C&C late evening kitesurfing.

Calina

Useful info from the EXIF:

Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 800

The lens was a 10-20 Sigma, and the cam is a 40D.

One of the hardest things about this is that you need at least f8 to try and get a decent depth of field (there's 30 metres between the kite and the kitesurfer, so anything of the f4-f7.1 variety leaves the kite in fluffy limbo. Hence an accelerating ISO speed from the start. What I like about the 40D is that the 800 is comparatively usable.

Do I like the photograph myself? Yes. It's not as sharp as I would have liked but that's down to the shutter speed (I aim for a minimum of 1/500 normally) which left the water less frozen.

If the weather is suitable this evening, I am aiming to try and use a flash here. I need the guys a little less far away for that though, particularly with the wide angle. Fingers crossed.

City-Exile

One of your best shots to date!
That's definitely something I'd hang on my wall.
It has taken you a while, but I think you've finally got there!

Dades

Very nice indeed.

Hard to really see it tho - would like to see a bigger version!

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Excellent shot

grainne.obrien

I really like this, capturing a ket surfer isn't the easiest thing as they can be too far away, and timing is everything when they are jumping. Great captue with both the board and the kit almost hosizontal.

Weidii

This is a wonderful photo! Very well captured indeed.

Ricky91t

if you're planning on using your flash there is those flash zoom extender
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1012791
dunno is it anygood but it might be easier than convincing the kite surfers to come into the shallow water

And its a really nice pic relly like the colours

TJM

How about using off camera flash? Perhaps recruit a helpersto get the flash closer to the action (in a waterproof case?). Some interesting ideas & photos here:
http://www.wakeworld.com/cgi-bin/Discus4/show.cgi?87667/457082

DIY waterproof housing here:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/07/awesome-diy-pvc-flash-housing.html

mike65

Hmmm, could be nice but too small, did you get your feet wet taking it? hard to tell if you are on the waters edge or in it.

Mike.

Calina

Dades wrote: »

Very nice indeed.

Hard to really see it tho - would like to see a bigger version!

shhhhhhhhhhh try here

grainne.obrien wrote: »

I really like this, capturing a ket surfer isn't the easiest thing as they can be too far away, and timing is everything when they are jumping. Great captue with both the board and the kit almost hosizontal.

Thanks. I spend a lot of time around these guys so we're getting there.

ricky91t wrote: »

if you're planning on using your flash there is those flash zoom extender
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1012791
dunno is it anygood but it might be easier than convincing the kite surfers to come into the shallow water

And its a really nice pic relly like the colours

The water was about 1m deep (and no casing for the camera - flat water, thank God). We're not so worried about the depth right now - that will get easier. The distance issue relates to what the 10-20 does. I want to shoot these things at 10mm which means I need the kitesurfers right beside me. They are currently and understandably a little nervous about that.

TJM wrote: »

How about using off camera flash? Perhaps recruit a helpersto get the flash closer to the action (in a waterproof case?). Some interesting ideas & photos here:
http://www.wakeworld.com/cgi-bin/Discus4/show.cgi?87667/457082

DIY waterproof housing here:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/07/awesome-diy-pvc-flash-housing.html

First up, those wakeworld photographs are absolutely fantastic. Everything I am aiming for. I will have to talk to the lads I work with to see about doing stuff like that.

However, I need the flash to bounce off the guys so first up so there are some safety issues relating to firing a flash in their face, either me, or someone else when they are travelling at 30-40km around you. We are going to give it a shot. I would have given it a shot with the oncamera flash last night except mine is not working (the microswitch for recognising that there's an external flash is stuck down by the looks of things).

These water shots are things that I want to work for me, but which may take a while to get right, and which depend on the right conditions as well.

I don't use flash very often, but the non-Canon flash I have will handle a shutter speed of 1/200 max. I really and truly need this to be faster. The above was 1/400 and I much prefer a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 and upwards.

If you have a 430 Speedlite, or one of the new 580EX IIs, do you know if I can shoot at a higher shutter speed than 1/200 and if so, how high can I go?

Ta very much.

@ Mike - just seen your message. I was chest deep in the water. He was approximately 15 metres away from me.

AnimalRights

Picture itself looks very good but it's too small and on your flickr its small too, I hate the border which also makes the picture look even smaller.

/edit
Just seen the bigger picture, still too small but the picture is indeed sexy.

MartMax

all i can say.. it's a good shot!

nilhg

Calina wrote: »

The water was about 1m deep (and no casing for the camera - flat water, thank God). We're not so worried about the depth right now - that will get easier. The distance issue relates to what the 10-20 does. I want to shoot these things at 10mm which means I need the kitesurfers right beside me. They are currently and understandably a little nervous about that.








@ Mike - just seen your message. I was chest deep in the water. He was approximately 15 metres away from me.

Am I correct in thinking that you want to use the 10-20 to get a type of exaggerated perspective, I know I'm not explaining it well, but I agree that to get what I think you want you need to be closer. While the shot posted here is bloody fantastic, it does look as if it could have been shot from farther away with a longer zoom.


I would have thought that you might be nervous about them being close to you not vice versa.

King Eric

thats a super shot calina,

Calina wrote: »

I don't use flash very often, but the non-Canon flash I have will handle a shutter speed of 1/200 max. I really and truly need this to be faster. The above was 1/400 and I much prefer a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 and upwards.

If you have a 430 Speedlite, or one of the new 580EX IIs, do you know if I can shoot at a higher shutter speed than 1/200 and if so, how high can I go?

Ta very much.

@ Mike - just seen your message. I was chest deep in the water. He was approximately 15 metres away from me.

430 580 etc in normal mode will get you a sync speed of 1/250s on the 40d

you can however put it in high speed sync mode which will allow you to flash at up to 1/8000 of a second, it does however eat up the power of the flash bigstyle

i live near dollymount strand and have a bunch of flashes (6) and a wetsuit if you wanna try something with flash off camera some evening as an experiment

PM me if you'd like too

anthony4335

Very nice shot, why is that you want to use 10mm?

CabanSail

It's a very good Action Silhouette. I really like the whole feel of this image. Well composed & nicely balanced. I like the crop too.

2 Gold Stars & 2 Koala Stamps

Calina

Once more, thanks for all the feedback.

AnimalRights wrote: »

Picture itself looks very good but it's too small and on your flickr its small too, I hate the border which also makes the picture look even smaller.

/edit
Just seen the bigger picture, still too small but the picture is indeed sexy.

AR, I spend alot of my time finding a balance between making my shots available to be seen online, and limiting the ability of people to use them without asking. It's not nice but that's the way it is.

nilhg wrote: »

Am I correct in thinking that you want to use the 10-20 to get a type of exaggerated perspective, I know I'm not explaining it well, but I agree that to get what I think you want you need to be closer. While the shot posted here is bloody fantastic, it does look as if it could have been shot from farther away with a longer zoom.


I would have thought that you might be nervous about them being close to you not vice versa.

Just on those two notes:

1) It is almost impossible to get the kite and kiteboarder into the same shot without using a wide angle or pushing them far, far far away with a zoom. I'm using the wideangle to get the kite and kiteboarder into the same frame. The lines are 30m long. If I am using a wide angle, they need to be close.

2) How nervous I am depends on who's in the water with me. Mostly they are scared that they will either injure me or damage my camera.

King Eric wrote: »

430 580 etc in normal mode will get you a sync speed of 1/250s on the 40d

you can however put it in high speed sync mode which will allow you to flash at up to 1/8000 of a second, it does however eat up the power of the flash bigstyle

i live near dollymount strand and have a bunch of flashes (6) and a wetsuit if you wanna try something with flash off camera some evening as an experiment

PM me if you'd like too

Thanks King Eric. I will PM you about that.

With respect to the flash, it's looking very like a 580 speedlite will be acquired tomorrow and pressed into service early next week. I guess I'll be buying batteries fairly often again for it :-)

anthony4335 wrote: »

Very nice shot, why is that you want to use 10mm?

Because it's the widest I have and as I mentioned above, the kite is the big loser if you're shooting with a telezoom.

Mostly I want to do it because it's hard and I want to master it. I look at a lot of what the pro guys are doing and frankly, on the zoom front, I'm not too far off. On the wide angle front, however, it's not happening. I know one kite photog in Germany who has done some interesting stuff with flashes. That's been next on my list. What TJM posted is far beyond that again. But I have to put in a lot of time getting the guys used to working with me in the water, as opposed to avoiding me to avoid damaging me or my camera (I wear a helmet because one of them told me to).

I want to be always getting better. When I sort out 10-15mm - and I can do very interesting things in PS with those images - I will look for the next challenge, which will almost certainly be flash based.

AnimalRights

Calina wrote: »

AR, I spend alot of my time finding a balance between making my shots available to be seen online, and limiting the ability of people to use them without asking. It's not nice but that's the way it is.

You're the 3rd person who has said this about their small pictures in recent weeks to me, I assume next time I see a small picture that it's $$$$$$$ at the end of the rainbow!

On a serious note how are us mere mortals to know this?

Calina

It's not $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ I dont' work in a $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ related field. But nor is it nice when people use your photos without asking.

mike65

You need some subtle watermarking software Calina

Mike.

Calina

mike65 wrote: »

You need some subtle watermarking software Calina

Mike.

looking at setting up a PS action to do it, Mike. But also, I hate looking at photographs with watermarks on them...so it's just a dilemma really.

AnimalRights

Calina wrote: »

looking at setting up a PS action to do it, Mike. But also, I hate looking at photographs with watermarks on them...so it's just a dilemma really.

Think I'd rather view small pics than watermarking, maybe small sig?