ask graham

Hi Suze, if you are looking at a D3s to work with, then you seem happy to aim high right from the start. But also consider one step below a D3s - to save money and apply that saving to more or better lenses. Look at the D700 - this is a camera many pros' use as a spare to a D3D3s, it just lacks the power drive of the more expensive model.Sports photography requires a long, long, lens, and a wide, wide angle lens - one for artistic shots, the other for penetrating drama and accuracy. Without knowing your budget, I'd suggest a 14-24mm zoom, and the 300mm f2.8 lens by Nikon. I use a 200-400mm zoom lens, but it is heavy to carry around, with or without a monopod. A 300m with a 1.4 Extender or even a 1.7 Extender might be ther way to go. In any case, keep your original choice to a minimum so as to work quickly and freely as you gradually learn the skills of sports photography. A flash is a must, the best one being the SB 90. Work with these basics tools and you'll soon be on the right track. Oh, you'll need two bodies to work best - so a D3s and a D700..? Come back with more questions if you need to... GW

Hi PJ, it sounds like a good lens to go for - the 55-200mm. I cannot really give sound advice without knowing you or watching you take photos. I think there is also a 300mm zoom from Nikkor or Sigma - maybe an 80-300mm..? If it was me making the choice, I'd always want a 300mm in my possession... GW

Hi Rob, apologies for the long delay in answering... If you are passionate about one subject, that's good - make that your prime motive when you make a move towards selling your work. But then expand your interests as well, photography can encompass all walks of life and business, and can be commercialised in many ways. I think the Internet is the only way to get started these days. So build yourself a web-site so that others can see your work, especially editors of magazines, etc. Build that web-site with the ability to sell images on-line - there are a number of pre-made web-sites that allow you to sell images on-line, and even a number of products that let you store your archive and have them automate prints for on-line clients all over the world. SmugMug is one such product, but there are others... Notoriety comes with quality photography, both on-line and in publishing - but the Internet is the way to make it towards having your images published by magazines however, it is a long road to get there and only the best photographers will make it. I've never photographed wildlife in a serious way, but I know it takes endless hours of patience, waiting for the creatures to appear before your camera. I know you'll need long lenses - long, long, lenses! - or at least a longish lens with an extender fitted. You also need a near-silent camera as well, if you don't want to scare the wildlife away. But my advice cannot extend into that area, so just use my guidance as far as making people aware of your work on-line. And good luck!

Phillip, I use a motorbike and travel in the race with the cyclists, that's the best way to follow Flanders! But your idea of the Muur is great, it is the best place if you are seeing the race for the one and only time that day. The race will get to Geraardsbergen at about 4.00pm, and you'll find people have been guarding their places on the climb from midday at least. It is free to access the hill, thousands do this, but make sure you take some food and drinks with you - it can be a long day! Have fun... GW

Hi Mark, without knowing what camera you are using, it is difficult to give full advice. I never shoot in RAW, but that is because my Nikon D3s gives superb quality as a simple JPEG (set to 'fine'). You should be shooting images at no less than 1500 of a second, anything slower gets either a blur or camera shake. With today's top-end cameras and memory cards, you can ratch up the ISOASA to 800 quite safely - there might be a tiny loss of colour density, but nothing much else. So try doing that if it means you can shoot at 1500th. Yes, I use shutter priority. You must be a Nikon user, then..? GW

Don, it wasn't that bad - I'll have worse days on the back of a moto this Spring, I promise you! I wear merino wool underclothes, and a warm sweater, and then a Goretex top and over trousers - that's usually enough. No gloves, 'cos you cannot work the camera properly - so you can get freezing hands sometimes... Other than wet and cold days, life as a cycling photographer isn't so bad really... GW

Yes, Gretchen, that was me hanging on tight that day - sadly, the winds spoilt the racing as well, too strong for them to race flat-out... I use a Nikon D3D3s set at 'S' (shutter priority). I use a 24-120mm lens on one camera, and a 70-200mm lens on the other. The 24-120mm is great, but I have noticed in dull lighting conditions that it does not seem so sharp, or maybe it's just me? SB90 flash (sometimes called a SB900) is good, set at TTL with no adjustments. I sometimes shoot images on manual, if the lighting is a bit extreme, but the 'S' setting and zero compensation still gets it spot-on most times. I keep everything as simple as possible, so it leaves me free to compose and think a lot better... GW

Thanks Cormac, I've enjoyed myself enormously, down the years - and I've stored all the great memories along the way... I think that after the Festina 'affair' of 1998, when riders were getting caught all the time in '99 (Pantani), 2001 (Giro), it was annoying. But nothing has troubled me since. Life is not perfect, I'm not perfect, and obviously sport is not the perfectly pure thing it used to be. I still love the sport, love the lifestyle I've built, and tend to look away when another issue comes along. If there is one annoying aspect of it all, it is when the authorities take so long to pass final judgement on a case, the Contador one being the latest. But all of it is beyond my control, so I try not to care too much! GW

Good question Zoubair, the answer is I have never gotten around to filling the Lance Armstrong gallery as there are too many images to load up! I will do some this season, it is long overdue... GW

Hi Chris, I'm staying loyal to the Giro still, and have arranged to have another photographer cover the TOC for me, so I'll politely say a 'no' to your offer. Maybe I will get over in future years, we'll see..! GW

Chris, what's a dongle..? I edit and caption my images in Adobe Photoshop coupled with Bridge, and then either send by FTP to my database of images, or by e-mail (using Safari) to clients independently. In almost all civilized countries there is wireless internet available now, so no modens, no phone lines... GW

You're correct Molesworth, I am holding a Canon EOS1 camera in my hand - but it belongs to the photographer who is taking that image of me now in CS I am about to take a photo of him with his camera, that Canon you see..? GW

...you're very welcome! GW

Hi Nathan, I've not heard of a D2xs before - a D2x, and a D2, yes, but not the D2xs..? The D3 system has moved many light years ahead of its D2 predecessor, so I have to say it is out of date as far as a top-end 'pro photographer. But if you need an entry-level DSLR, then make sure you don't pay too much! Also look at a used D3, it really is a different animal to a D2 - and bear in mind there might be a D4 coming this summer, and that therefore a D3D3s will go way down in price... GW

Hi Alan, in a simple answer - no! Gilbert is a fiery cyclist with the sort of muscles and will-power that mean he is great at going uphill, and quickly, for about 300-metres. He can also sprint, and does get into long breakaways in races like the Vuelta España, where he is always training for the World Championships. But he is no mountain goat like a Contador, Gesink or Schleck. He has a plan to win the Tour stage to the top of the Mur de Bretagne this July, a steep hill in north-western France exactly like the climbs in the Ardennes. And to become the Yellow Jersey wearer after winning - so he does have other ambitions away from the Classics..! GW

Hi Amy, as I am not sure what sort of equipment you own, I'll keep my advice as simple as I can. If you own a longish lens - in excess of 200mm - then head-on shots work quite well. They let the viewer see the cyclist's face and his expressions and emotions as he competes. You need to work with a fast shutter-speed - at least 1500th-of-a-second - and follow-focus with him as he gets near to the camera. You should be aiming at his head with the auto-focus point, and with a fixed focus point, not one that chooses its own focus area. Choose a slight bend so you can get an almost direct, head-on shot as he's bearing down on you. If you do not own a long lens, then I suggest you go for a side-on shot. This style shows a cyclist's body language quite well, his aero-tuck and the way his arms and legs propel the bike along. With side-on shots you can either go for a high shutter-speed (1500the to 11000th) which freezes the action. Or be a bit creative by shooting at 1250th or even slower. If you intend to paint from the still image, you may want to at least start with a totally frozen-in-action shot to work from. Practice makes perfect, so get as many opportunities as you can to shoot images with Alex. GW

Roman, it depends on which side of the Galibier you want to explore. The north side means staying in Valloire, with an option of also climbing the Col de Telegraphe. Or stay on the south side of the Galibier in Briancon or a place like Monetier-les-Bains, which is halfway up the Col du Lautaret, a nice warm-up ride before the Galibier. Staying in Briancon will mean a longer ride to the Galibier (via Monetier), but gives you other options like the Col d'Izoard, Col de Agnelle, or Col de Allos as well... The north side of Galibier is the longest and hardest, but the south side is the prettiest! For Luz-Ardiden, try to get into a town called Luz-St Sauveur, almost at the foot of the climb itself. It's a great place to relax in, and you can also climb the Col du Tourmalet from there... Enjoy your trip! GW

Hi Norman, I just ran some of the Giro images through my iPad, and I cannot see anything wrong with them... Our recent upgrade to the web-site was specifically with a view to enjoying images on an iPad, and I'm happy with what I am seeing. Or have I misunderstood the problem you described to me..? GW

Hi Calum, nothing in particular has scared me, as such. I've had a few falls on the motorbike, and slid around a bit on snow and ice, and had a few bumps with team cars on descents, etc - but nothing too scary! So far... GW

Hi Andrew, I do not know of any photographer who has not dropped something from a motorbike at some point in time..! Camera straps break, or the fasteners become loose, lenses are either dropped through negligence or fall out of your bag, and flashguns are always breaking off after some brush with a tree or bush or even a cyclist sometimes. I've seen it all, and done all of the above myself down the years... GW

Hi Jeff, I took a quick look at your images just now, there's a marked difference between the two images you see at first and then the gallery of images that follows. The gallery images are very pixelated when seen full-screen on an iMac, and do not do your work any favours, so consider a different system that shows high-res' images, maybe..? I liked the shot of Cavendish signing autographs - the lady's face says a lot! And the 'rushed' shot taken from above a moving cyclist is unusual, I've never seen that style before! Many of the images on the gallery look good, especially some of the images in the wet, but the low-res' display lets them down. I'd also suggest you only show one image per location so as to keep the viewer's interest longer - there were maybe too many images from that same place? Hope I've been of some help to you - and good luck! GW

Hi Alan, apologies for the Giro-delayed answer..! To be honest, the TOC coverage, be it on TV or in the press, didn't make any inroads to European media, at least not where I've been the last few weeks... Additionally, by the time it did appear in the written media it was a day late because of the time difference to Europe. It's great to see Chris Horner still winning, and to see Horner (and Radio Shack) win TOC for the first time, but there is no comparison to Contador doing his stuff on Etna - he attacked alone with about four uphill miles to go and won alone - and Horner's stirring efforts on Mt Baldy. Different race, different mountain, different rivals as well. Contador has a 'jump' that is unrivalled on any given day, while Horner is more of a locomotive who builds up steam slowly but surely to get the same result. Yes, be nice to see them battle it out in July, but on which stage..? GW

Hi Ingrid, I'm not actually familiar with that particular lens, I tend to go for a variety of lenses that cover different focal lengths, rather than one that seems to do it all! But if you had one camera body and wanted just one lens, that 18-200mm sounds good to me, it's small and light enough to carry easily, and allows you to photograph a wide range of subjects. There is also a 24-120mm lens, and a 28-300mm lens which you might want to consider - especially the latter! GW

Hi Sheila, your question is quite valid! I choose the season calendar according to what my clients want, which translates to doing just about everything there is on a world wide basis, that is all the 'World Tour' events and many of the supporting races too. In the case of the DauphinéTour de Suisse, I left the French race as planned because I knew it would be 'over' after Saturday's very difficult stage, and I wanted to get into the Swiss race to enjoy two mountains stages that I would otherwise have had to miss if I stayed and did the last day of the Dauphiné. Geographically, I had to leave France Saturday evening to be at the start in time for stage 2 of Swiss. Stage two climbed a beauty called Neufenenpass, while stage three climbed the GrimselPass and the legendary Grosse Scheidegg. Both these stages were more beautiful than that last stage of Dauphine, and I already had a great stack of images of Bradley Wiggins in his yellow jersey, so there was no need to stay... Of course, I had a colleague in the Dauphiné for that last stage, and would have used his images if something had happened - which it did not. Equally, if the last stage of Dauphiné was climbing a mighty Col like the Galibier or Ventoux, then I would have stayed to the very end. Does that make sense..? Good question, all the same... GW

Hi William, I have never shot American football, so I can't suggest any lenses for that sport! For cycling, I have used both those lenses you talk of, the 80-200 is the sort of lens you'd use from a motorbike, while the 300m f4 is more for standing shots at the roadside. My personal favourite at the moment is the 200-400mm f4, but that costs about $6,000 I think. Both the lenses you talk about are good for the job - but I'd be tempted to go for the 80-200 for the flexibility in a variety of shooting situations, and consider buying an 1.4 or 1.7 Extender to make that lens even longer with no loss of sharpness. I use the 1.7 Extender a lot, it almost doubles the focal length of the original lens... Feel free to send other questions my way..! GW

Interesting question, Peter! To be honest, photography has grown more popular across the whole spectrum of human life. Cameras are smaller, cheaper, better, and easier to use than before, and it is rare for a mobile phone not to feature a half-decent camera too. At the same time, the Tour has grown and grown and brought more millions to the roadsides than before, so it is only natural that there are more cameras being used now. Film cameras were too complicated for most people to use anyway, digital cameras have made a huge difference - and let's not forget that 85% of the people watching the Tour are on their annual holidays, so a camera is a vital part of that trip. It's good to see so many people taking pictures, a healthy pastime and one that brings people a lot of satisfaction to... GW

Hi Andrew, hard to give advice without seeing you work and what you use, but here goes! Generally speaking, the longer lenses work better in auto-focus, that is to say they zoom in on solid subjects that give the focus system an easier time than when using wider-angle lenses that cannot always find a solid mass to aim at. It is the focusing points that do the work too, so you need to place them on a part of the subject that is more static than the rest. For panning shots, I prefer (using the camera in a horizontal position) to use the top focus point and have it aimed at the upper body of the cyclist - the safest place to aim at, as the back hardly moves whereas the legs and arms do. At first, use a high shutter speed (at least 1500th) to freeze the subject, use 1100th if you want to. Once you get the hang of that, you can use slower speeds like 1250th or even 1125th to create a bit of 'speed blur'. Like I said , a longer lens works better...an 80-200 or even a 300mm fixed focal length. And don't use the AI Servo function with auto-focus - use it manually with you selecting which focus point is going to do the focussing... See if all this helps..? GW

Hi Richard, always hard to give advice without knowing you or the size of your budget, but here goes. I like the specs' of the D7000 - the file-size is huge, you have the means to use video, and the camera body accepts all lenses and accessories of the Nikon family: the price is right as well! It looks as if the motor-drive is built-in, however, meaning the camera would feel out of balance if you used one of the bigger Nikkor lenses. Although a D3s is well out of your pocket, you might be able to pick up an older D3 second-hand and have the advantage of better balance, but only IF you are planning on buying a heavy lens one day. A lot of pros' also have a D700 as a back-up to a D3 or D3s, but the price is halfway between a D7000 and a D3s, so the gain is only marginal. I suggest you look at buying a lens like the 28-120mm, or the 28-300mm, just to get started - a lot of pros own those two lenses as they cover a huge range of focal lenghts! I don't shoot in film format anymore, stopped back in 2003 when digital quality over ran slide-film quality. Good luck! GW

Hi Mario, I hope my style has changed over the years - otherwise I could be accused of not moving with the times..! My original style is surely still there, but digital photography has changed the way I and my colleagues work. Scenics will always be my priority, the sport is still as beautiful now as it was 30 years ago when I began. But maybe today's modern cameras and the ability to shoot in more extreme conditions and to capture more precise action shots means there are more racing shots than scenics appearing. But if you look on my daily up-dates at gw.com as opposed to books and magazines and other web-sites, you'll see those scenic shots are still there. Many of my clients only publish action shots, scenery doesn't mean quite so much to them... GW

Hi Robert, unfortunately I am not familiar with your camera at all - but it is part of the Nikon family, and my guess is that you can go in to the settings menu and change that synch' to 1500th..? That's all I can suggest..! GW

Hi James, If it looks like raining a long time then I put a Think Tank cover over one camera and put the other away in the motorbike panniers - the cover works for about three hours before gradually getting wet inside. If it's a short shower, then I put a plastic shopping bag over the camera(s) until the rain stops - it can be taken off in seconds if I need to shoot pictures... GW

Hi Michael, I use PhotoPadd to crop, change colours, etc, and then 'resize' to reduce the image size for e-mails or twitter. There's also an App called Metadata for FTPiing images, or one called FTPgo! which sometimes works better... But there are better ones coming out all the time... GW

Alan, I think you mean Lourdes - the stage began in Pau..? That would be Hushovd winning, and even my 200-400mm zoom lens fitted with x1.7 wasn't long enough to capture the best shot when he did a sort of Tarzan imitation with 100-metres to go! Luckily, he maintained his joy almost to the line, so that lens did get the follow-through emotions, though not the very best stuff. Our photographer's line is dictated by where the enormous TV 'loupe' camera wants to be - typically 40-metres after the finish-line we're obliged to be kneeling below that big camera, but never in front of it... GW

Hi Christian, as a pro' I have two, possibly three choices of equipment - Nikon, Canon or perhaps Leica. No other manufacturer offers as wide a range of lenses and cameras as these guys, and I suppose not even Leica - once considered the very, very best - does that. We need every advantage to stay ahead of the competition, and that means using new lenses or new cameras on a regular basis. Sony, Minolta, Pentax - all those cheaper brands do not come anywhere near to the quality or variety as Nikon and Canon... GW

Thanks Carolyn, I appreciate that..! It was a great Tour to be at and photograph... GW

Hi Ian, I'd need to see the image to know better (send it as a small jpeg to 'enquiries' if you want to?), but at a first guess I'd say it has more to do with the extra-wide angle of the lens. With anything wider than 20mm, the flash cannot spread properly, leaving some strange effects sometimes. There's a white diffuser built into most flashes, make a few tests with that same lens setting and see what happens..? GW

Hi Gil, I use five drivers in a typical season, an Australian, an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Belgian, an Italian and a Basque - depends where the race is being held. The Basque has done the Tour with me for about 20 years, and we do the Vuelta too. I think the Tour's two accidents were just that - unfortunate accidents, nothing more. But both should have not happened, and the organisers must take some blame for not vetting drivers properly, they were far too trusting! New rules will be put in place for 2012, with less vehicles on the road, but they were accidents waiting to happen with so much pressure on the race, and so many more vehicles than in other races. Luckily both cyclists finished the Tour! GW

Hi Peter, sorry for the slow response... No easy answer I am afraid! Best bet is to do two things 1: Contact your local race organiser and offer your services to any photographer at that race, it's a nice gesture for the organiser to offer the local photographers, and you can learn that way. You can then work your way up the tree by offering your services to organisers of bigger races, until you land, maybe, in the big-time one day. 2: Contact any photographers you know in your region and offer them drives for free, at first. You then progress 'up the ranks' until you meet a more prominent photographer who might be able to get you into a bigger race. Both these options are dependent on organisers or photographers having insurance to cover any problems that might arise - you should have your own insurance to cover this as well. GW

Hi Jake, I mostly use a 28-70mm and a 70-200mm - that covers most of my motorbike photography on a bike-race. But I also carry a 'fisheye' 16mm, a 14-24mm, an 1.7 Extender, and a big 200-400mm lens I use these lenses for special kinds of images when not shooting from the moto... GW

Hi Roberto, I'm not the best photographer in the Tour de France - just one of the best! There are about 20 'top' photographers in the Tour, and we're all the best when we're having one of our best days - but no one's the best every day! I love cycling, and love my job, I love travelling and I love the Tour - maybe that puts me in a good position to try and be the best, even though I often fail? Many sports' photographers on the Tour are just doing their job - many do not even like cycling - and will work another sport or photo-duty the very day the Tour ends, it is just a job. The difference is that it is more than a job for me, it's a pastime, a lot of fun, a lot of work too - but basically a pleasure. I like to think my pictures can be better because of this...oh, I also ride a bicycle sometimes, so my knowledge of the sport gives me an advantage too... I hate nothing about the Tour, or photographing the Tour, or travelling on the Tour - and I love most the sense of adventure when each day starts... I hope that's the answer you wanted?! A typical day on the Tour means rolling in to the start about one hour before the cyclists arrive there and then relaxing a bit, soaking up the special atmosphere which lets me plan for the stage to-come. I might chat with my colleagues or with some cyclists to see what the day is likely to bring in regards to scenery, racing, tactics, etc... I tend to move out behind the race most days, there's a lot that goes on behind the peloton in the opening kilometres, such as bike changes, repairs, food-fetching, crashes, etc, etc... Once the racing starts and an escape has gone clear, I'll move in front and shoot that escape before looking for scenery shots for the first half of the day. I'll try and slip in behind the Tour once more at least that day, when the racing has really started and there's the chance of a crash at the back. But for the last hour or more I'll make sure to stay in front as that's where the best pictures are to be had - when the attacks start coming. I'll leave the race with about 15-kilometres to go if it's a flat finish, or just a few kilometres if it is an uphill finish, take a good position for the arrival, shoot the podium - then head for the press centre to edit and upload my images. It's usually a 3-4 hour workload after each stage, then a mad dash to the hotel or restaurant - bed is rarely found before mid-night..! GW

Hi Roberto, I'm not the best photographer in the Tour de France - just one of the best! There are about 20 'top' photographers in the Tour, and we're all the best when we're having one of our best days - but no one's the best every day! I love cycling, and love my job, I love travelling and I love the Tour - maybe that puts me in a good position to try and be the best, even though I often fail? Many sports' photographers on the Tour are just doing their job - many do not even like cycling - and will work another sport or photo-duty the very day the Tour ends, it is just a job. The difference is that it is more than a job for me, it's a pastime, a lot of fun, a lot of work too - but basically a pleasure. I like to think my pictures can be better because of this...oh, I also ride a bicycle sometimes, so my knowledge of the sport gives me an advantage too... I hate nothing about the Tour, or photographing the Tour, or travelling on the Tour - and I love most the sense of adventure when each day starts... I hope that's the answer you wanted?! A typical day on the Tour means rolling in to the start about one hour before the cyclists arrive there and then relaxing a bit, soaking up the special atmosphere which lets me plan for the stage to-come. I might chat with my colleagues or with some cyclists to see what the day is likely to bring in regards to scenery, racing, tactics, etc... I tend to move out behind the race most days, there's a lot that goes on behind the peloton in the opening kilometres, such as bike changes, repairs, food-fetching, crashes, etc, etc... Once the racing starts and an escape has gone clear, I'll move in front and shoot that escape before looking for scenery shots for the first half of the day. I'll try and slip in behind the Tour once more at least that day, when the racing has really started and there's the chance of a crash at the back. But for the last hour or more I'll make sure to stay in front as that's where the best pictures are to be had - when the attacks start coming. I'll leave the race with about 15-kilometres to go if it's a flat finish, or just a few kilometres if it is an uphill finish, take a good position for the arrival, shoot the podium - then head for the press centre to edit and upload my images. It's usually a 3-4 hour workload after each stage, then a mad dash to the hotel or restaurant - bed is rarely found before mid-night..! GW

Hi Roberto, I'm not the best photographer in the Tour de France - just one of the best! There are about 20 'top' photographers in the Tour, and we're all the best when we're having one of our best days - but no one's the best every day! I love cycling, and love my job, I love travelling and I love the Tour - maybe that puts me in a good position to try and be the best, even though I often fail? Many sports' photographers on the Tour are just doing their job - many do not even like cycling - and will work another sport or photo-duty the very day the Tour ends, it is just a job. The difference is that it is more than a job for me, it's a pastime, a lot of fun, a lot of work too - but basically a pleasure. I like to think my pictures can be better because of this...oh, I also ride a bicycle sometimes, so my knowledge of the sport gives me an advantage too... I hate nothing about the Tour, or photographing the Tour, or travelling on the Tour - and I love most the sense of adventure when each day starts... I hope that's the answer you wanted?! A typical day on the Tour means rolling in to the start about one hour before the cyclists arrive there and then relaxing a bit, soaking up the special atmosphere which lets me plan for the stage to-come. I might chat with my colleagues or with some cyclists to see what the day is likely to bring in regards to scenery, racing, tactics, etc... I tend to move out behind the race most days, there's a lot that goes on behind the peloton in the opening kilometres, such as bike changes, repairs, food-fetching, crashes, etc, etc... Once the racing starts and an escape has gone clear, I'll move in front and shoot that escape before looking for scenery shots for the first half of the day. I'll try and slip in behind the Tour once more at least that day, when the racing has really started and there's the chance of a crash at the back. But for the last hour or more I'll make sure to stay in front as that's where the best pictures are to be had - when the attacks start coming. I'll leave the race with about 15-kilometres to go if it's a flat finish, or just a few kilometres if it is an uphill finish, take a good position for the arrival, shoot the podium - then head for the press centre to edit and upload my images. It's usually a 3-4 hour workload after each stage, then a mad dash to the hotel or restaurant - bed is rarely found before mid-night..! GW