Am I Nuts?!!??

[Yammer77]

Photographed a bike race in NJ on Sunday about an hour away from here.
These were Cat 1 and 2 racers averaging 35 mph so they were doing about 30 hitting the turn.

[Ken K.]

yes

[Yammer77]

Thanks Ken for that terrific, well written, time consuming review

[Ken K.]

Oh! You wanted comment on the image?  I thought you were just asking about your sanity.

This is a very good shot.  I really like the close in look at the near rider.  My only nit is that I wish the overhead wires were not going right through the middle of his head.

Why didn't you cut them down before the pics were taken?

Ken

[Yammer77]

some I was extremely close.
There are pics from other photogs out there who know how close I was.
if I was closer I would be hitting their peddles. some were coming up to the handicap depression in the curb.
look on my site for more.

cadguru.smugmug.com

[peachhead]

Great action shot and angle!!!
I would probably crop it after the black guy and right underneath the bike wheels of the  closer guy.

Being up so close to the action reminds me of the time at the Farm Show Arena National Tractor Pulls when I went to stand on the bridge above the full pull/finish line when they were running a jet car and just as I was getting a great shot Deron ran and tackled me before the heat and fumes overcame me......all I got was a nice abstract BLURRRRRR.......  LOL!!!
I was willing to risk having an asthma attack just to get a good shot of the jet powered vehicle directly under me....
In actuality, when I am hot for a good photo, sometimes I don't "think"!!!!!!!

I have another photo I took about 30 years ago of me hanging out of the car going 70 mph on the Turnpike taking a photo of our car reflected in the super shiny chrome wheels of an 18 wheeler with my husband (the driver) hanging onto the waistband of my jeans hoping I didn't fall out of the window....LOL!!!!

You NUTS?  I don't know if I am qualified to judge that or not!!!!       

[Yammer77]

by the way, next corner someone crashed and a broke a leg

[leelf62]

Nice action, Anthony...A few hours with PS and the wires are gone!!

[Yammer77]

thanks..
that would be 14 gb worth of images to photoshop...ugh!

[Yammer77]

those darn wires!

[peachhead]

I guess I am just a Photo Realist..... but the wires are there!!  That is what was THERE!!!!  You are doing Sports Photography, not Fine Art Photography.  I wouldn't worry about it.
Sure, you could spend a week cloning out the wires in PS but why?  Maybe I would do it to my favorite of the images to put in a portfolio, maybe not.
Just curious, what did the other people shooting that race do with the wires, if anything?

Its kind of like when I gave my Mom a photo of my niece in the swimming pool;  my Mom said, "But her hair is all messed up!"  It's like yeah, she is 10 and she was SWIMMING!!!!  It is part of the picture!!!
When you bike race or anything else on a city street, there are telephone poles and wires.......they have been there for a hundred years now in most cities.

[Yammer77]

yeah these were for profit photos and the racers could care less about the wires.
If it was a fine art thing, then yeah I would clone, etc.
But to get the images up on the web, I can't be bothered with that type of stuff.
Next time I will tell them to hold the race in the dark so you don't see the wires

[Yammer77]

And this was shot with a measly 8mp 3fps camera....

[peachhead]

Again, it is the PHOTOGRAPHER and not the camera that takes the image!!!!

[Yammer77]

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!
that is my point.
would a faster camera allow me to get more images? yes...but there is also a downside to the spray and pray method....lots of deleting later on.