DSLR Photography Forum

Last weekend I was asked to attend the State Lifesaving Championships held here in Perth at Scarborough Beach.
It isn't one of the sports I would normally cover (most of our athletes are inolved with olympic sports), and although we didn't have any of our scholarship athletes competing, we had a few staff who were competing as athletes in the Surf Rowing events. As they are colleages and friends of mine I was happy to go along and be the unofficial club photographer for the day.

Below is a mixed selection of shots from throughout the day. I have a more extensive gallery of the day's events posted on my website at http://surfrowing.digitalkinetics.smugmug.com

I got there about 8am and the sun was already quite high, and I stayed most of the day until around 3:30pm. It was very bright and sunny, and unfortunately the sun was high and shadows were harsh. This harsh light was made even worse by the fact all the competitors were wearing caps and often sunglasses, making it tough to capture good facial expressions. Still, I was happy enough with what I got.

The downside of the day was the fact I forgot to put sunscreen on the tops of my feet and my feet suffered the worst sunburn of my life. Thanfully I had sunscreen on the rest of me, but the swelling, pain, blisters and other symptoms on my feet and ankles have made things very difficult all week. It is now 6 days later and I still can't wear shoes or socks, but at least I can walk and sleep.
Does this mean I can now say that I suffer for my art?

The photos...

1. The surf was great - big enough to give some good shots, but still managable to row through. EF 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm, f/4, 200 ISO, 1/2000th sec.


2. EF 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm, f/4, 200 ISO, 1/2000th sec.


3. EF 70-200 f/4L + 1.4xTC @ 102mm, f/5.6, 400 ISO, 1/1000th sec.


4. One of the North Cottesloe women's crews watches a race from the beach. Sigma 10-20mm @ 11mm, f/9.5, 400 ISO, 1/750th sec.


5. EF 70-200 f/4L + 1.4xTC @ 98mm, f/5.6, 400 ISO, 1/1000th sec.


6. EF 70-200 f/4L + 1.4xTC @ 263mm, f/5.6, 400 ISO, 1/2000th sec.


7. A snapshot of Carlie (who I work with). Although this shot breaks all the rules of a good portrait, there's something unique that I like about it. Is it just me? EF-S 17-85 @ 17mm, f/4, 200 ISO, 1/1000th sec.


8. EF-S 17-85 @ 17mm, f/9.5, 400 ISO, 1/350th sec.


9. Sigma 28mm f/1.8 @ 28mm, f/1.8, 100 ISO, 1/3000th sec.


10. Swamped. EF 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm, f/4, 200 ISO, 1/2000th sec.


11. The winners of the womens senior event, Lucy (who's face is visible) is one of my workmates. EF 70-200 f/4L @ 135mm, f/4, 200 ISO, 1/1500th sec.


12. EF 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm, f/4, 200 ISO, 1/1500th sec.

I think a number of the images wouldn't really stand up all that well alone, but in the context of the other images here they help portray the atmosphere of the day. I also included a few shots which I'm not quite sure about, or which I think shouldn't work but they kind of do work.
I'm happy to receive critiques or constructive criticism on any of the images or on the series as a whole. Hopefully you can see what I was at least trying to achieve with each shot.

Thanks for looking.

Hot workmates! Any vacancies for a 67 year old.

Sorry, great photo's.

Kombi, #4 and #7 get my vote, although as per usual they are all great. I agree on your thoughts on #7, there is something unique about it......... :/

hi

great series, love the action shots of the boats into the sea especially n1 and n6. it just the way the water breaks into the boats.

thanks for sharing

christian

Wow! I agree with Christian about #6. That is an award winner. Man o man. Your images are getting better and better. I think that maybe I'm photographing the wrong content. Pets don't seem to be as attractive.

Excellent series... All of them really great pictures

Thanks a lot for sharing

Kombi, you've done it again..........great series. You make it hard to pick a favorite, as they are all great! The colour shots going through the surf are great sports type shots #6 my pick there! I really like the b&w/sepia shots the best. Maybe the high contrast/harsh light helps. #3 #4 #11standouts for me.

3, 4, 6 and 10 are my favorites.
Sublime. Especially considering the harshness of the light, you've done fantastically.

Great series. I really like the ones in the water. What lens did you use to capture those?

Adrian - great work. I like 1 and 3 the best. Carli's portrait is nice - but I find the area on her shoulder where the exposure is burnt a little distracting. 8, 9 & 10 are all appealing to me as well.

Thanks all

Although I have my own favourites, I like that different people are picking different shots as their favourites. Hopefully that is a sign of improving consistency.

I really enjoy putting together these series of photos rather than just posting single images, at least for events such as this. I hope people don't mind the big posts. But it allows me to sneak in shots that I like and that help set the scene but would otherwise not stand up by themselves (ie 9 and 12), and in some cases I can also use the series to tell a story (not in this case).

jbman, the telephoto shots of the boats in the water were taken mainly with an EF 70-200 f4L with and without a Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 DG teleconverter. I've added the EXIF data to the shots in my original post above to provide more info (I'm trying to get into the habit of doing this with all my posts). Also, all these shots had a circular polariser filter fitted.

WS, You're right about Carlie's shoulder being distracting. I was too lazy to fix it up!

Schell, I shouldn't be too critical of the light. Although it was very harsh and would've been horrible if I were trying to take nice traditional portraits, in a context of the event it gives a certain baked-in feel and atmosphere which suits it.
Below is another photo which I feel captures the light and atmosphere of the day well. It was hot and hazy with a bit of a hot dry breeze which just dried things out rather than cool them down. But the water was sparkling clear and blue with a nice clean bit of swell. The beach was as busy as this photo shows as far as the eye could see up and down the coast.



And finally Peto.. Rather than switching away from cat shows, have you ever considered doing something to liven them up a bit? I hope you don't mind - here is some food for thought...

Kombisaurus Wrote:And finally Peto.. Rather than switching away from cat shows, have you ever considered doing something to liven them up a bit? I hope you don't mind - here is some food for thought...

http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/images...Rowing.jpg

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAH Gold Kombi..... brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!

hehehehehhe

i like that, the face of the kitty

Thanks for the info, always keen to see what sort of zoom people are using to get their shots. Its the next upgrade on my list i think

Kombi, these pics are absolutely fantastic. Each one has its own merits, but my favourites are 3, 8 and 11 because they're not the usual beach shots one would get. come to think of it, they're all pretty unique.

I really like the emotions of the people as well... brilliantly captured.


Thanks for sharing!

p.s. you're not at the commonwealth games?

Very nice work - 3 and 8 appeal to me in particular. Very well done.