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Image of the Week: Mountain Biking I, Middlebury, Vermont

What do you do when you can't plunk down a tripod before your subject to get the shot? Use a little magic.

A Bogen/Manfrotto Magic Arm, that is. The Magic Arm is an articulated support that attaches to a number of photo accessories. Using a Super Clamp on one end and a camera platform on the other, one can mount a camera in the most unlikely places, such as the handlebars of a bike.

The Magic Arm is fairly sturdy, but even it was tested after I mounted a Nikon D200, flash, and a bouncer to it. After only a couple-hundred feet down a gravel road, the arm had vibrated itself almost to the ground. A bungie cable helped to absorb a lot of that shock and kept the arm from bottoming out, but you have to be careful or you'll end up with a camera covered in road rash.

To trigger the camera, I set the D200's built-in Interval Timer function to fire a frame every 2 seconds. With the bright, overcast sky filtering through the forest canopy, I used the SB600 Speedlight to fill in the shadows on my face and chest, adding a little punch to the exposure. To soften the flash a bit, and to elevate the source to mitigate that direct on-camera flash look, I added a Lumiquest ProMax Ultrasoft diffuser.

Have questions, comments? Let me know what you think.

Technical Data

Mountain Biking I, Middlebury, Vermont was captured with a Nikon D200 fitted with a Nikkor 10.5mm ƒ/2.8 fisheye lens. Fill light was provided by a shoe-mounted Nikon SB600 Speedlight with Lumiquest Soft Bounce modifier. The exposure was 1/4 sec at ƒ/11.

Other Images of the Week

Buffalo, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Elk skeleton on the banks of the Madison River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Winter Sun, Middlebury, Vermont Mike Kennard and the Lake Champlain Bridge, Chimney Point, Vermont Tiffany, Middlebury, Vermont Nora, Plattsburgh, New York Carrizo Badlands Sunset, Anza-Borrego State Park, California
Ocotillo Shadow on Abandoned Cabin, Anza-Borrego Desert, California, silver gelatin print South Fork Cascade Creek and 'The Wall', Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Utah Juniper, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, Palladium Print Nicole Grainger riding Oxford, Middlebury, Vermont (Palladium Print) December Snow I, Middlebury, Vermont Bedroom, Homer Noble Farm, Ripton, Vermont Deer Skull, Citronelle, Alabama, Palladium Print
Boulders in swiftly moving stream, Weybridge, Vermont Sunset and Moonrise at Table Mountain, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Moonrise and Abandoned Trailers, Anza-Borrego Desert, California UVM Mallory, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont, Palladium Print Abandoned Cabin, Anza-Borrego Desert, California Melissa and Parker, Columbia, South Carolina Old Stone Row in Winter, Middlebury, Vermont
Worth Mountain Ski Lift in a Snowstorm, Middlebury College Snow Bowl, Green Mountains, Vermont Farmer and Pilot Ed Peet, Cornwall, Vermont Birches, Middlebury, Vermont Mountain Palm Springs, Anza-Borrego Desert, California Bullseye, Citronelle, Alabama Lunging UVM Orlando, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont Barns IV, Middlebury, Vermont
Fallen Tree in the Creek, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Blacksmith Lee Beckwith, Weybridge, Vermont Snow Angel, Middlebury, Vermont Slack Line, Middlebury, Vermont Coffee Splash Barns III, Middlebury, Vermont Beulah in the Carrizo Badlands, Anza-Borrego Desert, California
Chapel of the Transfiguration, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Cross-Country Runner Alexandra Krieg, Middlebury, Vermont Horse Bath, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont Whitney, Citronelle, Alabama The North Window from Turret Arch, Arches National Park, Utah Jeff, Middlebury College, Vermont Hostas II, Middlebury, Vermont
Hikers in Coyote Gulch I, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah Ocotillo Shadow, Abandoned Cabin, Anza-Borrego State Park, California Moonlit Palms, Anza-Borrego State Park, California Park Avenue, Arches National Park, Utah Ashton and Whitney, Citronelle, Alabama Steven Halladay Road III
Fall colors and ivy-covered wall, Middlebury College, Vermont Maple Tree, Middlebury, Vermont Jesse Hamner at Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone NP Aon Center from Millenium Park, Chicago Mountain Biking I Boulders II, Canyonlands National Park, Utah Hosta Leaves
Joe The Pour Skylar

Mountain Biking I, Middlebury, Vermont. Click on image to view larger.
All images and graphics © 2005-2012 Brett Simison, All Rights Reserved.
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