I Am Flying

[mugge]

This was a photo I took at a waterski competition. I think I took maybe a hundred shots and, am afraid, this is all I got for my efforts. Therefore I need some C&C as I am a little peeved.

I Am Flying by Ole Hansen, on Flickr

[Rent]

Ole It would probably help if you posted some of the bad ones
Roy

[Shadowman]

Ho Ole,

Nice capture, a bit tight on the crop but still quite nice. Skin tones are a bit rosy but to be expected, you could cool off the skin about during processing. What are your specific concerns with this image and your other shots.

[mugge]

Ole It would probably help if you posted some of the bad ones
Roy

Missing heads, skis and so forth. I was trying to get a good view and all I got was one solidary picture for my efforts.

[JBW]

Missing heads, skis and so forth. I was trying to get a good view and all I got was one solidary picture for my efforts.

1 is better than none.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

As I've found with shooting race cars at speed, it's all about practice, practice and more practice.

[Donald]

As I've found with shooting race cars at speed, it's all about practice, practice and more practice.

Absolutely.

If this was the first time shooting water-skiing, I reckon you did well to get one. I do think you've got to re-evaluate your performance and not be so critical of yourself. Learn from the experience and put it into action the next time.

Study the sport. Find out where the likely images are. How would you want to shoot them. Don't just go and fire off lots of shots. Think about what you're doing and want to do.

[rpcrowe]

I have found when shooting sports like this, using a zoom lens would be a great help. You can shoot with the shorter end of the zoom at first and then "graduate" to a longer focal length. Another way that a zoom helps in this type of shooting is that you can pick up (locate in the viewfinder) the contestant using the wide end of your lens and then zoom to get a larger image...

When I have viewed waterskiing contests, the course has been delineated with the contestants following the same routine. That makes things simple because you can pick your spot for repetitive skiers...

A lot of success in shooting fast moving subjects of any type is the equipment that a person is using. I know that "It's the photographer not the gear that makes a good image!" is the mantra of many folks. While this is true up to a point, for sports and fast action photography; as the old song goes, "It Ain't Necessarily So"

The proper gear is very important in action photography starting with the camera: IMO, you cannot effectively follow a fast moving subject on an LCD viewfinder. At least, there is no way that I could do this effectively I need an eye level viewfinder and preferably not an electronic viewfinder unless that viewfinder refreshes itself a lot faster that the ones I have seen.

You also need a lens and a camera combination that will afford fast and accurate autofocus and which can shoot at a decent burst rate. As I said, I like a telephoto zoom lens but, that is not a critical requirement... I loved my Canon 7D with 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens and love my 7D2 even more.

However, here are some shots I did using a Canon 30D with a 400mm f/5.6L lens. Granted the lens is a jewel for action photography but, the old 30D has never been touted at having great autofocus capability.

I now shoot the vast majority of my action photography hand held because the 100-400 Mark-2 lens has such great Image Stabilization. The 400mm f/5.6L has no IS so, I shot these boats on a tripod using a Manfrotto Gimbal mount. I used ISO 400 and generally shot somewhere around 1/2000 second at f/8.

I looked at a map of the course and picked a shooting spot where I could get the boats in a turn with roostertails of water in back of them...





I was also able to catch these boats (which were traveling well over a hundred miles an hour) as they passed me.





Shooting moving subjects like this is sort of like shooting skeet. You catch the boat in your sights move with it bang off a couple of shots and follow through. My camera was always moving when I was shooting boats passing in front of me but, I didn't have to pan when the boats were coming towards me.

A bit of a story, I was shooting from a beach that had a restricted area sign on it. I paid no attention to the sign and since I had a tripod, a big white lens and a photographers vest, people thought I was official. Anyway, I left the races while there were a couple of hours left in the action. I returned to the races the next day and shot from a different spot. I spectator asked me, "Did you get pictures of the boat crash yesterday?" I said, "No, I hadn't heard of a crash." He said, "Well a boat went out of control and crashed up on that beach over there." He pointed to the spot where I was standing the previous afternoon and would still have been standing as the boat came at me out of control at over a hundred miles an hour They could have found some great images on my CF card after they pried it out of my bashed up camera and pried the camera out of my broken fingers...

[JBW]

Fabulous boat shots, and a fine water skier shot. Are these boats the great grandchildren of what in my youth were referred to as 'slomo' ?

[rpcrowe]

Fabulous boat shots, and a fine water skier shot. Are these boats the great grandchildren of what in my youth were referred to as 'slomo' ?

Thanks...

I don't know about "slomo". I have only heard them called "Thunderboats"...

Although not as fast as water ski or Thunderbot racing; I have, along with other of my photo club members the opportunity to shoot the annual San Diego Crew Rowing Regatta on March 24th. San Diego Crew Classic is a two-day, nationally acclaimed rowing regatta, consisting of over 100 races with more than 4000 athletes.

We will get free admission to the event and have access to the athletes preparing their boats.

I plan on using my 7D Mk.ii with my Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens for the shots of the boats actually racing and my 5D Mk.II with my Tokina 28-70mm f/2.8 ATX Pro lens (which I have grown very fond of) for general background and boat prep shots.

I will post shots after the event...

[JBW]

Thanks...

I don't know about "slomo". I have only heard them called "Thunderboats"...

Although not as fast as water ski or Thunderbot racing; I have, along with other of my photo club members the opportunity to shoot the annual San Diego Crew Rowing Regatta on March 24th. San Diego Crew Classic is a two-day, nationally acclaimed rowing regatta, consisting of over 100 races with more than 4000 athletes.

We will get free admission to the event and have access to the athletes preparing their boats.

I plan on using my 7D Mk.ii with my Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens for the shots of the boats actually racing and my 5D Mk.II with my Tokina 28-70mm f/2.8 ATX Pro lens (which I have grown very fond of) for general background and boat prep shots.

I will post shots after the event...

memory is the second to go. It may have been one particular boat rather than a class of boats. Check out this link.

[skitterbug]

Richard - Your post is a wonderful explanation about capturing fast moving objects! Your pics are exceptional. And I am really glad you were not on the beach during the boat crash! Wow!