dragon ride photos

pdchaplin
pdchaplin Posts: 27
edited June 2009 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
Are they up yet??

A great day out, not too impressed with the food though.

Comments

  • magliaceleste
    magliaceleste Posts: 748
    Doubt it yet.

    It's the same story every year :roll:
  • big_phil
    big_phil Posts: 18
    be fair guys - they have numerous photos of over 30000 cyclists and I imagine we all want them in numerical order i.e. 1, 2, .....onwards to make it easy for us to find our pictures....and I guess that this must take some time...
  • pdchaplin
    pdchaplin Posts: 27
    hmm suppose so, I am itching to see if I got "caught out" going up Bwlch climb the 2nd time - I was in agony!
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,143
    magliaceleste wrote:
    Doubt it yet.

    It's the same story every year :roll:

    That is harsh to be posting at 10:46 on a Monday, when the guys taking the photos were out all day on the Sunday.
  • magliaceleste
    magliaceleste Posts: 748
    Sorry, that comment was directed at the second sentence about great day out / food stops - not the photographer (who is usually excellent)
  • r3 guy
    r3 guy Posts: 229
    pics are up

    http://www.philoconnor.com/sportivephoto.htm
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,143
    So the ones ending DR7 and 4 are climbing Bwlch second time around (I'm not smiling in those), and ending DR1 are Bwlch first time (I'm still smiling and following a guy in a Bouygues top). Good pics.
  • pauln99
    pauln99 Posts: 76
    As I said rather ungenerously of the photos in an email

    "They don't capture the scenery, hills, gradient or speed on descents..."
  • enjoy_the_ride
    enjoy_the_ride Posts: 49
    pauln99 wrote:
    As I said rather ungenerously of the photos in an email

    "They don't capture the scenery, hills, gradient or speed on descents..."

    No, I don’t think that’s ungenerous at all, especially as they are taken by professional photographers and are expensive to buy. So they may be the going rate, but do the math… 3000 entrants, say only 500 buy the CD of digital images for £30. That’s £15K.

    Close up individual photos are fine and on that basis there is little wrong with what they have taken. Many are very good actually. But ride a couple of events and the photos tend to merge into one. Some variety would be nice.

    Good effort to get 16 thousand plus photos up in 2 days though.
  • LittleB0b
    LittleB0b Posts: 416
    big_phil wrote:
    over 30000 cyclists

    :shock:
    blog: bellevedere
  • Christophe3967
    Christophe3967 Posts: 1,200
    Not sure if they've finished sorting them yet, but quite a few of mine are filed separately, so worth putting in part of your number when searching, as I found some extra ones by leaving off the first digit on my number.

    I'd be suprised if 500 people paid £30. I'm tempted to get a couple though. :)
    Bike1
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N07/3258551288/
    Bike 2
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N ... otostream/
    New Bike
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N07/3479300346/
  • enjoy_the_ride
    enjoy_the_ride Posts: 49
    Christophe3967 wrote:
    ...I'd be suprised if 500 people paid £30. I'm tempted to get a couple though. :)

    Agreed, your guess is as good as mine. But if only 500 of the 3000 entrants buy one digital file at £7.95 that’s still nigh on £4K.

    The point is that for the money a bit more imagination and variety should be provided. Got to remember there is a lot of repeat business here with people doing more than one sportive per year and many riding their favourite from year to year. The challenge for all involved in running these events, not just the photographers, is keeping the punters happy as the years roll by. Otherwise over the coming years these events will peak and then slip away, which would be a shame as there is clearly a demand for them.
  • GeorgeShaw
    GeorgeShaw Posts: 764
    +1. Opportunity missed. Especially in this sportive as the scenery was magnificent. Surely it wasn't difficult for a pro photographer to find a spot that could give a view that included the mountains, or the train of riders coming up the hill behind a rider or in the distance?

    Not that I know anything about photography ...
  • r3 guy
    r3 guy Posts: 229
    Guys

    I know a bit about photography, i am a professional photographer albeit mostly weddings and some sport (rugby)

    I think this guy has done a cracking job of the pics,if he had taken some wider angle shots, then you would not be clearly visible, sure there would be hills and blue mountains in the distance and you would say "look i am sure thats me there among with the 30 other riders in the shot", How many of you could honestly say that you would then pay £7 for that image.

    The bottom line is this is his profession, not a hobby, he needs to take pictures that will sell. This is what pays his mortgage and puts food on the table.

    Yeah it sounds like a lot of cash that he is making, people say the same about wedding photographers, but trust me if i charge £2k for a wedding, i aint getting £2k in my pocket. I need to pay studio rent, insurance, buy equipment, hotel costs, pay tax, album costs, web hosting fees etc etc

    The other thing is that the work of taking the picture is only a very small percentage of the work need to have an image ready to buy, many many many hours are spent in front of the computer processing 1000s of images.


    http://www.kevinlindequephotography.co.uk


    .
  • pauln99
    pauln99 Posts: 76
    Kevin

    Check this site...

    http://www.velodramatic.com/

    Beautiful photography. I simply don't agree that these pictures could not be more atmospheric, etc.

    I'm definitely *not* a photographer, but even I can manage something like this

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulnixon/ ... 960513268/

    Either way, it's subjective. I'm not certainly not prepared to pay £7.95 per digital image for what I perceive to be mediocrity.

    P
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    there is quite a world of differnace between getting a photo or two of all the riders bwlch mountain is a good choice here as it has two bites at the cherry.

    and getting a really good photo of one or more persons. trying to photo all the riders is no mean task.
  • pdchaplin
    pdchaplin Posts: 27
    I brought mine, out of 8 images one was perfect. Shame I cannot find any of the whole view.........
  • GeorgeShaw
    GeorgeShaw Posts: 764
    r3 guy - what about this one here: http://yogi.terapad.com/resources/11203/imagegallery/IMG_0077.JPG

    OK, it's their backs, but it seems to have a good enough depth of focus.
  • pauln99
    pauln99 Posts: 76
    > r3 guy - what about this one here: http://yogi.terapad.com/resources/11203 ... G_0077.JPG


    is that meant to be an example of a good photo or not? please tell me the latter.
  • GeorgeShaw
    GeorgeShaw Posts: 764
    pauln99 wrote:
    > r3 guy - what about this one here: http://yogi.terapad.com/resources/11203 ... G_0077.JPG

    is that meant to be an example of a good photo or not? please tell me the latter.

    It's not a good composition if you want to see people's faces :wink:

    I'm just arguing the toss about whether it's technically possible to get a decent photograph of a rider with some scenic background. That photo (to my uneducated mind) shows it could be possible. For example, if the photographer was further up the hill at the col and shooting back down the road, they could maybe get a similar shot but head-on. You'd get a decent shot of the nearest guy with riders coming up behind up and a wide enough angle to get the mountains behind in, and in a good enough focus.

    Just my 2p worth.
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    GeorgeShaw wrote:
    +1. Opportunity missed. Especially in this sportive as the scenery was magnificent. Surely it wasn't difficult for a pro photographer to find a spot that could give a view that included the mountains, or the train of riders coming up the hill behind a rider or in the distance?

    Not that I know anything about photography ...

    I'm a bit of an amatuer photographer, with a particular interest in sports photography. I have done a fair bit of tennis and a little cycling (took a few at the London prologue that turned out ok), and it's not easy to get the views you want, and the riders pin sharp. Also, I'm not sure what sort of deal the photographers had in terms of who decided where they were positioned. I noticed the lenses they were using were long, fast lenses, designed to capture fast moving object. They would have needed wider angled to get more views.

    Just my 2p's worth..;-)
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    sampras38 wrote:
    GeorgeShaw wrote:
    +1. Opportunity missed. Especially in this sportive as the scenery was magnificent. Surely it wasn't difficult for a pro photographer to find a spot that could give a view that included the mountains, or the train of riders coming up the hill behind a rider or in the distance?

    Not that I know anything about photography ...

    I'm a bit of an amatuer photographer, with a particular interest in sports photography. I have done a fair bit of tennis and a little cycling (took a few at the London prologue that turned out ok), and it's not easy to get the views you want, and the riders pin sharp. Also, I'm not sure what sort of deal the photographers had in terms of who decided where they were positioned. I noticed the lenses they were using were long, fast lenses, designed to capture fast moving object. They would have needed wider angled to get more views.

    I think they're main aim was to get everyone sharp and in different poses, not to get nice views.

    Just my 2p's worth..;-)
  • pauln99
    pauln99 Posts: 76
    Just to re-iterate my original point

    "They don't capture the scenery, hills, gradient or speed on descents..."

    I'd add atmosphere.

    Agreed that it's not an easy job. But I think it's a difficult job that's been done quite well.

    Cheers

    Paul
  • GeorgeShaw
    GeorgeShaw Posts: 764
    edited June 2009
    sampras38 wrote:
    I noticed the lenses they were using were long, fast lenses, designed to capture fast moving object. They would have needed wider angled to get more views

    I'm sure they needed the fast lenses for those riding up the Bwlch the second time around :wink:

    I think the photo in the link I posted was done on a camera phone or small compact ...

    If I remember correctly, the photographers on the Tour of Wessex managed some quite nice shots with the Tor in the background.
  • pauln99
    pauln99 Posts: 76
    how 'bout this cheeky chappy from the Marmotte last year

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/264 ... ea.jpg?v=0
  • enjoy_the_ride
    enjoy_the_ride Posts: 49
    sampras38 wrote:
    …and it's not easy to get the views you want, and the riders pin sharp…

    True, but these are paid professionals we are talking about here. If it were easy and no talent was involved I’d be at the front of the queue offering my services.
    sampras38 wrote:
    …not sure what sort of deal the photographers had in terms of who decided where they were positioned…

    Good point, particularly bearing in mind the very close eye the police and health and safety people have on this event. That said the event has been held for a couple of years now and I would expect a professional to be proactive in suggesting improvements in his/her field of expertise.

    pauln99 wrote:
    how 'bout this cheeky chappy from the Marmotte last year

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/264 ... ea.jpg?v=0

    That’s the ticket. The rider is close up and personal, the road side Alp d'huez signage tells you where the photo was taken, the gradient is captured and there are mountains in the background.
  • yogi
    yogi Posts: 456
    For example, if the photographer was further up the hill at the col and shooting back down the road, they could maybe get a similar shot but head-on. You'd get a decent shot of the nearest guy with riders coming up behind up and a wide enough angle to get the mountains behind in, and in a good enough focus.

    Hi chaps. Just picked up your comments on the pictures on our club's website. I would like to point out that I was actually riding in the event and if you don't believe me take a look at Phil O'Connors photos my number was 893 - there's one of me actually taking the picture whilst on the move.

    Loving your comments. You do have a point. I also us a Canon SLR... when not on the bike!
    http://yogi.terapad.com
  • r3 guy
    r3 guy Posts: 229
    yogi whats your camera of choice whilst on the bike
  • yogi
    yogi Posts: 456
    I use a Canon IXUS 85 IS.

    Gives great colour balance, is very small but quite robust - I keep it in a small Jessops case which seems to work very well. Most of the pictures on our website of rides are taken with it, although a couple of people also have Panasonics with the bigger zoom and wider angle lense.
    http://yogi.terapad.com

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