Remolition.com

Part 2

The Shoot

A shot usually has 3 main components, Foreground, Background and the Focal Point. Make them all interesting and you're on a winner.

Generally in a good photo your eye will be subconsciously drawn around the whole shot and rest naturally on the subject like a mini 2D adventure.

Offset the focal point or subject to make the shot more interesting.

Never overexpose, it's like unscrambling an egg, if its underexposed you can usually cook it a little more in post production but once it's burnt putting it in the freezer wont unburn it.

Anyone heard of the rule of thirds?

What about lead in lines?

Think about what the rider's wearing. Strong red colours can easily saturate or bleed with digital or film but red is good for auto metering/focusing in low light. Dark or natural colours get lost in the mix.

Don't be afraid to get in close but be decisive. Either give your subject space to breathe or go for a detail.

Fast Moving subjects need space to move into to help retain the flow of the shot.

Motion in a picture is governed by the shutter speed. Most freestyle you want to freeze, do the same with boardercross and you could make your subject look like they're stationary and gurning.

The background is as important as the foreground. Sometimes a step to the left or right will stop distractions to your subject.

De-clutter your images. Watch for anything that is distracting to the subject. Keep shots simple.

A Shallow depth-of-field can help un-clutter your shot and enforce the subject.

To get to a shallow depth-of-field, try zooming in from further away to force a wider aperture.

Moving closer to a subject instead of zooming in will give you a different perspective.

Shoot prone, shoot from a tree, shoot from the hip, whatever it takes to get a new angle.

Like a sniper...Shoot and move... Shoot and move. Keep working the angles.

Don't be afraid to turn your back on the action to get a different view. Crowd reactions capture the feeling of an event.

Panning, moving your camera at the same speed as your subject, will give a sense of speed, de-clutter the background and is less timing critical than other shots.

Take spontaneous, unstaged photos. They are almost always better.

Lookout for natural patterns and try to include them in your composition.

Work with the sun. If you shoot into the sun your subject will probably be in silhouette or the sky will burnout. Look for places with less harsh lighting, under trees maybe, or use some fill-in flash or use the sun to effect.

Google earth will now show you the motion of the sun and the shadow cast from any point on the planet at any time of year, if your really keen. Otherwise the easyist way to tell is by looking up.

You don't have to capture everything in a single photo. Be concise. Bracketing, metering either side of the auto settings, will help you get what you want, it's hard to tell exactly what's right until you get them on a proper screen. It's hedging your bets really.

The hill generally looks less steep unless you can get a good angle and use the background to show the gradient.

At the end of the day, it's all subjective. If you like it then it's a good shot period. Nothing's ever perfect unless it's contrived or setup, that will usually show in its fakeness. Mountainboarding is a natural phenomenon and I think to represent it properly the photos need to be too. They'll probably never hang in the tate modern so why disappear up your own arse about it. It's all about spreading the word, capturing the feeling and having fun.