Surfing spray

[Slummies]

Behind the shot: i took this shot yesterday with a bunch of underground surfers from where i live: East London, South Africa. this beach is nice to shoot from cos the wave really breaks close to the beach. i wanted to get the beauty of this wave. i was able to do a bit of that, but because it was overcast the light was shocking, this was the best i could get!

Equipment: Canon 400D (dreaming of a 50D!!) with 170-500 Sigma
ISO 200, f5.6, 1/640sec.

Editing in Light room included:
Expo: +0.38
Blacks 15
Fill light 2
Brightness:61
Contrast:46

boosted up colour: aqua and blue.



My question is, i would like to know how i could make this look better? i wanted to bring out the colour and get the spray coming off the wave to stand out more..

I sell these photos for around R20 (work it out in $) and the guys love them

go ahead, rip me apart

[MaXiMuM]

Firstly which beach and do you know Ricky Rocket, everyone in EL knows him. I lived in PE, surfed for many years, but find myself in the big smoke, JHB. Enough small talk…

There is no need to rip the photo to shreds, if it works, it works and the only way to learn is by asking questions like you just did. I am no pro, but I like the challenge.

My only criticism would be on composition – by placing the immediate subject, the surfer in the centre of the shot, you limit you options to display other aspects of the image. I would have him off to the left of centre and entering the frame. 2 points here, utilize the rule of thirds, and nearly always have things entering a shot, very seldom exiting. The other thing with the composition is that it should tell a story, rather than capture it, so by cropping closer to the subject, you could have the impression of the spray and the surfer battling the wind, without actually showing all of it. The last one on composition, if your subject is distant and you only want the subject to be the centre of attention, try and clean out the foreground, get rid of that wave.

Very cool that the guys are buying your shots… hard work will get you there.

[Slummies]

Its a secret beach break near EL. ya, i know Ricky! leker to see a local oke here! shot!

That wave in the foreground irritates me to the max! sometime i wish i had a portable lifegaurd chair that i could carry around! haha

thanks for the critique

[MaXiMuM]

Rick's my brother-in-law...
there are a few okes from Mzanzi around.

Get a chair...

I got a mate who guides fishing trips to all parts of the world, and ships a collapsible ladder to himself before he goes. He had one on the tender they used in the Seychelles... Left one in the Amazon... there's one in EnZed... and one in an undisclosed location in South America...
Lasher love him... I Love His Photos..

I read that your image was taken in poor light conditions, what white balance did you use??? ohh, while you look for that, duck, cause here comes a whole new can of worms...

[cziz]

Try the instructions in this thread.

Surfing action shot

[Greendrake77]

Can you tell me what the actual focal length was? (I know you were using a 170-500) Just curious.

[lurw]

Nice shot!
I would try to avoid the waves in the foreground next time, and as an experiment, you could try to make the wave's colour more blue than green as it is now, and compare it to this shot.