I always loved watching observed trials riding on TV, but had never seen it much in person until a few weeks ago. After riding my dirt bike with my buddies to watch a contest in mid-November, I decided to return and try to capture this sport in photographs. I didn't want just any old photographs - I wanted to catch the action, drama, and skill level required to ride these rocky courses. I knew the speeds were going to be slow and that I could get very close to the action. Never having photographed observed trials, my plan was to use my Nikon SB-800 flash to create "mood" and drama, and use mostly wide-angle lenses to get close and tight.

Originally I thought I was going to get a few skilled riders and have them do tricks for me while I photographed them over and over, testing lighting and camera settings until I got what I was looking for. In addition, I wanted to capture some pictures that I could use to illustrate story about observed trials, and maybe a couple that could be used as magazine covers. However, there was a competition going on so I mostly had to walk around the course, stay out of the way of the competition, and just capture images as the competitors went buy. I was unable to get as many repetitive shots as I would have liked and didn't get to really practice and polish my trials photography.

Gelled Flash

After scouting the locations, my first plan was to place an orange gel on my SB-800 speedlight and set the white balance of my D2X to 3400K. This color temperature matched the gelled SB-800 and then turned the sky a deep dark blue. With the SB-800 on a stand beside me, I got down really low on my back and captured a few photographs as the riders went by. Below you can see the blue sky and the flash lighting up the back and underside of the bike. My wide angle lens distorts the rear tire perspective, making it look much larger in the corner of the frame. I metered for the sky and underexposed 1 stop so I would get a deep dark sky. The on-camera flash was set to -2.7 EV so that all it did was trigger my off-camera flash. The off-camera SB-800 was set to +1 EV and I placed an orange Nikon gel on it to match the 3400k white balance of the camera. I wanted this flash to overexpose and really bring out the foreground subject to contrast against the underexposed sky. I think this helps create a dramatic picture with the sky, trees and rock underexposed, while the rear fender and wheel are slightly overexposed. I also like the framing in the lower left corner, leading into the picture.