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-   -   Some pictures from the bike race... (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=43385)

Schwinn August 7th, 2007 10:09 PM

Some pictures from the bike race...
 
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I was doing marshalling at a bike race a few weeks ago, and decided to finally use the SLR in a mode other than "point and shoot"...

Schwinn August 7th, 2007 10:10 PM

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...the compression is really killing the quality...anyone know a way around that?

Schwinn August 7th, 2007 10:13 PM

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Okay, last ones (I took about 200, so you'll understand my restraint :D )

marko August 8th, 2007 03:07 PM

These are some nice shots Schwinn! I especially like the shots where the bikers are leaning, like shot with bike # 354 in the first series and the shot with bike # 380 in the last series.

Re compression - What program are you using?

Marko

Schwinn August 8th, 2007 09:56 PM

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These are the ones I think are funny. Not because of the way they look, but because of what the riders are doing. When you're racing, you want to keep your bike on the ground as much as possible. Unless you are bunny hopping over an object, air time slows you down. But as soon as the camera came out, slight hills suddenly became X-game style jumps for some guys!

I'm using Microsoft Office Picture manager. It's the one that comes up, and it's the easiest to use. Just hit the "compress for web pages" button, and it instantly goes from 6 meg to 79 k. But it really takes away on the quality. I wanted to ask for advice, but I find the pictures aren't as crisp as the original, and some are darker.

The one question I do have is how to take action shots in low light outside? A couple of these pictures I played with my software picture editor to lighten them up, but I know real photographers consider that cheating.;)

mummummum August 8th, 2007 10:12 PM

We're talking about two different races here right ? Cuz #354 is :confused: me !!!

I am NOT a photographer but someone here recommended "Photofiltre" ~ that's what I use for editing and compression (bonus is that it's a free download).

Schwinn August 8th, 2007 10:32 PM

This was the Duke's 8 Hour race at Hardwood Hills. I patrol there, and was marshalling. This will be the first time in 7 years I didn't do a 24 hour race (Mrs. Schwinn is due around the same time as the race I usually do), and now I'm wishing I did this one.

mummummum August 8th, 2007 10:46 PM

Okay...if it's one 8 hour race why is #354 two different people ?

marko August 9th, 2007 09:00 AM

[QUOTE]I'm using Microsoft Office Picture manager. It's the one that comes up, and it's the easiest to use. Just hit the "compress for web pages" button, and it instantly goes from 6 meg to 79 k. But it really takes away on the quality. I wanted to ask for advice, but I find the pictures aren't as crisp as the original, and some are darker.

The one question I do have is how to take action shots in low light outside? A couple of these pictures I played with my software picture editor to lighten them up, but I know real photographers consider that cheating.[/QUOTE]

Hi Schwinn,

I am not familiar with that program..BUT when you compress check to see if there are some advanced options...they may be called resampling or constaining...please post back what those advanced options (if any are). Although admittedly I use a higher end program...I have tried iranview many times. It's free and works great.
Here's a tip for irfanview from the following thread
[url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=24118[/url]
To resize an image in Irfanview

Ok if you download irfanview, open your file in irfanview.
Go to Image - Resize/Resample - all I did was put the width at 500 pixels and clicked ok.Then I went to File - Save as..... and chose JPG - - JPEG for their dropdown menu.

Once I did that a new window opened where there is a slider to choose higher or lower images.

Like I've said in other threads - Personally I always use 40 or less

Then just save it.

This was just a quick way that I was able to do it in Irfanview, I'm sure there are equally good or better ways to do it in Irfanview or other graphics programs. Irfanview is a really easy program to play around with.

Another good thread on the same topic is [url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=20694[/url] and in general, an important point in that thread is...

Personally when I upload files I will resize the image to 350 or 500 pixels in width. By changing the width the height AUTOMATICALLY changes. Then I will choose a jpeg setting of 30 or 40. This gives me a beautiful picture for the web that is rarely over 40k.

make sure though that when you are changing 1 value - that the other values are changing as well. So when you change the resolution - the width and height of the image are changing as well. Or if you are changing the width (like I do) that the height is changing as well. There SHOULD be a check box (maybe it's called resample image - or constrain porportions) to do this.

The fuzziness you speak of is almost surely due to the fact the other values are not changing when you are changing 1 of the elements.

I hope that helps.

[B]Onto low light[/B]

You have 2 choices...easiest...use a flash when the light gets too low.

OR if you don't want to use flash....make the ISO higher (maybe 1000 or 1600) on higher end cameras. Changing the iso, if you don't know how to do it, probably takes up 1 paragraph in your camera's manual....so it's easy and GREAT to know. The only thing you should know....(aye there's the rub) is that higher ISo's yield more grain or more pixellation in ENLARGED photos. You probably won't notice it for web photos or smaller enlargements like 4x6 inches.

also...the game has TOTALLY changed with digital photography...cheating is no longer cheating...it's using the best tools to get the job done.

Hope that helped,

Marko

Rick C August 9th, 2007 09:24 AM

[I][B]The one question I do have is how to take action shots in low light outside?[/B][/I]

As mentioned earlier, jack the ISO higher, which in turn allows you to raise the shutter speed to the minimum 1/250th of a second you need for stopping sport photography.

Modest variant . . . . . you will probably find you would need a slower shutter speed, say 1/125th of a second, if the action is coming directly towards you versus a minimum of 1/250th of a second to stop action that is parallel to you.

Also, consider "panning" in low light to take advantage of the poor conditions and get a somewhat unique shot . . . . . you'd have an excellent situation at your bike race for that. An example of panning below, background in motion, foreground subject stopped. You can see the possibility here with a cyclist going by . . .

[IMG]http://www.goldentales.ca/London4.jpg[/IMG]

Rick C
[url]www.goldentales.ca[/url]

marko August 9th, 2007 09:29 AM

Wow! really nice shot Rick C! Great panning! and EXCELLENT tip.

You may wish to also upload it into your own thread though in the new subforum.

As another panning tip [SIZE="1"](I''ll see your panning tip and raise you...LOL)[/SIZE]
Try panning with the camera affixed to a tripod if you have one.

Schwinn August 10th, 2007 10:48 PM

[QUOTE=mummummum;461590]We're talking about two different races here right ? Cuz #354 is :confused: me !!!

[/QUOTE]

Endurance races are relay races. They can be solo teams, 2, 3, 5 or 10 person teams, though I believe this race topped out at 5 people teams because it was only an 8 hour race.

Thanks for the advice. I may give those programs a try.

I gave the resort a copy of the pictures, told them they were free to use if they liked them. I'm really getting into this photography thing, think I'd like to actually do something with the pictures if they're good enough. I'll try those programs and maybe post the pictures I'm entering in the Toronto Zoo contest, get an honest opinion from you guys!


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