The way to {photograph} bikes and bicycling

Josh Weinberg

I’ve been photographing bicycles, races, occasions, and journeys for a very long time. Sometimes for enjoyable, however principally for work (which can be usually enjoyable), and a recurring query that comes up from colleagues, mates, and readers of my work is how I method issues.

A latest instance got here whereas Rob English and I had been documenting the Made present this yr. I felt flattered that the framebuilding grasp himself had requested if I had any pictures tricks to share. During every of the three days working collectively, I’d provide a suggestion or two, we might go our separate methods, pulling apart as many bikes as attainable to {photograph}, after which reconvene to pool our pictures collectively into collective articles.

By merely retaining in thoughts a number of issues I had shared with him, Rob’s pictures appeared to progress from Friday to Sunday. He was one in every of many over time who beneficial that I put a few of the recommendation I shared in writing, which is a part of what led me to pen this text.

I’ve absorbed lots from different professionals and fans over time, and am at all times pleased to share what I’ve discovered, in addition to a few of the private greatest practices I’ve developed taking pictures each bicycles and the game itself. There aren’t any secrets and techniques to the method, and I imagine it is all relatable, uncomplicated, and doable. Still, there’s plenty of noise to wade by way of round gear and methodology.

This is an extended learn, and there are many instance pictures from my archive. Thanks to the useful navigational instruments beneath, I hope it may be used as a useful resource and particular sections returned to as wanted.

Finding a deeper connection by way of the lens

Photography is commonly considered a private pursuit, however a latest expertise jogged my memory it has simply as a lot – possibly extra – worth for group because it does for creativity.

Photography fundamentals

This isn’t a normal information to pictures or how one can use a digicam, per se. It does not cowl coloration concept or enhancing digital pictures. There’s an excessive amount of variation throughout sorts and fashions of kit for me to supply something substantial in that realm right here. However, I may broaden on sure matters in follow-up articles.

Plus, there are such a lot of brand- and model-specific tutorials out there on YouTube and throughout the web that my try could be futile. But some fundamentals must be coated earlier than I get into specifics of the craft.

Photography fundamentals might be summarized in a fundamental rationalization of the publicity triangle centered on controlling gentle, movement, and perspective by way of numerous digicam and lens operations. In brief, the idea encompasses three facets: aperture, shutter velocity, and lightweight sensitivity (expressed as ISO) – all working collectively to supply a balanced picture.

Aperture is the scale of a lens opening that determines how a lot gentle reaches the digicam’s sensor. It additionally defines the depth of area, which is how a lot of a picture is in focus. A large aperture is denoted by a smaller quantity (f/2.8, for instance) and lets extra gentle in whereas making a shallow depth of area that helps isolate a topic in opposition to the background. A slender aperture (round f/16) permits much less gentle and in addition places extra of the body in focus.

On manually managed cameras, there’s an aperture ring that rotates across the lens physique to manage the scale of the opening inside. Many fashionable digital cameras do that with a small dial someplace on the digicam physique, or might be configured to carry out the operate robotically.

Shutter velocity is the size of time a digicam’s shutter stays open to seize gentle on the sensor. It additionally impacts how movement seems in a picture. A quicker velocity, like 1/one thousandth of a second, is extra prone to freeze motion, whereas a slower velocity of round 1/thirtieth of a second will most likely lead to movement blur. Shutter velocity is usually managed manually through a dial on the digicam physique, and, like aperture, fashionable digital cameras can management it robotically, usually adjusting shutter velocity and aperture in relation to one another for correct publicity.

In phrases of the connection between shutter velocity and freezing movement, a useful rule of thumb is to maintain the shutter velocity quicker than the lens’s focal size. For instance, when utilizing a 50 mm lens, a really perfect shutter velocity is 1/fiftieth of a second or quicker. Anything much less is susceptible to inducing blur because of digicam shake.

ISO refers to a digicam sensor’s sensitivity to gentle. In analog digicam phrases, that is how delicate a sure movie inventory is to gentle, and has an identical connotation for the sensors present in digital cameras. A decrease ISO, like 100 or 200 – a typical baseline for many cameras – is much less delicate to gentle. It additionally produces a “clean” picture.

Higher ISOs, like 2500, are extra delicate to gentle but additionally introduce “noise” or artifacts that, relying on the digicam, can scale back picture high quality. Flash might be deployed to reinforce and help in creating extra gentle, however that dialogue is past the scope of this easy primer.

Combined, these three facets of digicam performance will expose (brighten or darken) a picture. For the publicity to be “correct,” the three should be balanced. When the shutter velocity is elevated (letting in much less gentle to freeze movement), for instance, compensation must be made on the opposite sides of the triangle by both widening the aperture or rising the ISO to keep up brightness. Such changes may both slender the picture’s depth of area or make it noisier.

Mastering the interaction among the many publicity triangle is essential to creating good pictures, or at the least having the ability to management the system to make the pictures you wish to make. Knowing how one can use these key capabilities can even empower photographers to maneuver past automated modes and make inventive selections, resembling deliberately blurring movement or isolating topics.

Camera choice

This query got here up most just lately for me within the feedback on my year-end Favorite Things record. I discussed a Leica Q3 43 fixed-lens digicam bought firstly of the yr, and that I had drastically loved utilizing it to doc journey and leisure bike rides, and as a second digicam for skilled work, taking pictures races this previous season.

In that write-up, I additionally indicated that it is most likely the final digicam I’d advise somebody to buy (principally due to its excessive retail worth and comparatively restricted versatility with a single focal size), which then prompted some readers to ask what I would suggest. And we may spin off a completely totally different web site devoted to answering that query alone, as a result of, effectively, all of it relies upon, and there are so many choices.

A number of of my favourite issues 2025: Josh Weinberg

Ringing within the yr’s finish with a listing of favorites that had been with me alongside the best way.

Let me know within the feedback if you would like to see digicam critiques right here at Escape, however for now, I’ll maintain it easy and provide my tackle typology (full-frame, crop sensor (APS-C), and compact/point-and-shoot) and widespread manufacturers reasonably than digging too deep into any specific mannequin.

Full-frame cameras get their identify from having a sensor that is the identical measurement as a typical 35 mm movie body (24 mm x 36 mm). Typically most well-liked by professionals and critical fans, these cameras provide a wider area of view, higher low-light efficiency, and extra dynamic vary as a result of their sensors seize extra data, and shallower depth of area than different digicam sorts with smaller sensors, like APS-C. Downsides to full-frame digicam our bodies, nonetheless, are that they’re typically bigger, heavier, and dearer. So, whereas buying full-frame cameras and equipment requires a substantial monetary funding, they’re additionally not as simple to hold or use as smaller options.

Like bikes, there are infinite niches and varieties of cameras out there on as we speak’s market. And, additionally like bikes, manufacturers are locked right into a steady cycle of mannequin updates, retaining buyers and forum-crawlers on their toes. But, likelihood is that if you happen to do your analysis and spend time with a number of front-runners by way of renting or borrowing, you will discover a good match.

I’ve had full-frames from every of the “big three” digicam producers (Canon, Nikon, and Sony) over time. After being on staff Sony for the reason that A7 III was launched in 2018, and later upgrading to the A1 in 2021, I’ve switched to Canon with the R5.

While there are issues I miss concerning the Sony system, together with the model’s coverage of permitting third-party producers to make lenses for its proprietary E-mount, the R5 has been a strong workhorse. Canon additionally has an distinctive prolonged guarantee plan that has saved my ass on a number of events. I’ve had three substantial repairs made to my digicam physique and lenses because of injury I prompted reasonably than inherent defects, which might have price within the hundreds. Still, they’ve all been completed freed from cost as a result of I spent a number of hundred bucks further on the time of preliminary buy.

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