Pezinská Baba - shooting bikes Part I

As a friend of mine is about to start a bike portal for the Slovak Republic we needed to obtain some quality images that we can use for this project. There are a lot of possibilities for that but following my inner voice and strong passion for photography I have decided to that I might as well shoot it myself.


However it's very important to use the right type of gear for this type of photo shoots:

1. Digital SLR is highly advisable for high shutter speeds and higher number of fps.
2. Fast telephoto lens with fixed aperture of at least f/2.8 over the entire length. I have used a second hand Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Lens for Nikon Digital and Conventional SLR Cameras.
3. A sturdy tripod to prevent camera shake at high levels of zoom
4. A tripod head that allows you the desired level of flexibility

You can see the gear I used in the Amazon widget below, it's not the cheapest gear but you get a lot value out of it. You might try the same without the tripod and using you standard kit lens, however you might get into difficulties with image sharpness and the speed of focus (the standard 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED Nikkor Lens it the f/10 is quite well described by Ken Rockwell). Of course it all depends what you want to do with these images, an iPhone might do as well.

The assignment:

Make several pictures to be used on a website. The images should be clear and dynamic in a good light showing speed and passion. Time needed: 3-5 hours. Skill level: I guess anyone can do it.

Having your assignment in mind you need a location for shooting it. Sometimes it can be a problem, however there are wast resources on the Internet where one can read about potential gatherings, races and other events in the country of your choice. Thankfully I have been shown a good location in Slovakia which is just a short ride away from Bratislava.


Pezinská Baba or Baba (527 m ) is the seat of the main ridge of the Little Carpathians, the subunit Pezinské Carpathian mountains between Horsehead (648.8 m asl) and Čmeľok (709 m).
Saddle path crosses II/503 from Malacky to Pezinok and red-marked tourist paths Štefánikova Trail (part of the international European route E8), leading to the mountain ridge from the north to the top of Devin and intersects with the blue-marked trail from Pernek to Pezinok .


I have chosen a sunny day with temperatures around 30 degrees and went out for the shoot during the early afternoon having the sun in a relatively high position to prevent long shadows from the trees around the narrow mountain road. Thankfully there had been a good space just above an S shaped curve to park the car further off the track to leave the background clear of "disturbing" objects. Both sides of the road where accessible while the side behind the crash barrier provided more safety. (Note: while shooting on the streets with live traffic it's advisable to wear a vest, so drivers can see you from a distance).


The image above was shot in aperture priority mode ISO 200, f/3.2, 1/5000 sec and at 200 mm. The result is a frozen image where you can even see the needles that have been blown of the tarmac by the wind of the passing bike. The fore- and background are blown out providing the maximum focus on the subject. While this is a crisp image it doesn't carry the dynamics and the velocity the bike is traveling at - the shutter speed was simply too high.

For this image I have moved myself a bit out of the sun to have to possibility to work with a reduced shutter speed of 1/400 sec. While having the bike and the rider still very sharp, the wheels have the spinning effect giving the image a more dynamic feel. 

Another way to give your images more dynamic feel is panning. I'm not going into describing the technique as I'm not really that far to teach other people just yet. The basic idea behind panning as a technique is that you pan your camera along in time with the moving subject and end up getting a relatively sharp subject but a blurred background. Read more: at Digital Photography School. The image above was shot in the shutter priority, continuous mode, auto-focus set to contentious and the focus area reduced one dot. Shutter speed 1/100 at f/25. Another way to achieve a good panning result in these conditions is to use an ND filter to reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor.

All in all its been a successful first day at Pezinská Baba. The lessons learned:

1. Use low ISO settings
2. Experiment with different angles (try to find elevated spots to shoot from above)
3. Shoot in RAW if you're not sure about exposure and white balance
4. Position yourself so you can see both side of the road
5. Bring a stool - being on the feet for 4 hours is not a joke
6. Use locations with less or no direct sunlight for panning
7. Shoot, shoot, shoot - you can always throw away later

With these lessons learned I hope to create more candid images next time. The next assignment will be to create some action shots with focus on panning as well as to shoot the community, parked bikes and portraits.

Finally a YouTube video of the action that can be observed while on Baba:

The full flickr set from this day is available here: Pezinská Baba

Thanks for reading. 

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