Andre Magarao
April 2025 - San Clemente
About the Image(s)
Title: San Clemente
Mountain biking is probably the sport I do the most so it's always fun to get a chance to shoot it. I have two flashes. One to light up the rider and another one as a backlight that creates more shape on the rider and highlights the dust trail that shows where the rider came from.
Camera and Lens: Canon 1dx Mark II and Canon 24-105 f4 at 50mm.
Settings: ISO 640, f4.5, 1/4000 sec.
7 comments posted
Andre, there is no question in my mind that you are the master of the outdoors illumination in active sports. I see that you have the tendency to create your images with a large environmental proportion which overpowers the athlete. Here I like as how the bushes frame the cyclist. Perhaps a tighter crop will make the athlete stand out more. Also made the horizon straight. Posted: 04/03/2025 23:57:54
Hey Issac,
thank you very much for the kind words. A lot of the times I shoot for catalogs and (not so much anymore) magazines so I have to consider the middle of the double page. That also kind of translates well for instagram as well because the brand can cut a vertical 4x5 from the action side. Posted: 04/04/2025 01:00:18
thank you very much for the kind words. A lot of the times I shoot for catalogs and (not so much anymore) magazines so I have to consider the middle of the double page. That also kind of translates well for instagram as well because the brand can cut a vertical 4x5 from the action side. Posted: 04/04/2025 01:00:18
Hey Andre, I agree with Isaac, you are the master. From a pure technical perspective, I do like the crop from Isaac but see your point of why you included the area on the right. Bruce Posted: 04/05/2025 17:39:21
Hi Andre,
Cool shot. You might consider removing the distracting branches. If you have the pixels, why not crop out everything but the bike? Posted: 04/13/2025 22:23:14
Cool shot. You might consider removing the distracting branches. If you have the pixels, why not crop out everything but the bike? Posted: 04/13/2025 22:23:14
Hey Tom,
Thanks for the comment. I think action sports are different from stadium sports. When you shoot really tight inside a stadium, you still get nice bokeh from the crowd in the background. But when you shoot super tight in action sports, it's just the rider and the sky. We even have a name for these types of shots - we call them "guy in the sky."
"Guy in the sky" is usually a bad shot because it tells no story. The rider could be 5 inches off the ground, 5 feet, or 50 feet - and trust me, getting air on a bike is hard. So it's important to show how much. This type of shot also says nothing about the location. The rider could be in California, Tahiti, or Chernobyl.
If you ever shoot these types of sports, I highly recommend not shooting too tight. The riders probably won't like it, and neither will the brands - unless it's a brand that makes a really small component of the bike. They might be stoked because it will show their product more.
There's also the fact that we - photographer and rider - want to make sure the trick looks like it was actually landed. As you can probably guess, it's a lot harder to land a trick than to just fly through the air in a semi coherent way. With "guy in the sky" shots, it's really hard to make it clear that the trick was in fact landed.
And 99.9% of kids are very impulsive, as you can imagine. This shot is actually of a fairly standard trick without much consequence. But most of the time when you're shooting biking, you're deep in a trail somewhere, just you and the rider. The last thing I want to do is create a situation where I motivate some kid to try a Hail Mary trick just because, in the photo, it looks like it was landed.
There is also the technical side of it. It's a lot easier to use flashes to light up a tight shot. It's gets trickier when you have to light up a bigger area. Most of the time I'm interested in at least trying to make the more difficult shot. Posted: 04/14/2025 03:11:10
Thanks for the comment. I think action sports are different from stadium sports. When you shoot really tight inside a stadium, you still get nice bokeh from the crowd in the background. But when you shoot super tight in action sports, it's just the rider and the sky. We even have a name for these types of shots - we call them "guy in the sky."
"Guy in the sky" is usually a bad shot because it tells no story. The rider could be 5 inches off the ground, 5 feet, or 50 feet - and trust me, getting air on a bike is hard. So it's important to show how much. This type of shot also says nothing about the location. The rider could be in California, Tahiti, or Chernobyl.
If you ever shoot these types of sports, I highly recommend not shooting too tight. The riders probably won't like it, and neither will the brands - unless it's a brand that makes a really small component of the bike. They might be stoked because it will show their product more.
There's also the fact that we - photographer and rider - want to make sure the trick looks like it was actually landed. As you can probably guess, it's a lot harder to land a trick than to just fly through the air in a semi coherent way. With "guy in the sky" shots, it's really hard to make it clear that the trick was in fact landed.
And 99.9% of kids are very impulsive, as you can imagine. This shot is actually of a fairly standard trick without much consequence. But most of the time when you're shooting biking, you're deep in a trail somewhere, just you and the rider. The last thing I want to do is create a situation where I motivate some kid to try a Hail Mary trick just because, in the photo, it looks like it was landed.
There is also the technical side of it. It's a lot easier to use flashes to light up a tight shot. It's gets trickier when you have to light up a bigger area. Most of the time I'm interested in at least trying to make the more difficult shot. Posted: 04/14/2025 03:11:10
I like the branches in the picture as it adds depth and frames the biker. Great picture as always, Andre. Posted: 04/17/2025 14:46:14
Hi Andrea. Another environmental sports photo that shows more rider and less environment. The foreboding black sky adds to the drama of the photo, while Tom says crop out the branches, I would leave them as they can be symbolic of V for victory. Winston Churchill used his two fingers in the same shape for photographic purposes, to give hope that the Allies will win. You have placed yourself well including the yellow sand forward of the rider as this gives a good contrast of colours against the dark sky, and once again symbolic the rider is moving away from the dark past (gloom) into the light (positivity). Posted: 04/14/2025 21:07:04