Mountain Biking - Why does...

Ok, I did my first drop over 5' 8". We actually measured it and it is 6' 1" from take off to landing (actual vertical drop). The question I pose is, why does it not look that big in the pic? Is it just the lighting or what? The picture makes me think that 10+ feet should be no prob. But when sitting on top of the drop it looks giant.
Slainte:beer:

I'd say it's the sloping ground that makes it look like less. If it was a completely vertical wall, it would look much bigger. Congrats on the drop.:)

Pics are tough, you think you are a star, and then you see the picture...not to say you are not, that's a sick drop. It's happened to me plenty of times with ski pictures, you can be on a you fall you die line, but the picture makes it look like child's play.
Who knows? Maybe it is just meant for the mind's eye.
Singletrack Mind.

Simple rule. Pics make peole look fat and drops look small.

Congrats on the drop. I am trying to get the nerver to pull a 5' drop. I am just concerned about my forks and frame. I would really hate to brake anything too expensive and my forks are CRAP!

That is sweet. Just curious speaking of drops, how do you measure a drop. From launch to connect or the vertical section?

I did a 5'9" drop last week, only it was all 5'9" of me dropping the bike and going over the bars on a steep descent that got steeper at the same spot it got rougher. :D
Pictures are always very poor at displaying vertical differences. I think it has something to do with the eyes and brain really relying on 3d viewing for distance and depth perception. Photos only give you 2d, I guess the brain chronically underestimates. Anytime I have to take pix at work to illustrate vertical stuff, I always make sure there is some kind of scale to go buy, usually a ruler or person to compare height to.
I think if the pic had been taken a half second earlier, there would have been more air under the bike and it would have looked more impressive. Lots of air underneath gives the impression of more vertical distance.

Get your photographer to lower his viewpoint. He should be lying on the ground for dropoff pics. Also, if you have a zoom, try taking a pic reallly close with a wideangle, or far away with a telephoto. Look in the magazines, and you will see that great biking pics fill the frame with the rider and bike, even chopping off the extremities.
Good sports pics are not easy to take, and modern cameras have all kind of delays for focusing etc, which make it difficult to grab the exact moment of action.

Wow pictures suck. Are you launching off of the top part and landing on the bottom or launching off the dip after the top part? I could see how big launching off the top would be, but it looks like your dropping from the middle to the end, and it looks tiny.

Well, as I said, it is a 6'1" vertical drop and that was my original question, it does look small in the pic. Yes I am only going off the lower half. If you wanted to make it a step-down from the top drop you would have to be traveling very fast being that there is a 15 foot flat area between the two and the top one is only a 3 1/2 foot drop.
Slainte

Compare the jump to you. The side wall looks to be about your height plus bike. You are a clydesdale rider so I asumme you break the 6' barrier. I can see how that drop is 6'. I think the tranny going partway up the drop is deceiving. :)

You just need to learn to take better photos ;)

1. You have nothing to aid perspective. A person standing alongside, or a bike leaning against the ledge to the right would give the viewer some sense of size. We can't tell how big the drop is, because we have no way to "measure it" in our mind.

2. Too early. The photo should be taken at its point of maximum drama. Your rear wheel looks like it's only 4 inches off the ground in the pic, so the view isn't too worried about you landing it. Next time wait until you've caught maximum air.

3. Change the angle. The pic is shot into the hill. Have the photographer come closer to the drop and shoot "with" you, not at you. The new viewpoint will give the viewer the sence of you launching into air instead of coming from the safety of earth.

4. How much air? From the takeoff point to the landing point you may have dropped 6'1", but never got over 2' off the ground. Same idea with ski jumpers - you know, in the olympics. They jump 300', or something, but much of the time they're only 15' off the ground. Like someone said, the sloping landing area isn't helping the photo's drama.

Congrats.

It is all about perspective - I have a pic of me dropping roughly 7 feet (I'll scan and post later) but it looks like less, I have another pic of me doing a 3.5-4 foot drop and it looks bigger than the 7 foot drop. Here's an old pic (I know, Ive posted it before) that looks like I'm jumping my kid, but he's about 12 feet behind my actual jumping line.

The other thing to keep in mind is that, from YOUR perspective sitting on top of the bike, the landing is ten or eleven feet down (6 feet of drop, plus your eyes are four or five feet off the ground at take-off). So naturally it looks all the more intense from the rider's perspective :)

Thanks for the responses.
Hey Joe, That part you placed me on the pic is just under 7'. That is my next drop theis week.

I will also have my photographer (wife) try taking them from diff. angles.

Slainte:beer:

Its not the drop, its the photographer...

We make all sorts of decisions, from exposure and perspective, to angle and the exact moment. General rules for MTB photography! Get Closer!!! If you got balls, a wide angle lens and an extremely close vantage point will add the ultimate amount of drama to the shot and make you look like you're flying! If you must stay back, Use a long lens and get down low, in order to look up, frame the subject with the sky, not the ground, to give the illusion of AIR!

Have a pep talk with your friends next time and discuss your lines and where the best vantage points will be... anticipation is everything! Great shots rarely just happen, they are deliberately created from many variables.

Good Luck, and I can tell that it's a great drop, its just not that dynamic of an image!

Mike