Just how high is he?

[barabe]

Got this shot of a kite surfer in the St-Laurence river south of montreal. First one i see since the water is still very cold, just above freezing. I know the back ground is a litle boring but i wanted to shot the height acheived by this guy taking off.

What i would like help on, is how should i crop this to still keep the effect i am after? This is the original out of the camera, no PP has been done. Is there any thing i could do to improve the background? The guy is a litle out of focus, i am wondering if it is motion blur or jus plain out of focus because of me being stupid and forgething to change my apparture, and does it bother anyone else than me?

Any other comment is more than welcome.




Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

[Chip]

barabe - Looks like fun!

My suggestion on the crop would be to use portrait orientation, place the kie surfer towards the bottom third of the frame and leave as much sky and line as possible. That might help create the lift off effect you're looking for.

And on the blur, my guess is that 1/320th was a bit too slow to freeze the action, so I'll go with motion blur. But, the blur doesn't bother me.

My 2 cents.

[ericw]

Being soft bothers me. The horizon's not straight and that bothers me. He's perfectly centered and about a quarter inch tall. The other thing that bothers me is his face is covered up. You're going to have to crop this like crazy to get it anywhere near a good framing and then quality is going to suck. You didn't achieve the effect of showing the height. More so it looks like he's trying to take a dump on the horizon.

If you want to make a good shot of this that doesn't look point and shoot get there when the guys about to put in, tell him you want to make a really sweet pic of him and if he works with you you'll give him some for free. Put on your wide angle lens. Paddle out into the water on some sort of a watercraft. Have him come by you (close) and do his jump thing. Shoot frome below (frame him against the sky, not right next to the horizon). Don't forget to include SOME of the water in the shot so we know what's going on.

Your landscape and macro shots are really nice, but this needs deleted. Action sports photos are completely different ball game.

[barabe]

Originally Posted by ericw

Being soft bothers me. The horizon's not straight and that bothers me. He's perfectly centered and about a quarter inch tall. The other thing that bothers me is his face is covered up. You're going to have to crop this like crazy to get it anywhere near a good framing and then quality is going to suck. You didn't achieve the effect of showing the height. More so it looks like he's trying to take a dump on the horizon.

If you want to make a good shot of this that doesn't look point and shoot get there when the guys about to put in, tell him you want to make a really sweet pic of him and if he works with you you'll give him some for free. Put on your wide angle lens. Paddle out into the water on some sort of a watercraft. Have him come by you (close) and do his jump thing. Shoot frome below (frame him against the sky, not right next to the horizon). Don't forget to include SOME of the water in the shot so we know what's going on.

Your landscape and macro shots are really nice, but this needs deleted. Action sports photos are completely different ball game.

Ouch! I knew it was bad but not that bad.

Your point is well taken and i will try when time permits and wind allows to go and shoot again, hopefully i will be able to get a better shot keeping in mind the ideas you gave me.

Thank you for taking the time to look and share your thoughts on the shot.

[barabe]

Chip, thank you for taking time to critique i will try the crop and see.