Sports Photography

[board]

Here are a few shots I have taken. I do, or used to do, a lot on the waterskiing/wakeboarding/kneeboard/boats photography but only cover a few events a year now for fun. I'm self taught and I know there are quite a few people on here who are much more skilled than me who can offer advice on setup etc.

The pictures were taken on my Canon 1D a few years ago. I then stumbled over them a while back and thought I would try out the editing on the iPad/iPhone (can't remember which now) with the various apps so apologies for the boarders etc. if you don't like that sort of thing but it was a sort of experiment to see what the app could do.

I sit in the water while the skier goes around or passes me at between 36-70MPH depending where he is. The last shot I was sitting about 3 feet off the buoy with the skier passing pretty much over the top of me. The wide lens (I think it's about a 12 or 13 - 28 - not got it with me to look) allows me to get really close up, not something I would attempt unless I know the skier - a lot of trust required, but on that pass I didn't manage to get him in full frame but quite liked the buoy with the spray around it that I got after he passed.

I'll add some more if you like with some of the other sports and things I have taken over the years as and when I can.

 

[Titan]

I'm sure I got splashed just looking at those!
Briliant photos James :-bd

 

[Aceman]

Stunning photo's and a very brave/trusting man for taking them.

 

[Jonttt]

Great pics, I bet you had the 1d tethered to your wrist though ;-)

I got ome great pics of an orca whale using a 1ds but salt water and cameras don't mix well but the benefit of the 1d is that they are as about as robust a camera as you can buy.

 

[board]

Thanks everyone

I've known Will, who is skiing in the pics, for just over 20 years now (feeling old thinking about that!). He and his brother are nephews of Mike Hazelwood if that name rings any bells with anyone. Anyhow, he's now the best in the world at that particular discipline so we know what each other is doing which helps. There's always the risk but then that's part of the fun too

I have a housing for the canon from EWA marine (about £150 i think) which is a flexible unit (a bag with a tie ) but it works well for what i need. It can be hard getting a feel for the trigger, especially when it's cold and the plastic isn't so pliable, but when you get it right it's quite satisfying. It floats in the housing and so i tether it to the video camera and switch between the two.

I got the 1D when they were new out. I was doing a shoot for some magazines and kept meeting the same photographer who was a sports photographer. Digital SLRs were still pretty new and being able to fire off 8+fps is a must for this kind of thing. I think Canon were the first to have that capability and were certainly the choice for all the sports photographers at the time. I'd always wanted to be behind the lens but the thought of the cost of developing 1000's of shots to get just a few made it out of reach. I'm from the instant generation where we want the results right away so it suited me perfectly.