angle (and panning) would bring life to this shot.

I appreciate your comments. Unfortunately, for the swim shot, the only way for me to have had a lower angle would have been to have been standing in the lake. There was about an eight foot straight drop to the water. As it was, I staked my claim about an hour and fifteen minutes prior to the start to a tree hanging over the water that I could hang off.

Your observation about a lower angle helping the bike shots is also spot on. I think this is what you mean:




It seems to me that I also had a tendency to get shots dead-on from the side, which sux, cause you don't get the faces. This one, of a blind competitor, is better on both counts I think: