Photo copyright Andrew Ormonde
When it comes to Supercross and fast paced, action packed racing such as this, there are restrictions as to how close you can go to the track when shooting on track. Inspirations and plans are made to capture certain photos during training in the week before a race. Since I do not have these credentials yet, I shot this photo from the stands with the goal of capturing the “big moment” in one rider’s racing career. My inspiration and thought process was to capture 3 main elements in one precisely timed photo: the finish (checkered flag), the pyrotechnics (flames on top of the finish line) and lastly the celebration (fist pump in the air).
In photography, having connections and maintaining these relationships is vital for a new photographer such as myself. With that said, I did not use my own lens for this particular day, rather, I was using a friends lens that was far out of my reach when it comes to price point. I was using the new Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 with my Canon Rebel T3i. Might I add, this was the fastest lens I have ever used in my 14 years of photography, so I was very ecstatic that my friend gave me the opportunity to use this lens. When it comes to metadata of the image, and details of the camera used, I shot this at 1600 ISO, zoomed in at 140mm (in order to get all 3 main elements I wanted), aperture of f/2.8 and my shutter speed at 1/800 sec. I did not use filters since I purposely shot the photo in RAW which allowed me color fixes in post processing with Adobe Lightroom.
When it comes to post processing, I choose Adobe Lightroom over Photoshop when I don’t need to stack photos or edit people or objects out of the photo. Temperature and tint are always the first thing I adjust. Next I adjust highlights and saturation and I simply go down the list on the side of Lightroom of what I think can better the image.
About the Photographer:
My name is Andrew Ormonde and my passion and career is photography. Ever since I was 6 years old, I started to take photos of everything, then later in life realizing my passion for action sports photography. Though action sports are my forté, I also take portraits, nature and long exposure, as well as anything that may peak my interest, though I prefer Supercross and Motocross because of my experience with racing and off-roading. I edit with Lightroom when I don’t need to stack photos or edit people or objects out of the photo. I currently attend Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. My major is photography, and with it, I plan on making photography my life time career.
To read more about the Northern Arizona University “Behind the Image: Guest Blogger” project on our blog, please read the introduction at youcansleepwhenyouredead.com/wordpress/4th-annual-northern-arizona-university-behind-the-image-guest-blogger-project. Please take a minute to leave your thoughts and constructive comments in the Comment section below – Andrew would love to hear from you!