"Top of a steep hill ... that's a bit unfair, I look terrible!"
"Finish line shot? I'm totally cream-crackered and your snapping me now. You are a sadist!"
No matter where I stand on the course, there will be runners who complain about my choice of position. Most of the time, it all depends on the level of light. Poor light means that I have to resort to lowering the shutter speed and avoiding a high ISO. High ISO invariably creates very grainy pictures and the quality leaves much to be desired, unless you're trying to achieve that effect. Lower shutter speed can be achieved somewhere on a steepish incline.
Windmill 6: Lower shutter speed meant that I was able to increase the depth of field. This allowed the windmills in the background to be in focus as well. Strong runners still create an action shot, while those of us who are not so quick, may lack that ease of climb look.
Being the sad person that I am, my dream was to own a banner, something I could place some distance from where I would be snapping. A signal for the runners to look that bit more athletic as they ran past the camera. The cost of these banners is somewhat prohibitive and I couldn't find a mini version that I could carry around.
About a week ago, I posted an appeal for help with fulfilling my sad dream. It didn't take long for someone to offer. Shaun Mollart stepped up to the challenge and I soon found myself in possession of two signs.
Magic.
Donation made to Woodhead Mountain Rescue.
Now I need to find a way of supporting these signs at the side of the road. If I'm in one spot, there won't be any problem. A two spot snapping session means that I'll have to transport the sign from point A to B.
I might be able to use the signage at the Ambles Revenge on Wednesday, I'll see what I can put together.
Christmas Penistone Parkrun:
I promised that I'd nip down to the parkrun at Penistone on Christmas Day. The light was even worse than at the Travellers 6 the previous week. Set up the camera with an 18-70mm zoom lens to snap a few people shots before the off. Much prefer a cold day with a blue sky. People's expectations of my images are constant, irrespective of the weather and light. Until you've actually been out there with a camera, you may not realise how restricting certain weather/light conditions can be. Working effectively with whatever is thrown at you, is a skill that takes time and experience.
The only image that worked as the runners left the park. The rest were ditched.
Not best pleased about having to dress up.
Captured a few images with the 18-70mm on the camera and then decided to leave it on for park exit snaps. The quality of this lens isn't really suitable for sports. Runners were in the shadows and the resulting images just weren't up to much. Decided to bin them all, the editing process to make them reasonable would have taken a long time. Not something I wanted to do on Christmas Day.
Images don't look TOO bad blown up but not suitable for a mobile.
Moved to the first bridge on the Trans Pennine Trail for a bit of cover and to finish off my coffee. The mug Sal bought me from TK Max holds the heat for an absolute age.
Even in a fairly open space, the light was poor. Settings for this image of Dan Limb were as follows.
Shutter Speed 1/640th sec - hopefully nobody was too fast this morning.
Aperture f3.5 - that's quite open and only a small depth of field. Even the foreground and just behind Dan is out of focus.
ISO 6400 - that's the limit I set it at. Loads of grain in the photograph which creates Noise.
"In digital photographs, the term noise refers to a certain type of visual distortion. It looks similar to grain found in film photographs, but can also look like splotches of discoloration when it’s really bad, and can ruin a photograph."
Time to pose, who's bothered about a PB.
Waited for a reasonable gap in the proceedings and took my gear up towards the finishing line. Quite a bit lighter and I took the decision to lower the shutter speed to 1/400th sec. Hopefully there wouldn't be anyone doing a mad dash at the last minute.
Not sure why, but there were a few people trying their best to avoid me and take the long way round. Ah well, up to them. The ISO was now down to a reasonable 3200 and I was expecting a much better image than the ones on the TPT.
A couple of stars at the finish line, well done to them for completing a Christmas Morning 5k.
Ambles Revenge:
I'll be out on the course on Wednesday, probably at the bottom of the first hill after the TPT. It's at the footpath sign that you encounter after the first stream crossing, over the stile and onto the road. Not quite sure after that. It might be somewhere along the top before the drop to Mucky Lane. I'm out for a recce later. If you hide behind someone, I won't be able to snap you.
Willow's Fund: There will be a collection bucket kicking about at registration and I would be grateful for any change that you could throw in there. All monies raised from my photos goes towards Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England, helping them to continue their excellent work. With a full compliment of runners for this race, I'm hoping to raise quite a few quid with your help.
Details of this fund can be found on my Home page.
If someone could "rattle" the bucket for me and encourage people to donate, that would be brilliant. I need to get to the first snapping point before the runners arrive.
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