Five tips for better bike race photography

While the biking genre is quite diverse, photographing bike races has become one of my favorite things to shoot. Whether you’re shooting BMX, enduro, downhill, gravel, road biking or anything in between, below are a five tips for better bike race photography.

1. Research your location

As with any style of photography, knowing your location before the shoot is key to producing quality images. With bike races, the courses/trails are usually released prior to the race. This gives the riders, and yourself, time to prepare for race day.

If possible, I’ll walk the track the day before with my camera to find my optimal shooting spots. I try to do this at the same time that the race will be occurring, so that the light will be similar.

I watch for even light, clean backgrounds, exciting features and interesting compositions. Once a race begins, the action is steady so it’s great to know where you want to set up beforehand if possible. It’s also important to know exactly where you are and are not allowed to be on course.