Surfing

[Tirol]

So surf season is coming up again on the coast.

I fell in love with surf photography two years ago with a crappy super zoom. It's driven a lot of dslr gear upgrades since. It's an ungodly thing to shoot on a tight budget.

tbh I think I actually keep five out of every 500 shots I take.
Roast away on this picture, please. Tips on good surf gear at sub-astro prices and surf photog in general also very welcome.

I really hope I can somehow improve this year.


Cheers!

-T



Shutter Speed: 10/20000 second (?)
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 400

[Tirol]

More specific questions after reviewing mods post again....

It was taken with a d40, I didnt think there was a lot of cropping room. Is that wrong?

Should it be cropped?

[Scott_TX]

I would crop the picture to be portrait instead of landscape. I love the different colors of the water and would hate to see that cropped out. Also it looks like the horizon my be tilted ever so slightly. Overall a good picture.

[WooD]

Great capture. I love the colors, and you exposed it good. The white water has detail which is hard to get sometimes.

As far as lens go. For surf shots I use a Nikon 300 f/4 with a TC14 converter, which gets me out to 420mm at f/5.6.

[Tirol]

300mm prime?

[Tirol]

and if it is the prime, how does that effect the shots when the distance between you and the surfer is constantly changing? do you have enough range to capture most of the run?

[WooD]

Originally Posted by Tirol

and if it is the prime, how does that effect the shots when the distance between you and the surfer is constantly changing? do you have enough range to capture most of the run?

Yes its a prime lens. I've never had a problem with distance. The majority of the time, I'm shooting the surfer riding the face of the wave. If someone is just catching a wave, and riding it in, I dont shoot them.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2116/...fd0e7532_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2061/...c63416f4_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3267/...a540e727_b.jpg

[Tirol]

awesome shots. info was just what I needed. thanks so much =)

[WooD]

Did you notice in the first shot I linked to that the dudes board had the entire nose broke off?

He was catching more waves than all the other surfers put together. He also bought every shot I took of him.

[Mattj]

Tirol, where are you shooting at? The color of the water is fantastic. Do you guys face an problems from the sand? Sand in the lens, camera body, etc.? If so what type of protection do you use? I have been looking to do something like this for a while, but I'm worried about the sand.