Rig mounted motion remote shots.

That’s what I told Adam a week ago that I wanted to try with him on his motorcycle once my new gear arrived. I recently added a 5DII to my camera bag as my backup camera to my 1D that I’ve shot with the last couple years. So, as with any new gear, I was anxious to do some field testing try some different things that I haven’t shot before.

The trick with rig mounted shots is getting nice smooth motion blur while also keeping your subject sharp. I’m very good at this at the track, I’ll be blunt. Take a look at my Formula Drift and my Superbike photos in my portfolio and you’ll see what I mean. But, with rig mounts, I don’t have that aspect of control.
The shutter, aperture, and all the settings are up to me – even the timing is, too, via remote. But, balance and steadiness is up to my subject.

Fortunately Adam is a very talented rider, so asking him to remain motionless while maintaining a specific speed the entire time wasn’t too terribly tricky for him. The image above is one of my favorites. Helmet blur is completely expected in photos, so that doesn’t bother me. I was hoping to get a bit more of an angle on this shot – something we’ll need to try next time out. But, I’m pretty confident that this will still make an awesome print.

Another favorite of mine. I’ve never really seen many shots from this angle… or any shots from this angle actually. As I mentioned above, mounting points were tricky to find on Adam’s 600RR. But, something like this, shot next time around, on an open road in the hills, on a sunny day, will take the whole shot up another notch or two.
Yo Alpinestars, we should do some boot ads…. call me up, I’m available..

Here’s a slight variation on the previous shot. Much lower angle and a bit more aggressive. Still not a bad shot, I didn’t go through the trouble of editing out the clamp because the other shot will be the one that makes my portfolio in the final cut.

Here’s a shot by Steph as we were setting up the last angle to try for the day. Thanks Steph! You’re the best!

Overall the shoot went pretty well. The weather didn’t cooperate much though. The grey sky is due to it being terribly overcast out. It also started raining right as we packed up to leave.
I was very happy with the images we captured while there, and for a first attempt at this style photography and setup, I think it went great. I know Adam is excited to see the images too – and I’m hoping he’ll be equally pleased.
I’m also looking forward to next time out. We know a bit more now about what works and what didn’t. And, Adam is an engineer… and can totally design new mounts and things to try. So I’m looking forward to that and having another option or two!

Next up for rig photos will be TJ’s Subaru WRX.
Check back soon..