MTB Selfies – nailing the shot | Photography
January 15th, 2016
By Andrew Dodd in Tech
The set up for next level MTB selfies
Working predominantly on my own here at Factory Jackson means I shoot virtually all the bikes and kit myself, although when it comes to action shots I usually work with external photographers – but this isn’t always possible with time constraints and to fit in with budget requirements. So I’m always looking for other ways to maximise on time – being able to take action self-shots seemed to be a great way of getting a riding shot when set up for product and bike shots.
In the past I’ve used the GoPro remote to good effect whilst the rubbish battery lasts, and use my iPhone with a gorilla pod to hold it to branches etc – though filming slow-mo and taking screen grabs is easier than fluking a still image on the timer. Neither are ideal set ups for decent MTB selfies.
One of the best Instagram accounts we follow is photographer Damian Breach. He does a lot of MTB selfies which inspired me to geek out online. There are literally dozens of methods out there including gambling on the self-timer on your camera; using wildlife infra red camera boxes and aftermarket infrared beams or timing boxes in combination with radio slaves.
A simple way of triggering the camera remotely was all I wanted – the faster and more simplified it could be, the better.
You can buy inexpensive radio remotes like this one, and they have a good enough range to get a decent shot, but the transmitter itself is quite big so mounting it on the handlebars in a useable position would be a problem – unless you’re willing to take them apart and do your own remote hack…
Most photographers I know that use flash use PocketWizard’s to remotely fire their flashes in sync with the shutter button on their cameras, as they swear they are the most reliable units around. They can also be used to remotely trigger the camera shutter too, and they happen to have a 3.5mm input for adding remote controls for studio scenarios etc
Bike Magazine photographer Reuben Krabbe wrote a cool blog on using PocketWizard’s to fire the camera remotely, and how he made his own shutter cable to mount on the bars. I went down this route too, and after a day fettling I headed out to test my set-up.
This is one of the first shots I caught on a particularly dark and wet winters day in Bath…
This shot was taken on a Canon 7D MKII, with a 70-200 at 155mm. Exposure was 1/800sec, Aperture at f/4.0 and ISO 6400. It was bloody dark, pissing with rain and cold – so I didn’t hang about. It took me ten minutes to get set up, and I hit the puddle four times for a variety of shots – then moved on.
What you need to make a bar mounted trigger
Although Reuben had detailed how to make the actual push button cable, he just mentioned that he cable tied it to the bars. I wanted to have a ready-to-go set up that I can keep in my camera bag for use whenever I want – so this is what I used:
- A pair of PocketWizard’s. I used the PlusX model – cheapest price here
- PocketWizard trigger release cable to suit your camera.
- Mono 3.5mm connector and cable (or buy a 3.5mm mono to mono cable and make 2 buttons – one for a spare/friend)
- Push to Make buttons from Maplin – they join the circuit as long as the button is pushed.
- Soldering Iron
- Solder
- Electrical tape
- Knife and/or cable stripper
- Sugru
- Old dropper post remote / shifter mount etc
- Hope light bracket
- Post mount brake mount
- 1/4″ Imperial thread bolt (not an M5 Metric bolt – the threads are slightly different and you could damage the threads in the back of the PocketWizard)
- Cable ties
This is the basic kit needed to make the bar mounted cable – note I bought a 3.5mm Mono – 3.5mm Mono cable and two buttons, and made a spare cable. The buttons are £2.50 from Maplin, and are the simple push to make type that complete a circuit. .
How to make your remote cable for MTB selfies
Pretty much, it’s a case of cutting the mono cable and stripping it so you have the shielded inner separate to the other inner cable – then soldering them to the connector. I made sure they couldn’t contact by covering the exposed cable with electrical tape, then once I’d checked the cable worked in the PocketWizard, I moulded some Sugru around the connection to make something substantial to cable tie to my bar mount.
I finished my remote button off with Sugru – to ensure it stays working, and to give a decent surface to cable tie to the bar mount. I would have preferred black Sugru, but used all the stuff I had making a chain stay protector for my Mondraker!
Next step was to mount both the remote cable and the PocketWizard itself to the bike. Given that the PocketWizard works on radio frequencies, I wanted to avoid it contacting with the frame/handlebars to minimise the chance of interference. There were two obvious ways of doing this – using the hot shoe mount, or the 1/4in threads on the PW itself.
I didn’t want to spend ages making bespoke mounts – as I wasn’t sure how effective this method of photography would work out, so I rummaged through my draws and plucked out a spare Hope light bracket, and an old Crank Brothers Joplin dropper post remote mount. On the Hope light mount I bolted on a brake adaptor, and at the other end mounted the PocketWizard. It positions the PW out the front of the bike for least possible interference, and once set in position you can’t really see it – can’t have the kit ruining our MTB selfies!
Keeping the PocketWizard away from my bike, my mount bodged from a Hope light bracket and a brake adaptor can position the PW away from snagging cables, and when adjusted right sits inline with the head tube so doesn’t really stand out in shots.
For the remote, I simply zip tied my remote cable to the bar mount, and bolted it on next to my grip. I positioned the button so it is easy to nudge with my thumb – not really affecting the way I ride. For the cable I simply coiled it round the brake hose, and leaving enough slack ran it straight in to the PocketWizard.
With the remote in place, I routed the cable around my rear brake hose and straight in to the PocketWizard. It looks fairly clean and works great.
The operating button is small, and I can even just tap it with the joint of my thumb as opposed to needing move my thumb fully. This means dynamic moves like jumping should be possible without having to think about taking a photo – but we’ll see!
It was raining hard when I tested the system, and given that I was riding through deep puddles I thought chucking a clear plastic bag over the unit would keep it safe. It did, but it looked shit and you can see it in pics, so MKII will have some kind of custom waterproof covering. TBC!
MTB Selfies out on the trail
With my set up ready, I headed out to my local trails to find something to set up and try some MTB selfies. It’s been hammering down here lately and there’s a lot of standing water, so a puddle splash was the obvious shot – long lens, head on kind of thing.
I set my tripod up and plugged everything together, and propped the Banshee test bike up to get a focal point – this particular set up doesn’t work with autofocus as there’s no way of holding the shutter down halfway. You can get a pre-trigger release cable from PW, which works with the more expensive options – but you’d still need to figure out a push button that allows for a half press to focus.
With the focus done, I laughed at the miserable amount of light – having to shoot at ISO 6400 – and set my camera to it’s rapid burst/motordrive mode to crack off a few shots in case I didn’t get the right focal point. It took me four runs through the puddle – two on burst mode, and two on single shot mode to get a handful of OK shots. They’re not pin sharp and there’s a fair bit of noise from the weather – but they’re pretty good.
Test shot to make sure the PocketWizards were firing, and bike propped up as a rough focus point. I then stuck the stick I’m using here to prop the bike up in to the mud out of frame as a marker for pushing the button.
This wasn’t the point I was focussing on, but I quite like the shot anyway. Although I’m out of focus here, I love the fact that my legs are in focus, and the water splashing up is in focus. Something about it works – lots of movement – you can almost feel how cold it was! ISO 6400, f4.0 and 1/800sec at 155mm.
I’ve not had a chance to get out and make the most of the amazing sunshine – at time of writing – but I still had the set up on the bike and snapped a couple of quick MTB selfies on the way to work the other day. Unlike the dark, muddy shot previously, this time it’s tight and twisty single track with amazing golden morning sun that gives everything a golden cast. There’s a lot going on in the image, but I really like it – and it’s making me think about other styles of shot I’ll be taking when I next head out.
I wish I spent more time doing this shot, but it’s a cool spot I’ll head back to. ISO 125, f5.6, 1/200sec at 138mm.
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