Dear Slowtwitchers,
I have a general complaint about the photo companies that are taking our pictures. I am personally not a huge fan of the work that they have done so far. The positions that they are producing for us are the most flattering and picturesque. I personally just went threw my photos from the Dueces Wild Olympic Triathlon and found not one of myself. It seemed as if they missed a lot of people. I would also like to know why it takes them so long to put the photographs on their websites anyways. IS the reason that there are not many photographs of us per race becuase the race organizers are not paying the photography companies enough money to put 5-8 photographers at an event or is it because the photograph companies are not willing to put many out their. I find it terrible that there are no photos of racers. I mean we are paying top dollar to these races and I expect at least one photo of myself during the race? Do you all believe that it is the responsibility fo the event, photograph company, or the athlete? I do want to say that there have been events that have been very well covered that give you several shots of athletes throughout their race. P.S. What is your favorite photo position and you least favorite? Post 'em if you want.
can’t understand your complaint. of course it’s nice to see pictures of yourself after the race. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time but it is to your convenience. Dude, those people must sort all the pictures according to the race numbers. Or do you want to go through 2764 pictures in hope to find yourself? I don’t think one should complain if they miss to take a picture of you. Those people stand there all day. Do some calculations and you’ll see that they only have about 1.7 seconds to take a good picture of you if you ride at 20mph and there is an estimated 15m range during which they can take a good picture of you. So its possible that they miss you during the period when they take a drink or have to upload their digital images to another hard disk.
I also like to check out my pictures after the race. If it’s really all that important to you that you get a good picture of yourself why not ask family member to be prepared and/or hire a professional photographer.
See, I am not personally complaining about the photographers themselves. I believe that they do a fantastic job as you said with the speed in which we are traveling and the amount of time that they have to take a good shot. I guess I would just like to see more photographers out their, that’s all. Hiring a professional photographer is not an option for a college student. I have barely enough funds for the races and training as it is. I do understand if it takes them one or two days to sort through all of the photos, but almst 5 days, seems a little long. I usually go through all of the photos anyways seeing as they miss some on a regular occasion which isn’t to their fault it’s just the ability to see their bib number or not.
Hiring a professional photographer is not an option for a college student.
It shouldn’t be hard to find someone from your school to shoot some photos (they can use them in their photography class).
I do understand if it takes them one or two days to sort through all of the photos, but almst 5 days, seems a little long.
I think that all depends on how they setup their database and what type of information they enter about the photo. It’s not as easy as looking at the photo and putting the person’s number in.
The Carlsbad traithlon had several cameras setup to take automatic pictures which kind of worked… I’m guessing a motion sensor triggered the camera which is a great idea… Atleast they tried something nice =)
I think they should take 1 good finish line photo and then get creative with the rest of the race.
I’ve always wanted one of those cool side view pictures of me riding in the aerobars.
But, like I said earlier in the photo post thread, I don’t really like most of my race pics and could live without the whole deal. If I want a good picture, I’m going to take a shower, do my hair and use a good lens filter:) And, yes, frogonawire, that makes me a girl!
Quality race photos is something relativly new to most races. The big races have had it for years, but it is now a service that is being offer at even many smaller local events. Time was that there were no photos, so perhaps we should be grateful that there is this service now available.
I can see how people can get missed. It’s hard to get everyone at every opportunity.
A-Shot-On-Site, the people who shoot for the Tri-Sports Series in Ontario have pictures ready on site on race day, shortly after the race finishes and online on their web site within 48 hours.
As I understand, the photo companies are independent contractors. They probably pay the race director for the exclusive right to take pictures for a race and to “glom onto” the race’s website to hawk their pictures. Personally, I don’t give a crap about any of their pictures. They are too damned expensive for what you get, IMHO. If you want a picture of yourself, why not just hand your wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, friend, child, whatever, a camera and say, “Take a picture of me when I come by?” Normally, there is more than one photo company in an area. If one does a good or bad job, then you need to let the RDs know about it so they can plan properly for the next years race.
Race photography is much more complicated than it appears. Peel the onion a few layers and it gets even more complicated. I know that we all want a few nice action shots but these are few and far between. I’ve been photographing and taking videos of my wife for three years and in my mind have only taken one great photo and maybe a couple of dozen decent photos. The one great photo was purely accidental.
I think the ideal digital camera rig would have burst mode capability - taking 5 to 10 pictures per second while the button is pushed. Or perhaps a DV setup where one could grab specific frames. In either case an editing session is required in order to pull out the good photos. Editing is much more expensive than simple batch processing.
I’m not an event photog and don’t want to be one. Just take a look at the equipment investment required to do the job right. For example Birds Eye View at http://www.birdseyeview.net. Astounding.The other approach is for race photo companies to sub out to local photogs who are looking to gain experience.
In either scenario the photog only gets one shot at a moving target and much can happen to mess up a shot.
Some photo companies are better than others, and either way, it can be very hit or miss if they get you. Brightroom has been around for a while and does an excellent job. They caught a ton of pictures of me at Ann Arbor http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=5420&PWD=&BIB=58 They also had a couple of me on the bike and some from the swim exit and transition. I had the benefit of being near the front so it was easier for them. They had a number of photogs there, and that always helps. www.a-shotonsite.com did a pretty good job at Muskoka http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?myphotos?a=134635 They had fewer photogs and didn’t even try to get any swim shots. www.multisportphoto.com has been much more hit of miss with me. They seem to have the fewest (sometimes only 1) photogs on site, and have even missed me when I was the first out of the water or off the bike.
I assume the RD pays the photo company some money to be on site, and they hope to make more off people buying pics. They are in a catch-22, it costs a lot to have lots of photogs on site, and it takes more time to go through more pictures, but it increases the chance that they get good shots of most people, which in turn increases the chance that they would buy some pictures.
I was really disappointed at Kona last year. Verismile didn’t have pictures ready on site like other IM’s, and it was really hard to get to the pictures online (I can’t find them now that I don’t have the email with the link). It was nice to hear that the WTC is back to ASI now.
I think if a race photography company wants to sell photos they should make certain they have the finish line with finish time in frame. Others shots that really capture the essence are The exact moment of swim start is awesome particularly if you can get really close and catch the water splash. Facial expressions prestart. Swim exit, particularly if the athletes are runing out of shallow water. Pushing the bike by the seat thru transition. Descending in aerobars downhill or hunkered down really low Standing climb on a curve Climbing in aero, if shot from behind so that you can see what’s ahead Descending curve The moment right before bike dismount Running out of T2 with race number belt in hand Making a pass on the run, and getting the passed runners facial expression Front and side shots that show the runners form
There are probably lots of other prime photo opportunities. Much depends on the venue, photographer position, and lots of uncontrollable factors.
What is your favorite photo position and you least favorite? Post 'em if you want.
" If you want a picture of yourself, why not just hand your wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, friend, child, whatever, a camera and say, “Take a picture of me when I come by?” "
I think you hit the nail on the head. Why would we buy pictures from these companies if the only shots they offer us are the same ones our family can take with our own cameras.
Not sure I understand your complaint either. I doubt RD pay for photo people to be there. Photographers earn their keep by selling the photos of the racers.
In any case, just over 1 week since my last race I was just emailed EIGHT-TEN pictures each for myself and my wife. That is a lot of dang pictures. I can’t recall a race where I didn’t get at least one or two pictures. Maybe its happened once or twice.
MY COMPLAINT, however, and it isn’t a big deal, but most of the photos are crap. Inevitably the bike photos are at the beginning, end, or at a corner when you aren’t in the aerobars. I’m not interested in that kind of picture. One earlier this year even caught me with my hand mid-air switching for aerobars to brakes. Interesting, but nothing I’m going to pay for. Most of run photos are at the finish, where I must admit I look like crap because I’m tired.
I’ve purchased a total of 4 pictures between my wife and myself over the past 4 years of racing. Beyond that I just think of the pictures as a momentary source of entertainment that ends up in the delete folder after a few days.
MY COMPLAINT, however, and it isn’t a big deal, but most of the photos are crap
Yeah, I agree. Along with AmyMI, I’d love to have a side shot in the aerobars instread of the usual bike turnaround shot. Probably more challenging to do though, esp. in a crowded race.
Of all the races I’ve ever done, and they almost all have had photographers there, I have purchased one picture. It isn’t all that great. I’m afraid most of these photographers aren’t that in tune with what we want to see. Some of the photographers must just be button pushers…lighting is all wrong, framing is often poor. It’s rare that I see many really good pictures taken of anybody. Plus, on the bike, they seem to be mostly concerned with getting the number on the front of your helmet so they can ID you, that’s why we don’t get side shots very often.
It would behoove the photography companies to pay attention to what we want to see, because it would increase the chance we’d actually buy this stuff.
I would also like to know why it takes them so long to put the photographs on their websites anyways.
It takes a LOT of time to a) transfer images to your computer b) if you shoot in raw, convert the raw files to tiff/jpg c) make contrast adjustments d) resize the photos for web viewing e) catalog each photo and identify racers f) upload files to web server. Even if you batch a-d, e will always have to be done manually. Then try doing this for thousands of photos. If they’re shooting film, then they have to scan their slides/negatives. This adds more time.>>IS the reason that there are not many photographs of us per race becuase the race organizers are not paying the photography companies enough money to put 5-8 photographers at an event or is it because the photograph companies are not willing to put many out their.
As others have stated, the RD has nothing to do with the number of photographers. The photo company sends it’s crew. I’d imagine most of these photographers are local talent, so if you’re doing a race in the boonies, then their options are limited. Do Accenture in Chicago. There are photographers everywhere.
I mean we are paying top dollar to these races and I expect at least one photo of myself during the race?
Again, your race fee has nothing to do with this. The RD is not responsible for your photo being taken. You also can’t realistically expect the event photographers to capture every single racer in an event. The photographers sit in a particular spot. If you don’t happen to be in focus when you go by, or another racer is blocking your shot, then you will be missed. It’s that simple.
I do agree that the quality of shots is often lacking. And oddly, it seems to be getting worse. The best shot of me (one of maybe 4-5 I’ve ever bought in my life) was in my first race in 1997. The rest have been pretty weak.
I think it’s a catch 22. The high prices mean people aren’t going to buy photos. Because people aren’t buying photos, the event photo companies can’t hire quality photographers. And so on.
I’m really happy that they are there. No, I haven’t seen many great photos of me (mainly cuz it looks like i’m dying in them) but there is going to be that one in a special race that I’m going to want and it will be there. The more races they go to and the more photos they shoot the better they will get. Pretty soon we’ll be praising them for their great photos. Plus without them, I wouldn’t know what any of you look like 8-}
As a trained photographer,you want me to take two to three thousand dollars of equ out, stand in the sun all day, so you can look at a print or a file on a web site and then have only a hand full buy this work?
I think that the photographers generally do a good job given the fact that sports photography is difficult because everyone is moving, and there are so many people moving past. I was really pleasantly surprised that they took photos at races when I ran my first marathon and have usually bought one from most of the races I have been in (I don’t race all that often so it’s not a very large expense). It’s also nice that they have the “lost and found” sections available online to look through although I’m not sure that I want the one of me exiting the swim at Ann Arbor. Maybe if I lost another 10 or 15 pounds and were then as “fat” as Tom Demerley used to be.
