maestro8 said:Perhaps someone can illuminate this problem for me...
When people film jumps down big sets, it's relatively easy (as the
viewer) to gauge the size of the jump... most people are familiar with
stair sets.
But muni filming never seems to do the rider any justice... even if the
viewer has some experience with muni riding, it's tough to get a feel
for how steep or technical the terrain is. There's often the problem
of poor lighting, when filming under a canopy of trees, but lighting
problems aside...
How could one best capture steep muni terrain? What angle would work
best? Most people film on the trail and obviously this doesn't work...
I get the impression one should stand a ways off the trail to try and
capture the angles best... as long as trees don't obscure the shot.
Any tips would be appreciated.
The problem with filming MUni is multifold. One is that people, in
person, always overestimate the grade of a slope; if you ask someone to
guess the angle of any given slope, they'll usually overestimate by a
significant factor, possibly as much as double the real slope. A 45
degree slope looks crazy steep when you're at the top of it thinking
about riding down. Ever notice how a hill looks steeper from the top
than from the bottom? Photos and video "flatten" the hill and tend not
to capture the vertiginous feel.
One thing which can sometimes help is to adjust your depth of field.
One of the things that makes a steep singletrack section gnarly is a
big dropoff to the side or before a turn at the bottom; that dropoff is
constantly in your thoughts as you negotiate the section, but in a
typical shot it won't be obvious at all. If you can adjust depth of
field so the rider is in focus but the background is somewhat blurred,
it can create more of a sense of depth to the image.
Reference points are also good. A person standing straight up at the
top or the bottom of a steep section can give some sense of the
steepness. A drop or slope will look steeper from the side than from
above or below; for video, position yourself next to the steep part of
a line, filming up the hill and panning your camera as the rider comes
through.
For still photos, a slower shutter speed that creates a little bit of
tire and crank blur makes for much more active images. In darker
conditions, this will happen automatically; if you're shooting in full
sun, you'll have to set your camera to use a slower shutter setting
(and it still may not be enough, depending on your camera's
capabilities).
I generally find that shooting from near the ground, with some rocks in
the foreground for size and slope reference, will make the hill seem
steeper, but it really depends on the slope and the framing. On the
other hand, shooting from a high vantage point can also provide some
vertigo; it depends on the terrain and what's in the
foreground/background. Consider how much of the sky or tree canopy you
want in the image; the angle of your camera will make a difference in
the perception of steepness.
For video, don't leave the rider in the center of the frame the whole
time; riding out of the frame, especially in a downwards direction, can
create an impression of steepness.
Just in general, don't settle for the obvious shot. Everyone can get
the obvious shot. Look for alternative viewpoints, foregrounds and
backgrounds to increase interest.
And to be more topical--I don't think there is much you can do with a
camera to make fliptricks interesting to watch. The tricks in Defect
were fun because they were new, but really, all the flip tricks look
the same if you're not really into flip tricks. It's like trying to
film new and exciting juggling patterns.
--
tholub
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