Shooting Extreme Sports

the_syco

Point to note: I'm not a photographer, I just like watching extreme sports. I rarely see a shot that doesn't show the setup, or at least where the skater is jumping from. Just giving my view in a separate thread, to talk about angles, rather than drag the Kings of Concrete thread off-topic.

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dazftw, some excellent shots there.

Best way to explain some of the other shots are this: most of the shots shown are of the skater.

All well and good, but if the skater is 10 feet above the ramp, or 2 feet above the ramp, shot at a close enough angle, you wouldn't be able to ell.

Take a shot showing the height of the skater would be more impressive.

There's close, and then there's too close.

dazftw wrote: »

Close, but far away enough to see where's he's getting his height from.


It may look like an excellent mid-air shot, but with no reference to how high he is, it (the trick that he's pulling) doesn't look very skillfull (looks more like a shot hop off the ground).

challengemaster wrote: »

A bit close, but still a good shot, as it shows the skater, the pipe, etc.

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Have a look at the US Open Snowboarding to see what I mean.

You could have gotten a close up of the following, but showing them at above 2 meters from the jump, it looks more impressive.
http://www.snowboarding.com/gallery/gallery10/p_7.html

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I suppose in the end, it comes down what style you shoot. All the photo's were awesome, but any shot I've seen about the X Games, and various extreme sports, came from a distance.

Is just me, or do anyone that takes regularly photos of an extreme sport agree?

dazftw

It all depends how you shoot it, like myself ill shoot it how ive seen it before in magazines and videos(ideas from videos) etc etc. Other people who havn't seen it before in the magazines and videos etc etc will shoot it there own way and 9 times out of 10 its the same as everyone else catching the action and not the surroundings!

Nothing wrong with that at all just two different shooting styles for the one genre. Theres a big difference between the two in most cases.

Something you should all check out is a new Irish skateboarding magazine called the wizard its a fiver.. you can get it from www.wreckless.ie (not working for them, just its the only place I know you can get it lol) Its got some pretty good pictures and the paper smells lovely

Or if your a cheap ass going onto http://www.skateboarding.com/ and browse the galleries some amazing stuff in there.

challengemaster

Oh I know my stuff was close, feck I was right beside the setup and using a 24-70 L... defo wide angle needed where I was.

dazftw

If I win the photo challenge this month(highly bloody unlikely) I think I know what nexts month will be

Two of the bmxers down here asked me to shoot some photos of them sometime next week, with planning and time to prepare it will make a big difference!

Calina

I shoot kitesurfing I don't know if that qualifies me to respond to you as I have certain different issues relating to my field of play.

I didn't want to go into the Kings of Concrete for a couple of reasons, one being I wasn't absolutely sure what access I would have; also, some of what I want to do would probably not be allowed. So I think you need to look at the photos in the context of what access was available. These people were members of the public to pretty much every extent. So you need to bear that in mind.

Realistically, you also have to learn to separate the photograph from the skater. You can have a fabulous photograph of a skater doing a bogstandard trick, but often, it takes a non-skater to see it.

It's extremely easy to take pictures of people doing stuff using a zoom from far off. There's little challenge in it to be honest. In some respects it's why I haven't been posting that much lately. What marks a special shot is if you don't do it the easy way. Of the two shots you've quoted here, I would venture to say CM's is probably the better particularly with the buildings in the back although at that res it looks a tad soft. Daz's could probably do with a little fill in flash - something which you really have to agree with the guys in advance.

If you're interested in doing any sort of photography, you need to be pushing the boundaries all the time. I go into the water with the kitesurfers and risk my life and cam to do so and I do it with a wide angle which ups the risk quite a lot. You will find that the vast majority of great extreme sports photographs are from someone seeing something a little creatively and not necessarily doing what everyone else can do with comparative ease and a zoom and someone to shove people out of the way of the cam. From that point of view, I think that what the two here have done is interesting in that they haven't necessarily approached it from the way everyone does.

CM, with a little creatively, 24 should have been adequately wide for you. I think you've a CF, but even so...I might have crouched down a little lower though.

(but then I'd have been shooting with a 10-20 anyway had I made it in which I didn't).

challengemaster

Calina: Was impossible to really get lower. The boundary was setup just before the start of a slope on a hill, so anyone else was on the slope. The other side was the far side of the second pipe setup. Which was also the lame side, as nobody did anything down there. Probably doing a headstand would be the only way to get lower.

dazftw

am going to invest in some flashes soon enough I really start to want them when im out they make everything so much better!