Pro Photo & Video Pro Photo & Video  
Login to CPS  Login to CPS
What is CPS?  What is CPS?
Register a product  Register a product
Sign up for the newsletter  Sign up for the newsletter
Remote PTZ Remote PTZ 
Remote PTZ
Remote PTZ Systems Remote PTZ Systems Remote PTZ Systems
Professional pan, tilt and zoom remote control solutions for broadcast and for still photography
Pro Displays Pro Displays 
Pro Displays
DP-V DP-V3120 DP-V
31-inch 4K HDR professional reference display
30-inch 4K reference display.
View All Pro Displays View All Pro Displays 
News & Events News & Events 
News News 
Get the lowdown on what's happening in professional photography and filmmaking.
Event news Event news Event news
Here's where you'll find a wealth of important information about upcoming industry events.
View All News View All News 
Events Events 
Canon Vision Canon Vision Canon Vision
Join us from 14:00 CEST on 24 September 2020 for the introduction of a new cinema camera and more.
Visa Pour l'Image Visa Pour l'Image 2020 Visa Pour l'Image
Find out what Canon is doing at the international photojournalism festival.
ISE ISE 2020 ISE
The world's largest exhibition for AV and systems integration professionals.
View All Events View All Events 
Events Calendar Events Calendar 
Inspiration Inspiration 
Latest stories Latest stories Latest stories
Inspirational stories featuring the world's leading photographers and filmmakers.
Canon Podcast Canon Podcast Canon Podcast
Business, creative, kit and careers - hear from the world's leading photographers and filmmakers in Shutter Stories.
Read All Stories Read All Stories 
Education Education 
Technical Technical Technical
In-depth articles from leaders in their field.
Tips Tips Tips
Hundreds of bite-sized useful tech tips.
Infobank Infobank Infobank
The resource for technology and techniques.
CPS CPS CPS
Find out more about Canon Professional Services, including the benefits and how to join.
Pro Photography, Video Articles & Inspiration
Photographing A Cycling World Record
Fast bike, fast photographer: how Matt Ben Stone used Canon kit to photograph a cycling world record
To capture cyclist Denise Mueller-Korenek's world record attempt across the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA, photographer Matt Ben Stone relied on his Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens. © Matt Ben Stone
When cyclist Denise Mueller-Korenek mounted a bike to the back of a professional racing car and prepared to cycle across Utah's salt flats at over 290kph, she knew there was a possibility that her endeavour could go terribly wrong. Commercial photographer Matt Ben Stone was commissioned to cover what would hopefully be a record-breaking moment. A lot was at stake for Denise and Matt.
For Denise, there was a chance it could result in a dreadful accident. To break the Paced Bicycle Land Speed Record, she was aiming to cycle at speeds nearly as fast as the Japanese bullet trains and faster than the maximum running speed of a cheetah, the world's fastest land animal. It's not by any stretch a natural velocity for a human on a bike.
In Matt's case, capturing the racing car leading the bicycle, perfectly in focus and at a safe distance, meant that he needed an efficient workflow and a lineup of carefully selected lenses to ensure he didn't miss the record-breaking moment.
The planning started well ahead of the shoot. "I was commissioned directly by Denise and the team, and knew about it a year in advance. Normally, I get commissioned by branding and design agencies, and you get a couple of weeks, or maybe a month's notice, so in terms of lead time and being able to plan around it, this was really unusual," says Matt.
A hostile environment
Denise reached speeds of 183.932mph (296kph) to break the world record previously set by Fred Rompelberg in 1995. A 1,000 horsepower converted rail dragster towed her at the start to help her bike get up to speed, before Denise detached and followed closely in the car's slipstream. She had to travel a mile at her target speed for the achievement to be recorded. Taken on Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens. © Matt Ben Stone
Do you own Canon kit?
Register your kit to access free expert advice, equipment servicing, inspirational events and exclusive special offers with Canon Professional Services
JOIN CPS NOW
The shoot was to take place over 10 days in the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway on the border between Utah and Nevada, USA, during Bonneville Speed Week – an annual racing event held on the dry riverbed. Denise and her racing car driver, Shea Holbrook, were among 170 entrants but had their own category. Matt was to be their official photographer and he was not only required to document the 10 days of testing, training and competing, he was also tasked with managing the social media coverage live from a production trailer in the salt flats.
"I had to run their Facebook and Instagram accounts live with posts during the week, almost in a press officer capacity. So I had to make sure that the sponsors had a certain number of assets for press use when Denise broke the record. And then I needed to actually portray the story. The scale of it was hard to anticipate because although I work within the sports field, my work tends to be design-led – rebranding a product rather than producing journalistic imagery for the press," says Matt. Add to that the challenge of working in an environment as unforgiving as the salt flats. "It's mega hot. It's a hostile environment for electronics and people. There's no shade, and there is absolutely nothing out there."
Every day, the team had to bring everything they needed, from marquees to food and water. They had to use a GPS position to find the Speed Week area. "To give you a sense of the size of the salt flats, if you were to try to drive from one side to the other, it would take you about three hours at 160kph. So it's a vast distance," says Matt.
Pace car driver Shea Holbrook and cyclist Denise had to travel in a dead-straight line to achieve such speeds. Taken on Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM lens. © Matt Ben Stone
He worked out of the back of an SUV, and brought a mobile hotspot and SD cards with Wi-Fi that enabled him to download small JPEGs to his laptop, so he could react quickly to media requests. Matt thinks the combined role of photographer and social media officer is one that increasingly more photographers will encounter in the years to come.
"I think it's happening more and more. Certainly if you're working with a brand directly at an event, there is a requirement for that. There is a requirement for your high-quality professional imagery, but in a real-time manner."
Capturing the important moments in sports
The Sunday Times photographer Marc Aspland explains his process for taking captivating imagery.
The right lens for the job
The team started testing the vehicles a week before Denise's run. Matt used the testing days to capture wide shots as the sun rose over the vast salt flats, as well as close-ups of the athletes and mechanics, which he shared throughout the week on social media. "I was careful about how I crafted the story. To avoid it becoming visually confusing, I didn't want to show any side profile shots until she had broken the record," says Matt.
To get all the shots on his list on the main racing day he used a number of cameras, including a drone and an action camera that he strapped to the back of the race car to capture Denise riding the bicycle head-on. But the most important shot on his list, the side profile of the racing car and the bike going for the record, Matt captured by standing on the sideline of the pit, using his Canon EOS 5D Mark III and the Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens.
"There was only one of me, and the track is six miles (9.7km) long in a straight line. I made the decision to be at the start line for the prelude, but to move to be at a better vantage location when Denise launched. For the run I based myself further down the road because she was travelling at 180mph (290kph), so there was no way that you could even be in a pace vehicle and keep up," says Matt.
Matt positioned himself on the sideline of the pit as Denise passed, his Canon EOS 5D Mark III and Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens ready. © Matt Ben Stone
The straight race track was almost 10km long, allowing Denise plenty of space to get up to speed – and to slow down afterwards. Taken on Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens. © Matt Ben Stone
He positioned himself between mile marker three and four, a good distance away from the track to remain safe in case a car slipped on the flat salt ground at high speed. The heat haze on the horizon meant that Matt couldn't actually see Denise approaching. Instead, he was equipped with a short wave radio that he used to tune in to a public announcement system to find out when Denise took off.
Matt knew there would be a very small window of time to get the shot once Denise had left the start line, so he had set the manual focus on his Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM to near-infinity ahead of the launch. "Denise was travelling in a straight line so, based on the previous entrants doing their runs, I was able to get the focus right. The focus was locked off, which gives you a little bit more of a boost in terms of the drive speed and frame speed," he explains.
"I did actually try shooting with the lens's 2x converter, to give me 800mm. But at that focal length you're tracking such a tiny object within the frame at such high speed that framing became harder. My hit rate was far lower just because of the speed at which I was able to physically track and pan. So I stuck with the 400mm lens and then cropped afterwards. Being able to crop is one of the advantages of the 5D series cameras."
Matt photographed Denise preparing for her Land Speed record attempt near the start before getting into position further along the course to see her pass at high speed. Taken on Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens. © Matt Ben Stone
The Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM features gapless dual-layer diffractive optical elements that help reduce flare, a useful feature under the bright sunlight at the salt flats. Another reason Matt enjoys working with this particular lens is its portability. "The weight was a key factor for me in terms of flying and those restrictions and limitations. The diffractive optics (DO) version can fit in a rucksack, whereas the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM has to come in an in-flight case."
Because of the extremely bright conditions, Matt enabled the Highlight Alert setting on his Canon EOS 5D Mark III to notify him if the highlights were blown out. "To give you an idea of the amount of available light there, I was often shooting at 1/1000 sec at f/13 and ISO100. It's so bright there. Even with long lenses, there was no reason to raise the ISO," Matt says. He even brought a dark cloth similar to those used with old analogue field cameras to pull over his head when reviewing images and colour correcting on his laptop.
"The sun is so highly reflective, it's almost like skiing. There have been cases where people have been burned in very strange places. The salt is also very corrosive and harmful," says Matt. Every night, he checked all of his gear and cleaned it with a rocket blower to make sure his optics were clean. He also had to charge all his batteries in his hotel at night, to be fully equipped for the 12-14 hour days with no electricity out on the salt flats.
Beat that, Fred!
Denise's bicycle was custom made for the world record attempt, with features including bespoke double reduction gearing. Taken on Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. © Matt Ben Stone
Once the side profile shot was in the bag, Matt had to hurry to the finishing line. There he swapped the Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens for a Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM lens to document the happiness and celebrations of the record-breaking team, using autofocus and a high frame rate. "I used single point AF, and as the events unfolded, I toggled the focus point within the frame," he says.
When Denise and Shea reached the finishing line and learned that they had, indeed, broken the record, Matt breathed a sigh of relief. "There was a lot of risk involved because you could be building all of that hype and all of that tension and then something could go wrong," he says. "It's not the same as a football match or a bicycle race where someone is going to win no matter what. At the end of this, they could have not broken the record, or there could have been far more serious consequences in trying to. It's quite daunting when you think that there are life-changing consequences, for good and for bad."
As it turned out, Denise rode at an average of 183.932mph (296kph), shattering not only her own previous record of 147.74mph (238kph) in 2016, but also the men's record of 167mph (269kph), achieved by the Dutch cyclist Fred Rompelberg in 1995. According to US news outlet NPR, Denise's achievement may cause Guinness World Records to stop separating bicycle speed records by gender. After the win, the victorious Denise is said to have yelled out "Beat that, Fred!"
For Matt, the extent to which the event was spoken about around the world took him by surprise. "I've just had stats back for the images that were distributed when the story broke. It went throughout the worldwide press, to 360-odd news outlets, which is mad really."
Matt's next step, he says, is to invest in a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. "But for this assignment, due to the weight restrictions while flying and the ability to move around easily on the shoot, the lighter and smaller Canon EOS 5D Mark III was the right choice."
Pace car driver Shea prepares for the world record attempt. Taken on Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM lens. © Matt Ben Stone
Matt's three top tips for record-breaking shots
1. Opt for speed
"Buy the fastest memory cards you can. They'll mean you can shoot for longer at your camera's highest frame rate before the buffer fills up."
2. Make sure you can be reactive
"Being able to move and being reactive is by far the most important thing. That's why I used the Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM lens. I was able to keep it on the monopod and just carry it over my shoulder. I had two bodies so I could react fairly quickly if a situation occurred – because no matter how much priming you do, things always change."
3. Don't put the camera down
"When things stop happening – say the award has been given and the celebrations have stopped – don't be tempted to put your camera away and think it's all over. Lots of things unfold in the moment before and the moment after that really help tell the story. There are usually more intimate and private moments with the people that you're dealing with, such as when they speak to their teammates."
Written by Kathrine Anker
Matt Ben Stone's kitbag
Key kit for photographing racing
The Canon EOS 5D Mark III is a full-frame 22.3MP DSLR with 61-point autofocus and 6fps continuous shooting. "The high-resolution sensor allowed me to crop and shoot from a safe distance," says Matt.
Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM
"Being able to move and being reactive is by far the most important thing, that's why I used the EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM. I was able to keep it on the monopod and just carry it over my shoulder."
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM
"The 35mm is one of my favourites in terms of being able to react quickly. It gives you just a slightly wider view without being an obvious wide-angle shot. For me it's one of the nicer focus lenses to work with in terms of what I can frame up, and how I can lay out the image and depth of field."
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM
"I used the 16-35mm on one of the first mornings, just about sunrise, on the day when Speed Week started. Nobody else was in the salt flats. The sun was just rising and the guys and girls were getting the car off of the back of the truck. The lens leant itself really well to capturing the vastness of the landscape."
Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM
"Because of its light weight, I can handhold this lens in low-light situations and still get a good result."
The story behind Frits van Eldik's rare F1 shot
When daylight faded, the sports photographer saw an opportunity for a unique, atmospheric low-light motorsport photo.
Samo Vidic on how he created coloured motion blur
Find out how the pro sports photographer used rear curtain sync to create an action shot of a Paralympic sprinter Libby Clegg with in-camera motion blur.
Photographing world champion kayaker Peter Kauzer on a DSLR
Sports photographer and Canon Ambassador Samo Vidic talks us through this white knuckle ride of an action sports shoot.
Elizabeth Kreutz on shooting a high-intensity Manny Pacquiao fight
Sports photographer Elizabeth Kreutz shares how she captures the drama of big boxing moments, in and out of the ring.
Click here to get inspiring stories and exciting news from Canon Europe Pro
Flashes Flashes
Pro Displays Pro Displays
Technical Information Technical Information
Professional Tips Professional Tips
Infobank Infobank
Ambassadors Programme Ambassadors Programme
Interviews Interviews
Professional Services (CPS) Professional Services (CPS)
Canon Ireland