Cop Hill 2021

The Cop Hill Fell Race has to be one of my favourite outings. Within half an hour of leaving home, I'm parked up and ready to snap. An easy drive on country roads, enjoying the views and lack of traffic. Not so the return maybe. Even though Last of the Summer Wine has long since departed from our screens, Holmfirth does tend to pull in those Sunday morning visitors. We'll see.

Felt special on Sunday, I was allowed to park next to the cricket ground and not with the "riff-raff" in the other car park. (Only joking) Being a photographer has its perks.

With over an hour to go before the start, I decided to walk part of the route and look for possible snapping spots. The track was an obvious candidate and I've used it a couple times before. There can be a few problems. The odd vehicle tootling along, as well as people out for a stroll, making the run in more of a challenge.

It was nearing the start of the race and I'd made up my mind where to stand.

Or had I?

The sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds. I took up position one and hoped that the nearest star wouldn't spoil the first batch of photographs.

And they're off ... the sun pops out and it's too late to move. Parking myself half way up the first hill climb, I quickly check to see if the sun will cause flare to appear on the images. With a focal length of around 120mm on a crop sensor camera, plus a lens hood, it appears that I'll be okay.

My D7100 was set to a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a sec and an aperture of f7.1

I wasn't expecting the runners to be so quick, but with the strength of the sun, I upped the shutter speed to compensate for the excess lighting.

Unless you are extremely lucky when setting up, runners never take the path you are expecting them to.

Standing head on would have meant coming away with only a few useable images. Too many crowded shots would be a fail in my book.

Newly planted trees and the plastic surrounding them, didn't really help the composition. I needed to move to the right and hopefully capture a string of runners ascending the mini-hill, with as many in focus as possible.

Shifted the focus point on the screen as far left as it would go, praying that I might come away with more than one or two decent photos. Starts aren't always the best part of the race to photograph. I've often been disappointed with the results.

It was only after I began to edit the images that I realised what the ideal composition would have been. The runners, more or less in a straight line, tucked in behind each other.

The curve from the left of the frame leading the eye down to the gate where they have entered the field. If I could have set up a tripod and stayed in exactly in the same position ... result! Pity about the guide post, but that's all part of it.

The strong light from behind the runners actually added to the composition. A pleasing effect that could have worked against me on another occasion.

All too quickly and everyone's through. Time to move to position two. I was supposed to be snapping runners at the bottom stile after the long run in through the fields but someone had decided to leave the gate wide open. I had to change my plans.

It's debatable as to whether I had made the correct choice. As a photographer, you have an idea of what you hope the composition will turn out like.

Would this work?

Nah, this is a complete fail.

Runners need to be more expressive when they are racing. Unfortunately, they tend to become tired and lethargic and unwilling to "strike a dramatic pose". Can't think why.

"Why are you taking photos of runners coming through a gate?" was a question asked by one competitor. I stopped myself from replying with an expletive and hoped that I might prove him wrong by capturing one or two worthwhile images.

How long before the leader completed his second lap? Time to shift to the bottom of the field and onto the track. A gap appeared and I hopped and skipped my way there.

"Around 10 minutes before he'll be in sight." Thanks marshall.

I'd changed from an 85mm lens to a 35mm to give me a wider angle of view. In hindsight, I might have been better shooting from this point rather than the stile. Ah well, there's always next year. I'll be seventy next October, will I still be racing around and snapping runners? Yeah, course I will.

Good to see runners enjoying themselves, splashing through the mud and partaking in a bit of banter on the way round. Athletes were quite well spaced out at this point, nothing to do with taking drugs I might add.

Dropped down to shoot from a low angle. Not sure if this works well or not. Forgot to adjust the exposure with so much light from the sky. That's the problem when you are in a pressured situation, your brain switches into panic mode. Runners will be in shade. Editing skills needed Mozzie.

Time to take up the last spot and hopefully some decent images. I'd love to have the runners within the frame of the first shot, but they would be so small.

Including the landscape in which they've been running, is important I feel

Cropping an image right down, doesn't work. It drives me mad when the local press trim every bit of the background out. I've stopped sending them photographs.

You need the memory of where you were and the conditions on that particular day.

Around 100 plus runners, so not too long before they would make their way to the finish. I tend to crouch or sit down as people approach, this allows them to be more dominant and creates a much better effect in my eyes. It also helps if you are trying to keep the sky out of the frame. Much better for the camera's exposure meter, with less work to do in the editing process.

Cramping up from time to time, I was grateful for the gaps that were now appearing.

I knew I should have brought that mini-stool I'd left in the car.

Apologies to those runners towards the back of the field for not capturing their run in to the finish. Another appointment meant a quicker than normal getaway.

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Editing images:

I know that people want results and photographs as quickly as possible after the event. I'm afraid that I'm just not able to throw them as quickly as you might want.

My computer takes an absolute age to upload the RAW images from the SD card, around 3 hours for Sunday's effort. Lightroom includes SMART previews which are a help in editing but take so long to do. I always shoot in RAW and not jpeg. I prefer the opportunity to manipulate the data in my own way.

The image seen above has yet to be edited and it's up to me to make the most of it through my skilled editing. (Laughs inwardly)

I look at what cropping needs to be done to improve the composition and then concentrate on exposure, colour etc. With over one thousand snaps to look through, it takes a while.

I do have a plan of action which saves me some time. My biggest problem is trying to find a preset that I can then use on each photograph or create a new one.

As soon as I've decided if the exposure, colours, saturation etc etc suits the race, then I'm cooking on gas as they say. The problem is, I might want to change my mind half way through.

Footnote: I post my images on Flickr to start with and then onto Facebook. I'm a grumpy old man who hates LIKE. Many photographers spend their time out in all weathers. Snapping away, hours then on the computer putting together memories for people to cherish, or not. If you feel that an image is a good one and you want to show your appreciation, don't tap LIKE.

Use a few fingers and say thanks or make a comment, positive or otherwise.

I'd rather have a few comments than a MILLION likes.

I HATE LIKE!

And relax Mozzie ....