Covering the track cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome has been great! The speed at which the competitors ride past the crowd and photo positions is quite something. You can really feel the wind on your face, especially when the cyclists are up close to the edge of the track!
Here’s a shot I took as Ludek Lichnovský (Czech Republic) and his fellow competitors passed me, just feet away, during Day 4’s men’s 40-km points race final. Talk about getting close to the action!
To get this shot, I lowered my monopod, and rested my camera and 70-200-mm lens on the ledge, providing me with the perfect angle – but only when cyclists rode right up to the edge of the track.
There was also a lot of luck involved, and a fast autofocus and continuous shooting speed both helped, of course. I like the moment captured in the resulting photo.
The camera settings I chose were a focal length of 70 mm, wide-open aperture of f/2.8 to let lots of light in, shutter speed at 1/1250 to freeze the action, and ISO 3200 to allow for the fast exposure.
So far, I’ve been shooting exclusively in manual mode, because that’s what I’m used to doing in my everyday photography, and it’s what I’m most comfortable with. I like to have full control over the images I create. As good and as intelligent as the latest cameras are, I usually dont want the camera guessing what settings to use.
In an indoor venue, such as the Velodrome, the light isn’t changing, and any windows were shaded with blinds. Other than changing maybe the shutter speed and exposure compensation for some shots, my settings remain pretty much the same.
At an outdoor event, though, I would consider using Av mode (on Canon). This is aperture priority mode, where you select the aperture and ISO, but the camera selects the shutter speed.
There’s also Tv, or shutter priority mode, where you select the shutter speed and ISO, and the camera selects the aperture. This would also work for sports shooting.
Personally, though, I would never use any fully automatic mode, and I’d recommend learning how to shoot manually, if you want to become a better photographer.
One thing I tried to do with a few shots, was to get the large logos on the track, such as ‘European Championships’ and ‘People Make Glasgow,’ in the frame. This helps place the riders at this particular competition, otherwise you’re just capturing a generic velodrome background. There’s a need for generic shots, too, though.
