I've taken to taking a lot of action shots while riding, of other riders. Most of them are junk but that's the beauty of digital - delete the junk and carry on snapping. Every so often there's one that really works:
Sam in Scotland:
Gerald, taken by Liz on the Dun Run:
In bright sunny daylight it's easy to get decent images and only takes a little practice to get more photos of riders than of the sky or the tarmac or your ear.
So far what have I learned? Well, get ahead of the target! There are too many arse shots like this in the world:
Once you're ahead you can get a face, and faces are great. Plus they're usually smiley because you're being daft and cycling is fun
Get close, too. "Fill the frame" they say, and they're right. Some of that, and some of the random lampposts and compositional ugliness, can be sorted out easily with the Crop tool.
A fast exposure ("sport" mode on point-n-shoot cameras) is ideal for sharp shots. Flash, less so. You can get some funky effects with a "night scene with flash fill-in" - great streaks of light like lightsabers - but be sure to hold the camera very still (as in, on a support) or the streaks turn crazy.
Crazy is sometimes good. This shot's full of hallucinatory awfulness, and so was the ride, but the actual
scene was just a wet grey dawn.
Back to moving targets and positioning the camera a bit low - at chest-height - can get a nicer composition than over-the-shoulder.
Really low and close and you can wheel out macro modes for whirring transmission and bulging calves.
As for cameras, small and light and robust are the order of the day. Cheap-but-good means you dare to take shots that you wouldn't with a fancy-pants rig. All Risks cover on the warranty is nice too!
