Montreal In Pictures

September 9 2012

Today was the second edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and so I had an opportunity to try my hand at doing some sports photography.

The UCI WorldTour circuit features 28 races during the 2012 season, the most notable one being the Tour de France. The only North American races are held in Québec City (Sept 7) and Montreal, so is obviously a great attraction for North American cycle race enthusiasts.

The Montreal race is just under 206km in length and provides spectators with plenty of opportunities to get close to the action along the entire 12km circuit which racers lap 17 times over the course of about 5 hours.

Montreal Grands Prix Cyclist circuit map
Source: Grands Prix Cyclistes

I didn’t get to walk the entire circuit, but managed to get some shots at the u turn at the bottom of avenue du Parc and on the hill climb section along ch. Camilien Houde and the start of the decline up to about the 2.5km mark.

As you will see, I shot quite a bit with my wide angle lens. It’s great being able to get so close to the action at a major international sporting event.

Although the focusing was not as tight as I would have liked it to be on this first shot (particularly the left side rider and near wheels), I really liked the fact one of the cyclists was framed within a wheel of another rider. I selected to go for a grungy feel in the processing to add a bit of drama to the shot

Second edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
ISO 500 – 16mm – f11 – 1/350 sec

For this next shot taken at the U turn on avenue du Parc, I went for a pseudo Infrared processing using Lightroom. The shots taken in this location were taken ‘blind’ due to me having to poke the camera beneath safety fencing, but I was pleased how they came out, particularly with painted line on the road helping lead the eye.

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal on ave du Parc
ISO 640 – 20mm – f11 – 1/750 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal on ave du Parc
ISO 500 – 20mm – f16 – 1/250 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal on ave du Parc
ISO 500 – 20mm – f11 – 1/750 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal support vehicle
ISO 100 – 220mm – f5.3 – 1/180 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal hill climb
ISO 250 – 250mm – f5.6 – 1/350 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal hill climb
ISO 400 – 18mm – f5.6 – 1/1500 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal hill climb
ISO 250 – 20mm – f6.7 – 1/500 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal
ISO 250 – 90mm – f6.7 – 1/100 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal
ISO 250 – 165mm – f6.7 – 1/500 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal
ISO 250 – 300mm – f6.7 – 1/500 sec

I tried some long exposure shots, together with adjusting zoom during exposure. I used Trey Ratcliff’s Endless Portrait Lightroom preset as the starting point for processing this next image.

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal
ISO 100 – 12mm – f27 – 1/10 sec

Near the lookout on ch. Camilien-Houde I was able to find a way to the edge of the cliffs that run alongside the road. I got a slight case of vertigo while looking through the view finder at the racers as they passed 50 ft below but I managed to get a few shots before heading back to safer viewing spots.

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal – Zoom effect
ISO 250 – 70mm – f19 – 1/80 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal from above
ISO 250 – 300mm – f6.7 – 1/750 sec

Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montreal – The pack
ISO 250 – 300mm – f5.6 – 1/1000 sec

I’m really glad that the UCI selected Montreal to be on the world circuit and already looking forward to the race in 2013…hopefully I will make it around the entire circuit next year.

To view images in gallery format, simply click on one of the images below.