Loneliness

    I've picked this post title because this is what I think is the general atmosphere in the shots to come. I am going to say how I managed to get low light shots even with kit lenses. Actually, I used   55-200 Tamron f4-5.6, so that's not exactly bright. But still, I managed to get some shots that I'm proud of. One setting that was constant was the ISO 3200 and the exposure was one stop underexposed, and then I brought it back in Lightroom. I underexposed the pictures to get a fast enough shutter speed to capture the moment.
    Okay, let's jump straight into the pictures...

I like the colors in the first picture. Also, I like how leading lines draw you into the picture.

Obviosly, when using kit lenses, you won't get big apertures, so that means you'll have to create some interesting effects using a slow shutter speed. This is exactly the case, where the little girl is sharp, while the 2 cyclissts in the background are motion blured. Also, from what I'm seeing, one of them might be actually looking down at the little girl.

I saw a cool picture on the internet and decidd to give mine a similar look. I achieved this in post-processing by decreasin the white balance down to 2000K. This allowed me to get a chilly atmosphere.

What I do at night is take bursts of  shots. So, out of 5 pictures, this exact one was the only one usable because of the low shutter speed. Now this is the picture that basicaly gave this post its title, because it gives you a sense of isolation. One more thing, even though my night shots are usually in black and white, don't be afraid to experiment by going color. Also, don't worry too much about ISO, if the picture is nicely framed, nicely exposed and gives you feelings about it, people won't care that there might be a little too much noise here and there. It's the moment captured that really matters, not the ISO.

Thanks again, and, if you hadn't already, please check my website to see my portfolio. It's still under construction, but I think it will turn out nice :).

http://tudorsphotos.weebly.com/

Crater DH Cup

    After running about after finishing my XCO race, I went to shoot some downhill action. Damn, those huys were nuts! :) I first did what I usually do, Get out my Flash and shoot some wide angle shots with on-camera flash. Then, I decided to make a change. I grabbed my tele, bumped my ISO to 3200 to freeze the action, and started concentrating on composition. Actually, it turned out really well. The ISO is good in daylight with the Canon 20D, so I could use all the images taken.

This is one of my favourite flash shots, and actually the only one presented in this post.

Sure, you can see the clues of the high ISO, but his pose and situation make the subject stand out, not the technical stuff like ISO.

I tried to integrate the tree and some of the track to put the subject in context.

I have two shots I like here, but I'm not sure which one is better...

This is one of my teammates who actually raced the DH race too. He was one of the only ones who made a double jump, so I stayed there to get the shot.

The same place, different rider, different perspecrive and route. I like the different focal plains present in the picture.

                                                    You can find all my pictures *here.

Also, check my website http://tudorsphotos.weebly.com/ for more pictures.

Photographing tennis is not as easy as it might seem...

    I saw this contest on the internet on shooting a tennis tournament so I thought I'll go for it. Basicaly, I went there, spent more than 5 hours in total in the sun, but I think I learned quite a bit...

First of all, timing in tennis photography is key. I probably have 600 backhand shots, and only one or two are with the player in the exact right position.

Little things like the racket being one centimeter off and covering someone's face can ruin a picture.

Also, one BIG thing to consider is the background. Noisy and busy backgrounds can also ruin a fantastic pose from the player.

Getting different angles is also important. I talked to a photographer from Nikon and he told me that a really important thing in such a sport is to move around, keep changing your shooting angles.

And the last thing, get close! Sure, with the zoom:). The better pictures are the one that are closer to the subject, even if sometimes you cut off some legs or thing like that.

One more thing, PLEASE help me qualify in the judging of a photo contest by entering this link https://www.facebook.com/winnerscluj and liking the pictures of Tudor Stupariu, which is my FB profile. Sure, while you're there, feel free to like any other images, there are some good ones there too. I need 20 likes per photo to qualify for the judging, so if you like my work, please stop by and help me qualify :).

How do I shoot Mountainbike?

    Now, first of all, every and each of us has a different style of shooting this sport. One trick I learned is to have variation. There's no point in taking 200 shots in the same place with same framing for example.
    I will take you through some shots I took with a friend and explain how I realized each of them.

1/250th , F/4, ISO 800

1/250th of a second is the max flash sync shutter speed, so you can't go over that shutter speed when using a flash. So yes, I did use a flash. The big aperture was for subject isolation, while ISO 800 helped me balance the exposure. This was shot at 55mm on a tele lens.

1/250th , F/4.5, ISO 400

This one was shot at 18mm, so the flash was closer, allowing me to decrease the ISO down to 400. Also, my position was low, in order to get a more dramatic perspective.

1/100th , F/5.6, ISO 400

You can probably see the shutter speed ain't high, and that's for a reason. I wanted to create a panning effect, tracking the subject and bluring the background in a dynamic way. Also, I changed my perspective and moved up high, to get things more interesting.

1/160th , F/4.5, ISO 400

One thing to keep in mind is that in sports photography it's not all about the action shots, sometimes a nice stationary one works great. Here, I tried to introduce the flare deliberately in the picture, again to make things look apart. The flash sorted out the backlighting problem. Actually, all theese shots were taken with a flash...

1/200th , F/4.5, ISO 400

The perspective here, at 18mm, looks interesting in my opinion. Only when you look at the bottom of the frame you realize the backwheel is not sitting on the ground.

1/1000th , F/5.6, ISO 200

This is probably the only one without flash. Still, I put the wheel in the sun, in order to have a decent shutter speed, since the difference between shade and sun was so BIG in light increments. I used the 200mm end of my tele for this detail shot, and I love how the texture and colors came out.

1/250th , F/4, ISO 800

Again, a proof of diversity. This was shot at 55mm with a tele lens, st F/4 for background blur (BOKEH) and the shutter speed and flash froze the main subject.

One conclusion about action flash photography is that it does 2 things: One, freezes the subject and two, makes him stand out from the background.

Now, there is no general rule on how to shoot sports, like you HAVE to have a higj shutter speed, you HAVE to have a big aperture and so on... It all depends on the conditions and on how you want your final shot to look.

Hope this helped you a bit, and remember, this is how I shoot mountainbike, not how you should shoot it or stuff like that....

This weekend I'm out photographing a tennis competition, hoping that I'll win not just experience, but maybe a little prise :). Who knows?

Don't forget to check my portfolio at http://tudorsphotos.weebly.com/.