DSLR Photography Forum

I had to wake up at 4:45am last Friday! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Anybody who knows me will know that I'm not a morning person at all, and it is very common for me to be still awake from the night before at this time of the morning.
But.. being the dedicated professional I am (not), I took one for the team and had an early night and even earlier morning in order to go on my latest little assignment. Nobody can tell me I don't suffer for my art!

Apart from the rude awakening first thing, the rest of the morning was just wonderful. I got to greet the sun on a gorgeous autumn morning while taking photos as I was ferried up and down the Swan River in a "tinny" (aluminium dinghey).

The assignment was to do a shoot for Lisa Oldenhof (one of our athletes) and Chantal Meek (over from NSW), who are representing Australia in the Canoing World Champs next week in the Women's K2 event. Both competed at the Athens olympics (although not together), and we're a bit excited about these world champs because they are a good chance for a medal in a sport that Australia is traditionally not very strong in.
So I came along to one of their morning training sessions and jumped in a boat with their coach Ramon Andersson and Lisa's dog Lizzy (who is a lovely dog but insisted on sitting on my lap the entire time which didn't always make shooting easy).

As usual I took many photos. Some of them were traditional sports-type photos (like you'd see on the back page of the newspaper), and others were marketing-type photos (portraits with visible brand-names, etc), and others were the shots that I like to shoot for myself. I'm just posting a few here which I thought you guys might like - I'll leave most of the traditional (boring) sports and marketing photos out.


1. This is my favourite shot of the day, taken with barely enough light (the first third of the training session was too dark to shoot). I felt like I could step into the photo and un-pause it. 30D with Sigma 28mm f/1.8 (at f/2.2), 800 ISO, 1/800th sec.


2. Chantal set against the sun reflected on the water. I'm a bit disappointed with the colour and detail in her face (and some more water drops would be nice), but like the shot otherwise. 30D with Canon EF 135mm f/2L (at f/2), 400 ISO, 1/6400th sec.


3. A tough shot to get deliberate flare in the reflections yet not ruin the image. I have been very impressed with the EF-S 17-85mm lens on my 30D compared to how it performed on my 350D. 30D with Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS (at 83mm, f/5.6), 400 ISO, 1/8000th sec.


4. I thought I'd better put at least one "normal" sports shot in here. 30D with Canon EF 135mm f/2L (at f/2.5), 200 ISO, 1/640th sec.


5. Coach Ramon Andersson giving instructions from the boat. 30D with Canon 70-200mm f/4L (at 70mm, f/4), 200 ISO, 1/250th sec.


6. The girls relaxing on shore after posing for a few product shots. 30D with Canon 17-85 IS (at 70mm, f/5.6), 200 ISO, 1/200th sec.

Thanks for looking.

Another inspiring photo story. That first shot is brilliant. There's something about the natural colours in the smooth flat water v's the more vibrant colours on the kayak. Its stunning. Its also surprising to see such a sharpness in a handheld image taken from a moving boat whilst fending of a friendly dog...

Tremendous. Excellent images.

Very beautiful... I love #1 - the quality of light is amazing, and the frozen action is superb...

Top stuff, Kombi

great job Kombi, I think it was worth getting out of bed for! I can see why #1 is your fav.

1, 3, 5 and 6 are my favorites, but as usual, they are all brilliant!!

Splendid pictures all... All are my favorites ...

Colour and tones are wonderful. Very nice images Adrian. Btw if it makes you feel better, I've been getting up at 4:45 - 5:00am for the past 7 years. You never get used to it.

For a series of pictures like this, I'd gladly get up at 3am. They are brilliant. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks all

Regarding shot #1, that Sigma 28mm lens I used is really growing on me. It seems to be able to consistently produce images like this with an amazing 3D sense to them which I can't quite pin-down. It still has its flaws and annoyances, but the more I use it the less I notice the flaws and the more I notice the great pictures it can produce.

Jules, the quality of light was fantastic. I really couldn't have asked for a better morning to be shooting.
Definately worth getting up early for. Although I don't know how you can do it regularly Peto... its just not natural!

I also forgot to post a photo of Lizzy the dog earlier, so here's one below.


30D with Sigma 10-20mm (at 20mm, f/7.1), 200 ISO, 1/200th sec.

Adrian - I only just saw these. Must have been put up while I was away.

Stunning is all I can say - especially the first two.

fantastic shots, I think #1 is my favorite. 2 is great, too, and the tones in both of these are amazing.
I actually don't like #6 and don't think the B/W helps either. maybe you wanted this shot for a particular reason? I think you can do so much better...


How are you getting on with the 30D?

great stuff, uli