First try at kneeboarding

[Jim Almquist]

I had a chance to shoot a knee boarder on Saturday who is sponserd by O'Brian. The bad part was that it did not get calm till sunset and with the low light my shooting speeds could not be as fast as I would have liked and Dans movement was very fast when he was doing flips. I was jealous that I was not 60 pounds lighter and 20 years younger. [image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image]

[Steve Foss]

Dang, that can be frustrating. Knowing you've got some very nice compositions but hating the poor light and also knowing they're going to be blurry. The last one in particular would be excellent but for the slow shutter speed. Also, shutter speed needs to be even a bit higher than normal when shooting from a boat with the motor running, because of the vibration transmitted from the boat through your body and to the camera.

You've got a good start, jmalm. Next time you'll get better light and nail it.

[Dbl]

jimalm, I took a look at your EXIF data and can give you a few pointers that would have helped you with these shots. Just let me know if you're interested.

Dan

[Jim Almquist]

Dan all pointers will gladly be accepted. The one other thing that made shooting tough was the fact there was such a narrow area that we could travel because of the depth and the weeds so we were going north and south instead of west so I would have had enough light for my 100-400.

[Steve Foss]

I'd tried to pull exif data on these to help out, too, after jmalm posted them, but couldn't. Dan, how did you do it? I use a Mac.

[Dbl]

Steve, if you do a google or go to Ken Rockwell's site and search for Mac Exif viewer, you should find what you need for the Mac. I use Opanda IExif but I think that is only for a PC.

jimalm, some folks post just to share so that is why I asked before I offered some advice. Looking at the light conditions you should have had plenty of light for your 100-400. I noticed you were at an ISO of 250. When the light starts to fall you need to get that bumped up to ISO 800,1600, or if need be up to 3200 to get higher shutter speeds. Don't be afraid to use these ISO's, that is why they are there.

I also noticed you had your f-stop at f11 to f16. In addition to bumping up that ISO you need to open up your f-stop as wide open as your lens will go, this gives you again the higher shutter speeds you need to reduce camera shake, motion blur, and boat vibration.

The real reason all of these settings were where they are is because you shot in Auto. You are letting the camera decide what thinks is proper for the conditions. It doesn't know that you are are trying to capture fast action. You need to take control of the camera and tell it what to do. Sports and action usually call for two shooting modes for your camera, Av and manual. In Av you set the f-stop and the camera, based on your ISO and f-stop will set the shutter speed for you. You are trying to get the highest shutter speed you can to help reduce motion blur, etc.

The next issue to deal with is the subject itself. You are going to have some trouble with water subjects because of spray. I don't have my normal software with me that tells me the focus modes and which focus point was used because I am traveling but which focus mode were you in and which focus points did you use? I am guessing you had all focus points active and you may not have been in AI Servo mode? AI servo focus is for tracking moving subjects, the focus changes as the subject moves. In One shot focus mode you focus on the subject and the when the focus is captured it stops focusing until you press the shutter down again. Moving subjects = AI servo. Static subjects = One Shot.

With moving subjects like this you need to have your focus point set to the center point only. If you are in all points you get what happened to you, the focus locks on whatever gives it the most contrast anywhere in the frame, in this case white spray against a dark background. The spray is not what you want to focus on, the rider is. So your first few posted shots look at what is the most in focus, the spray. Camera did what it was supposed to based on the settings you gave it. Again take charge and tell the camera what you want it to do. Center focus on a single point, put that on the subject and hope for focus lock.

Spray always wrecks havoc with focus, but you can, I know this sucks with your expensive auto focus lens, manually focus. The rope is a fixed distance behind the boat, whether the subject is to the side or behind, he is still the same distance back. Manually focus when there is no spray and now all you have to do is track the subject and fire when ready, spray or not.

Forgive me if you already know some of this, but it may help someone else who is starting out and wants to capture some summer water action. Your last shot is the best of the group but you had no chance of getting a sharp clear shot because your shutter speed was down to 1/125s. Try making the adjustments mentioned above, next time out I bet you will get some great results.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks Dan. I haven't been able to find a Mac exif reading program yet, so I'll look into that.

Right on the money with your evaluation, too. With iso that low and aperture that stopped down, it would be hard for anyone to get enough shutter speed for sharp images in low light.

I think, jmalm, that had you either bumped iso to 800 or opened up aperture to f5.6, you'd have had enough shutter speed for sharp images. Doing both would have made certain you had enough.

One of the reasons the last image is almost sharp enough is that the boarder is speeding ahead of his spray, so the autofocus was able to grab him effectively. And even if you were in one shot focus mode, with the subject moving side to side your focus probably would have been good enough if the shutter speed was higher.

I generally use the center focus point no matter what the focus mode and crop in pp to suit me, but it's pretty easy to get used to changing the focus point in just a couple easy steps without even taking your eye away from the viewfinder. I don't know which body you've got, but on the 30D it's as simple as pushing a button and spinning a dial.

So when the boarder is about to head left, you can select one of the focus points to the left of center, wait until he emerges from his spray, rip off a burst and still have time to quickly change to right of center when he heads the other way. That takes time and practice to master, and I think at first it's best to do what Dan said, which is to concentrate on the center focus point.

Regardless of the focus point, you'll be happier with your shots if you wait until there's a substantial part of the boarder away from the spray to make things easier for your autofocus.

And iso800 on the late model Canon sensors shows very little noise, and that's easily handled with Noise Ninja or other similar inexpensive programs.

[Steve Foss]

Ah, I see now using the Mac exif reader Dan showed me that you've got the 30D. Easy to change focus point on that baby. Lots of fun ahead of you jmalm as you get used to all the cool things the 30D can do.

Here are my outdoor default sports settings with the 30D and 100-400L IS.

1. iso400

2. Av mode, with aperture set from f5.6 to f8

3. Al servo focus mode, center focus point

4. IS on mode 1 unless tracking steadily moving action such as track or motorsports, then IS mode 2

With these settings, even on cloudy days I'm able to get the shutter speed I need to stop the action of faces and bodies, and often, if there's enough light, I can stop really fast moving things.

If I need total and utter speed, I open up to f5.6 and bump iso to 800. If it's too dark for that, it's too dark for me to be shooting sports.

If you're tracking this kneeboarder from side to side, IS mode 2 will work fine, but if he's doing flips and lots of fast, multidirectional moves, I'd stick with mode 1.

Hope this helps.

[Jim Almquist]

Dan and Steve I really want to thank you for taking the time to help me out. I went back and opened up Zoombrowser EX and took a look at the exif info. I did not mean to have the camera in shutter priority but I must have turned it to the wrong setting cause I thought it was in AV. I did have it set for center focus only and Al-servo and on 1 for the stabilizer mode.The one thing that I must change is my ISO. The way I had my camera set I never shot any faster then 1/125 of a sec. on any of my shots but it was still a great learning experience. I just hope that I can get another chance to try and improve my lack of skills

[Dbl]

Cool jimalm, use Zoombrowser to check on your focus point also, it will tell you how well you did at tracking the subject.

[Jim Almquist]

Dan I went back and took a look and there might be a little learning curve to tracking fast moving objects. Some were right on and some were a complete miss but with my shutter speed being all screwed up there was no chance right from the start.Thanks

[Steve Foss]

Jim, on my recent loon shoot, I went through one whole Gb of shooting before I realized I'd bumped my dial from Av mode to Tv mode and was underexposing everything. It's easy to do, believe me.

Darn glad that's never happened to me during a wedding shoot! But then, during weddings, checking my settings and historgram is like a religion. No do-overs possible once the vows are finished.

[MN Shutterbug]

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I just hope that I can get another chance to try and improve my lack of skills

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Jim, unless you are 98 with 1 foot in the grave, you'll have plenty of chances. And you'll have some sweet rewards. Just never get too frustrated. We all have to start somewhere.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Great advise as usual. Thanks Steve and Dan.

With the distance behind the boat being the length of a ski rope,I probably would have reached in the bag for my $90 50mm F1.8. That little sucker will freeze him!

[Dbl]

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Great advise as usual. Thanks Steve and Dan.

With the distance behind the boat being the length of a ski rope,I probably would have reached in the bag for my $90 50mm F1.8. That little sucker will freeze him!

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MM the 50/1.8 will do the job, especially with the 1.6 crop factor on the 30D. But do remember the narrow DOF you will have with the f1.8. It will give you nice inclusion of water and rider. Sometimes it is to easy to shoot those shots too tight losing all reference to how high the rider is above the water.

jimalm it is no easy task to track fast moving subjects with that little single focus point. Keep using Zoombrowser to check on how well you are doing. It gets to the point after a while that you will know when you shoot that you missed. Practice really does...well it won't make you perfect but it sure ups your keeper rate.

[polarsusd81]

Jim, Dan, or Steve,

Where can a guy get this zoombrowser utility you are talking about? I would like to check some of my shots with it and maybe it will help me improve my shooting. I have been looking for something like that.

[hendenhook]

jimalm thanks for posting I enjoyed the shots, with Catfish's and DBL's input I certainly got a lot of great information that may help in future instances - if I can retain it.

Catfish and DBL thanks for taking the time to explain more about specific photography situations.

[Dbl]

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Jim, Dan, or Steve,

Where can a guy get this zoombrowser utility you are talking about? I would like to check some of my shots with it and maybe it will help me improve my shooting. I have been looking for something like that.

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I believe you shoot a Canon, in which case it should be on the CD that came with the camera as one of the utilities. If you can't find it there do a google search for Zoombrowser EX. If you can't find it there post back and I will send you a link to it.

Dan

[polarsusd81]

Cool, Thanks Jim. I think I must have loaded the program and just never used it. I looked around on the computer and it is there. Guess I just have to think inside the box sometimes. Does this classify as a dumb blonde moment, even though I am not blonde?

[Swimmer]

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Cool, Thanks Jim. I think I must have loaded the program and just never used it. I looked around on the computer and it is there. Guess I just have to think inside the box sometimes. Does this classify as a dumb blonde moment, even though I am not blonde?

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"think inside the box"...good one . There are no dumb blondes...only blondes who need a teacher!

PS, great tutorial by Dbl and Catfish. That is one thing that is hard to get used to with advanced digital SLRs...the great range of ISO settings right there at your fingertips. I have pretty much the same setup and am just starting to become comfortable with shooting at ISO 800 and 1600...just doesn't seem right (yet).

[Jim Almquist]

Swimmer I know what you mean by ..just doesn't seem right(yet). I started shooting 35mm film and was in the service so I was shooting 25 & 64 asa Kodachrome color slide cause it was cheap to develop and I hardly ever went above 200 asa. X-tacklemen what I meant about another chance to shoot was Dan the guy on the kneeboard. My friends and I started kneeboarding 20+ years ago when no one else on the lake had ever seen anything like it. When we could go backwards and jump the wake getting 5 or so feet in the air we thought we were great so the chance to take shots of a guy who make videos on how to do stunts on kneeboards might be a one shot deal.