US Open of Surfing

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Some wave action...

[rpcrowe]

Really nice capture...

Too bad we could not use flash with a Better Beamer to pump some light into our backlit surfers but, then we couldn't shoot in burst mode. Any solutions to be suggested EXCEPT shooting from the opposite direction which would certainly not be feasible...

In California, our afternoon surfers would almost always be backlit because generally, they would be traveling in an easterly direction to get to the shore. Morning, often brings overcast, gray conditions with no color to the water...

If we expose for the shadows on the surfer, we would blow out the foam and white water.

An accessory battery pack "might" allow some bit of burst shooting but, I don't think that any flash could keep up with a 10 FPS burst. Perhaps the low speed 3 FPS burst mode might allow a flash to keep up for a few frames, as long as you don't overheat the flash. Always remember that you will probably be shooting at full power considering the distance from the surfers. However, after shooting at 10 FPS for a while, 3 FPS seems positively lethargic

However, perhaps the flash might distract the surfers...

On an image that I captured RAW and converted to a Photoshop file for editing while working on it, using NIK Viveza and placing a control point or two on the surfer and then using the shadows slider to open the shadows a bit seems to help...

[IzzieK]

Very nice shot...where were you located when you shoot this one, looks aerial-ist. Can be mistaken for a shot from a chopper.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I was standing on the pier Izzie. It's made of concrete and very stable so I don't even get sea sick while on it.

[Dave Humphries]

Very good framing and timing Alan,

If you shot RAW, I would expect that a better 'exposure' on their faces could be achieved than currently seen here, by judicious use of various sliders in ACR/LR, or another image editor, as global adjustments and/or local dodging. Have you tried? I'm sure there's room for 'more' there.

HTH, Dave

[Shadowman]

Nice.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks Dave and John.
I don't have all that sophisticated software most photogs have. Just a pretty rudimentary one. I do shoot RAW+JPEG so have the files available. I've had a lot of fun the last couple of days trying to catch the moment. I'm pretty happy with what I've achieved with my manual focus, free to me lens on my A7ii. It's been a challenge but I have quite a few keepers.
Seems TinyPic doesn't like me today so no more from me here.

[bnnrcn]

I like them both Alan. I would prefer #1 as I find it better compositionally and the face is less dark, if I had to choose one

[billtils]

I think it could vary depending on whether you consider it as an action shot with a person in it or a portrait with the person active!

I get a better sense of action in the first but (with the edits suggested by Dave) the second is or could be more personal.

Either way, they are both much better than anything I have managed - how close were you, and what lens?

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Bill - I'd guess the distance at within 100yds, shooting from the pier.
I was using a Vivitar Macro Focusing 70-150 f3.8 lens that I was given along with a Minolta camera and some other lenses.
They are long since gone, but I'm hanging onto this little guy as it has a Nikon mount.

[billtils]

Bill - I'd guess the distance at within 100yds, shooting from the pier.
I was using a Vivitar Macro Focusing 70-150 f3.8 lens that I was given along with a Minolta camera and some other lenses.
They are long since gone, but I'm hanging onto this little guy as it has a Nikon mount.

Pier - the essential add-on for surfing photos, close but not too close and far enough away from the spray I've only had a couple of chances to take any of these and it was from the car park, a lot more than 100yd away.

The "Vivitar" was a sort of interesting bonus. I posted in another thread about digging out my venerable Canon AE-1 and dusting it off. The kit includes a 70 - 200 Canon zoom and a Vivitar 35mm prime - I had forgotten there was such a company!

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Here's a link to the pier web cam that shows exactly how close you can get. The pro's are on the left side (south) and the 'others' are on the right (north). I'm posting this at 7:25AM local time and as you can see, the photographers are already staking their claims to the railing.

http://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/res...s/pier-webcam/