Lighting Cyclists in Motion From the Back of a Truck

2026 note: This is a risky setup, and I wouldn't shoot it the way I did back then. If you try it, use closed or very quiet roads and a dedicated driver, keep everyone off the tailgate, get the rider's full consent, and check your local laws first.

Every once in a while you have to go back to your roots, pull out a lighting setup you haven't used in a while and see what you come up with. For me, that's cycling, and more specifically triathlon cycling. Valerie and I had been talking about doing these for a few years, and I finally found a weekend morning to go out and hang off the back of a truck again. Val is an amazing athlete with a fierce attitude, and the colors of her bike and outfit, the morning sun and her demeanor came together perfectly.

Why shoot from a truck

I started shooting cycling this way a few years back. When I looked around, I only saw race photos. I wanted to create something different with a little more production value, and this was the best solution for how I saw these athletes and what I had to work with. Engineering meets creativity!

The idea is simple. You light the rider from a vehicle rolling down the road, so the strobe stops the action and gives you beautiful light on the subject, while you drag the shutter slightly to capture the background as motion. One frame gets you a sharp rider and that awesome motion effect.

The rig

A C-stand, heavily weighted and tied down in the bed of the truck, with the boom arm out over the back of the vehicle.
One light with a beauty dish as the main light. I did this for years with Paul C. Buff lights, and this setup is the main reason I moved to Profoto B1s.
A wide-angle lens, shot from down near the road for that "heroic" angle.

For Val's shoot, she rode just behind the truck and off to the shoulder side where the light was. The sunrise behind her acted as a rim light, and the Profoto with the beauty dish was the main light.

Metering and exposure

We meter for a specific spot, the place where the light hits the rider, and then keep the rider in that spot. From there it's a balancing act: the light's power against the background, the fill, the composition and getting it all in focus. Drag the shutter just enough to pull motion into the background, and let the light freeze the rider.

Communication comes first

Because I like to shoot wide, the rider has to ride fairly close, and that can definitely make people nervous. Communication always has to be the main priority. You're directing your rider and your driver the entire time, keeping the rider where you metered, while you carefully hold, adjust and move around to find different angles.

Back then that meant hovering the camera an inch or two off the ground, breathing tailpipe fumes, legs clamped around a tailgate, and somehow nailing focus while both of us moved down the road at about 20 mph. The rush was awesome, and the results, in my opinion, were epic.

The crew

The biggest difference with Val's shoot was that I had a whole crew. While I photographed Val doing her thing, they captured behind-the-scenes footage of me doing mine. A huge shout-out to Eric Walley (again!) for being a video and documentary boss, and to Khurram Khan for coming out to grab drone footage. What makes shoots like this fun is the people out there with you. I love working with athletes and people who want to create cool things for the sake of creating them.

The video

My 2013 walkthrough of how I style, stabilize and meter this setup is below. A second part adds GoPro footage from the truck bed while shooting another rider.

The film

Watch the behind-the-scenes film

Originally published on the Ruddock Visuals blog, September 2016. Lightly edited in 2026.