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Sporting events in general, and water sports in particular, have a well-deserved
reputation for being difficult subjects to capture. In most cases, the subject
is far from the photographer (unless you happen to shoot for Sports Illustrated
and have sideline passes), the lighting is constantly changing, and, to make
matters worse, the darn subjects keep moving!
The good news is that with a little practice and effort water sports photography
doesn’t need to be left to the pros. There are a few techniques that can
quickly move you from frustration to satisfaction regardless of the equipment
you use. A more responsive camera, and in some cases a longer zoom range will
improve the end result, but these aren’t requirements for every successful
water sports shot. By following these simple tips, your images will be the best
they can be.
With that in mind, here are five easy tips that will improve your water sports
photos.
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In this example, keeping the shutter speed up allows everything
to be in sharp focus—both surfer and wave—resulting
in the type of photograph you’d expect to see in a surfing
magazine.
For intentional blurring of the subject, use a slower shutter
speed and, if possible, have a fixed background. For panning shots,
move the camera with the subject as you take the photo to keep
the subject in focus while blurring the background.
© 2005 SCOR www.santacruzlineup.com
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TIP 1: Use Shutter Priority
Regardless of how the rest of your image appears, if the main subject is in
sharp focus the photo will “feel” right. Blurring effects can be
fun and result in some interesting images, but only when it’s obvious
that that’s what you were going for. In other words, if everything looks
a little fuzzy, your image will look accidental and out of focus.
The best way to insure that your images are sharp is to use your camera’s
shutter-priority exposure setting. This mode lets you set the shutter speed
while the camera selects the correct aperture. Depending upon the type of action
you’re shooting, strive for a speed of 1¼250 or faster. This will
likely give you a shallow depth of field but, unless you are extremely close
to the action, depth of field isn’t a critical issue for most action shots.
Depending upon the amount of light, and the maximum aperture of your lens, it
might be necessary to increase the ISO setting (or use faster film) in order
to keep the shutter speed high enough. For this reason, I routinely shoot at
ISO 400 for this type of photography.
TIP 2: The Decisive Moment
You may have heard people use the term “decisive moment” before
and wondered what the heck they were talking about. Simply put, it’s that
particular instant when the action or subject is at its most interesting. In
the previous example, the decisive moment is seen with the wave breaking over
the surfer.
Other examples might be a swimmer gulping for air in mid-stroke as shown in
this image of Michael Phelps at the Olympic Trials. You can almost feel the
tension in this shot, making it the type of photo you keep coming back to. Regardless
of the subject matter, every action shot has a moment that really tells the
story. Make it your goal to capture that moment and your photo will come to
life.
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Michael Phelps at the US Olympic Trials on his way to victory
in the 200 Individual Medley. Photo courtesy of Robert Stanton.
© 2005 by Robert Stanton
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TIP 3: Leave Room for the Subject
Even the greatest photographic opportunity can be easily ruined by bad compositional
technique. It’s usually a good idea to shoot your scene “loose”
and leave a bit of space around your main subject. When photographing moving
subjects it’s particularly important to leave enough space so that your
subject appears to move into the frame. This compositional technique draws the
viewers eye into the photograph.
The opposite approach, in which the subject appears to be moving out of the
frame, tends to add tension to the shot and detracts from the composition. So
regardless of which direction your subject is moving, try to leave space in
front whenever possible.
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It’s also important to avoid a busy background that distracts
from the action. The best images I’ve seen typically have
very little clutter around the subject, with either an out of
focus or monochromatic background such as the surf shot used here.
© 2005 SCOR www.santacruzlineup.com
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TIP 4: Add Scale for Drama
One creative technique that can add drama to your image is to pull back from
the subject to show it in the context of the environment. For the example shown
here, I shot the kayaker from above. The waterfall is completely overwhelming
in this image and illustrates how small man is compared to nature. By shooting
from above I was able to exaggerate the effect even more than if I was shooting
at water level.
Again, an uncluttered background is important for this style of shot to work,
and the subject should be bright, like this yellow kayak photographed against
the green water.
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Not every shot works best when the subject fills the frame, so
consider pulling back for drama as I’ve done here. By the
same token, not every shot has an element to give scale to the
subject, so use this tip in moderation.
Photo by Jon Canfield
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