k i l l b o y . c o m

Having shot about 1,200,000 pictures last year, several published in magazines, I thought I would share a bit of what I have learned. I'm still learning and open to suggestions, but I realize that I have figured some things out, and I get asked every now and then for suggestions on this picture taking thing.

Now sharing this info is arguably comparable to the magician telling you how the trick works. It may not be the best business move on my part. These tips are not exactly secret techniques, but I hope you appreciate what I have spent so much time learning and sharing here, and you will do what you can to help us continue to be successful and bring you entertainment and information like this.

Ok, let's get to the first subject...

Composition

One of the fundamental rules of good photography is the "Rule of Thirds", or "Dead-Center is Deadly". To apply this technique, imagine a tic-tac-toe grid over what you see through the eyepiece. Placing your subject completely within the center square is a no-no. Ideally, you want to place your subject near one of the 4 points those tic-tac-toe lines would intersect.

Now I know this goes contrary to what most people would initially think, but we will look at some examples here and I think you'll see what I mean.

In this shot the subject is centered:

Not bad, but let's look at another composition.
In this shot, the subject is just off-center, and a little lower in the frame:

It may not be immediately obvious, but for most people the second image is more "pleasing" and looks a little more professional.

This brings us to another area of composition, and that is subject direction. If your subject has a front, and you move it off-center, it should be facing into the frame. So if your subject is facing right, you want to frame it just to the left of center, or vice versa. Here is an example of poor composition:

As you can see, the bike appears to be traveling out of the shot, and something about it is just not pleasing.

Now these rules for placing your subject off-center apply to shooting people also, but do not really apply if you are filling the frame with your subject like so:

Also keep your background in mind. If possible, position yourself so that the shot is taken in front of a background that is either not very distracting, or a background that is so attractive it would look nice on it's own...like this shot:

Okay, now we'll move on to the most common action shot mistake I see...

Track your Subject

When shooting action, especially fast-moving vehicles, you probably want the subject to be sharp and in focus...I hope. There's no way around it - the camera has to follow, or "track" the subject or the subject will probably be blurry.

Now, there are actually three kinds of blur - focus blur, dirty lens blur, and motion blur. Let us discuss the motion blur for now. Basically, the less light you have, the more motion blur you are likely to have. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes getting consistently good shots tricky. But, the shots that are good, look really unique. Look at this shot for example:

At that point I had really lost my light as some dark clouds moved over. Many of the shots I took had to be deleted, but now and then I managed to stay with the vehicle and get a winner. In the shot above the shutter was at 1/20th of a second, an eternity in action photography. This means that even after I pressed the shutter release button, I had to continue tracking the subject because the shutter was staying open for so long.

This requires some other skills in camera handling that we will cover....now.

Know your Camera

Almost every consumer-level digital camera has shutter lag. This is the delay between the time you press the button, and the moment the shutter opens/activates to begin taking the picture. The higher-end digital SLR cameras and film cameras don't have this problem, but if you can learn and understand this delay, you can still take great shots.

Another factor that can cause delay is all the automation on many point/shoot cameras. When the camera is in auto mode and the shutter release button it pressed, it takes a quick look at the scene and sets the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and flash setting then takes the shot. It does all this very quickly, but it still takes time and can cause a delay. Any of these settings you can manually control, will take the load off the camera and allow it to work faster.

Now, focusing on a moving subject can be very difficult for a camera to do, especially the point/shoot consumer grade cameras that are so popular. If your camera has an option for continuous focusing, where the camera never really locks-on to the subject, but instead continues to constantly track and focus the subject, try to use it.

You can also take some of the load off of your camera's focusing by placing yourself near the central point of the radius on the inside of a curve. (mathematical term?)

Understand that the camera has to adjust the focus when the subject is moving away or towards the camera. That's it. So if you can place yourself at a point where the subject stays at a set distance as it travels by, your shot is more likely to be in focus.

In the diagram below, let's imagine that a motorcycle is traveling along the outer radius from point A1 to point K1.

If you position yourself at point K, you can see that when the motorcycle is at point A1, it is farther away from you than it will be when it gets to point K1. Because of this change in distance, your autofocus has to constantly adjust to track your subject.

Now if you move to point O, you will be farther away, but the motorcycle will be the same distance from you as it travels along the arc from point A1 to K1. You may have to zoom a little more, and the flash will be less effective, but the focus will not have to work nearly as hard. (everything is a trade-off!)

Finally, try not to track your subject in and out of shadows. This can throw your camera's light metering off. For instance, you start tracking your moving subject, and just as you press the shutter release button, they travel into the shadow of a tree. Your camera just looked at the scene and saw that they were in bright light, so it set all the variables, then when the shutter did open, the subject had moved into shade and the shot will be underexposed. It works both ways, so try to pick a consistent area to shoot in.

This takes us to the next area...

Lighting

It seems obvious, but sometimes it's easy to forget that the sun is lighting our subject, and should probably be kept behind us. Before you settle into a shooting position, take a moment to consider where the light will be in relation to you and the subject. You probably want to be between the two. And keep your shadow out of it. =)

Sometimes what appears to be great sunlight can ruin a shot, and it's hard to figure out why. During the colder months the light can be rather bright and harsh because the atmosphere is generally clearer and doesn't diffuse the light like the haze of summertime can. Polarizing filters help, but you can also try different angles to minimize the harshness and actually use it to your advantage. In the shot below, the light is pretty harsh, but it is so far off to the left that it is casting strong shadows across the bike and rider, giving the shot more depth.

Finally, remember the golden hours. That is, the period just after sunrise and just before sunset when the light is soft and golden. This is a great time to get some of the most attractive shots, especially of people. (they look so well-tanned!)

Next we're going to loosen up...

Be Creative!

I have a hard time remembering this myself, but my partner Keith reminds me on occasion with his intentionally tilted shots.

If you are shooting the same subject over and over, try doing funky things with your composition like tilting the camera or zooming way in or way out for some variety. You can also turn the flash off if the lighting is low and go for that motion blur, or move to crazy locations like climbing up high,

or getting down low to get some interesting angles.

Finally...

Stay Ready

Even though you got the shot you wanted as the subject passed, stay ready in case something interesting happens. Keith and I still struggle with this, but I have had riders collide head-on in front of me while I had my camera in both hands, and I stood there with my jaw open. I was out of sight, standing in a creek below the road surface, but I could hear the tires squealing before I could see the bike, and just as he came into view, bam. It's not the picture I personally want to take, but there was nothing I could do, both riders came out fine, and it could have been a spectacular shot.

So that's about it. I've added some small Q&A's below, and I'll add more down there as I learn more and you guys email questions.

Miscellaneous

"What about Tripods?"

Not recommended. Unless you are using a $200+ fluid-head unit, most tripods will not allow you to move smoothly with your subject in all directions. Tripods encourage lazy camera handling in action photography and you end up with nice shots of the scenery, but the moving subject is blurry.

"What about Flashes?"

Useful, but be considerate. In motorcycle photography in particular, the riders really tend to drive to where they are looking. Popping a flash on the outside of a turn will regularly cause riders to run wide. If you must use a flash on strangers, try to be on the inside of the curve, where a rider tends to look anyway, and try not to "flash" them until they have passed the camera so it will not temporarily blind them.

"What about my camera's Special Effects?"

Not recommended. You can apply those effects after the shot with programs like Photobrush or Paint Shop Pro, but you can't undo those effects once your camera has applied them.

"Which camera do you recommend?"

I don't really keep up with the latest news, because I am happy with what I am using right now. A good rule is to go with the best one you can comfortably afford. Just remember to budget for memory cards and batteries. Check around for reviews at places like DPReview.com and Steve's Digicams.

"Where do you recommend purchasing cameras/equipment?"

B&H Photo/Video. You can shop around and find slightly better prices, but many of those low-buck places can give you a very hard time just letting you order what you want, and try to push other products or fees on you. I had one place tell me there was a $200 shipping insurance fee that had to be added after I had placed the order! B&H simply has a HUGE selection of gear at consistently competitive prices with no BS.

So that's it, if you have any other questions you would like answered just drop me a line and I'll be happy to add them on here.