On Location: Tilt-Shift Mountain Biking

Step Five

Now that everything is in place, I’m ready to go. The trick to using a tilt-shift lens when photographing mountain biking is getting a sharp shot. This is more difficult than it sounds. The biker is moving fast, the focus plane is very narrow, and the lens is manual focus. If I were shooting a normal, autofocus lens, I could easily get sharp frames. After many passes I got a few sharp shots. The dark background provides good separation for the mountain biker; the flash and red shirt capture the viewer’s attention; and the soft focus and storm clouds add drama to the shot.

With action photography, it’s all about shooting a lot of frames. You may shoot hundreds of images and only get one good shot. But in the end, if you get one great shot, then mission accomplished!