I was excited because this past Thursday there the Starbomb: Super Hero bicycle race down Mill Mountain. It fit perfect with the upcoming challenge.

I went and set up a spot along the route down, my wife was holding a monopod with an off camera flash just off to my right. It was perfect. When the bicyclists started coming around the turn I was ready……until they all stopped for a break at the gas station 30 yards before they reached me. I was a bit flustered to say the least. I started trying to figure out what was the best way to handle this. I moved down the road a bit, and re-set my self, so when they started I would be good. I didn’t take into consideration how much had changed in that short move. The biggest problem was that I had a streetlight behind me in the first position, and none in the new one. My camera wouldn’t autofocus properly. My exposures were still ok, but everything was a complete blur. A car came the other way and I quickly focused on someone and flipped te switch to manual focus, but by that time the small group was past.

My lesson for that day was to plan a little better next time. Scout two or more positions and figure out the difficulties of each before your subjects ride right by you. The other two shots I am putting here are shots I took at 5:30 this morning. The light of the coming dawn mixed with the streetlight was fantastic, and I snapped right as a car was going past just to capture the tail lights.

Sam