TAKE KILLER PHONE PHOTOS
Learn how to snap pro-level shots with the camera you already carry
Cameras are only useful if you happen to have them with you when you need to take the shot. Sounds obvious, but a big, bulky DSLR isn’t the easiest thing to ride with on your allday epic. Enter, the phone camera – always with you and, these days, more than capable of taking some professional-level shots, if handled correctly. 1 Know your limits Even pro cameras have their limits. To get the best result, you need to know these and work within them. For a phone camera, those limitations usually include being rubbish in low light – a shame when you spend so much time in dark woods! They also tend to lack a few of the manual exposure options needed to be truly in control. That said, some new, top-of-the line phone cameras do have manual options, so check your settings. 2 Speed is everything For riding shots you want a high shutter speed (1/500 minimum, ideally), but to get the right exposure you also need to bump up the ISO and open the aperture wide, because all three are linked. The real secret is practice – just get out there and take loads of photos with your phone, then, when you get lucky with a banger, think about why it worked when others didn’t. You can learn loads looking at the photo file info, which will show the camera settings used when it was taken.
3 Pre-focus
This is possible on pretty much every modern phone. Plan where you’re going to stand and where the rider is going to be when you take the photo. Then, before they come down, hold down on the screen to lock both the focus and exposure metering on that spot. This will mean that when you press the button to take the photo, the phone isn’t having to work out all of this information on the fly. All it needs to do is take the photo, meaning you stand a better chance of getting a focused image with the rider still in shot.
4 Work with the light
If the jump you’re sessioning is in the dark but the turn after is in the sun, know your phone’s limits and shoot the turn instead. Or innovate, by putting those bike lights in your bag to good use and lighting up the jump. Because of their small sensors and limited processors, phones aren’t great in low light, so help them out where possible.
5 Pan for gold
If you can’t help the lighting situation, then consider a pan shot instead. The phone will set the shutter speed automatically in most cases, and if it’s dark, it’ll be a slow shutter speed, meaning lots of motion blur for both the rider and the background if you hold the camera still. Instead, try moving the camera to follow the rider in a smooth tracking motion, taking the photo while following them. You might just nail a pan shot, where the rider is sharp but the background blurred, making everyone look like a World Cup pro!
6 Edit your work
The last thing to do is give the photo a quick edit. There are loads of apps and programs out there, but if you took the shot on your phone, chances are it’s going online. Adobe have a free version of Photoshop for mobiles, Instagram’s builtin tools are great and your phone probably has its own editing software. Just remember, less is more – no one likes selective saturation and heavy vignettes get old fast.