Snowboarding Half-Pipe

[Gimli]

I took a bunch of photos up at the LG FIS WorldCup 2009 event here.

here is one of the thousands I took


I did some post-processing with Lightroom (levels, exposure, whitebalance, curve, crop).

What would you do to it? It was my first time being a media accredited photographer.

[JohnG]

Hi Gimli,

From a processing standpoint I can't recommend anything different. Exposure looks good and sharpness looks good for what this photo is.

My issue is with the framing. I just don't find the background to be interesting enough to warrant relegating the boarder to such a tiny portion of the frame. I think a closer position would give you a good perspective if you wanted to highlight the height of the menuever. And obviously closer zoom if your intent is to highlight the boarder. But this type of framing excentuates the backdrop - which, to me at least, isn't very interesting in this case.

So, really my question is - what type of shot were you really going for?

Sadly I don'tget to photograph any skiing/boarding so my advice/opinion isn't based on first hand experience just my preferences for viewing other boarding / skiing work done by other shooters.

[Gimli]

I guess I am not sure what sort I of shot I should be going for.

A shot that shows the height of the border (portrait ratio) would be better I suppose.

I do agree the background isn't great, a closer crop on the rider would be better, though I guess I would want to show the deck so that there is a point of reference for their height.

Perhaps I should post a couple of the other photos I have online?

[JohnG]

Gimli,

the idea is to consider the type of shot BEFORE you shoot. Think about what message you want to convey with the photo. Regardless of the sport or even non sports work - you frame a shot to include something of interest and exclude non-interesting elements. IMO, for skiing / boarding there are 3 types of shots:

Emphasize the athlete

Emphasize the maneuver

Emphasize the location

Deciding which type of shot you are going for will control your positioning (or if you don't have freedom, the position you're put in may dictate whether or not the third option is a good one)

The trickier thing is deciding between option 1 and 2. In that context you need to decide if you need the pipe in the frame to add appropriate context to the menuever or not. After all, the pipe - in and of itself is very uninteresting with standard framing (although it might be more interesting with ultrawides or fisheyes if you could get in the right position).

Framing loose and cropping later you'll lose too much detail and POP. You want to keep cropping to a minimum.

[JohnG]

Gimli,

the idea is to consider the type of shot BEFORE you shoot. Think about what message you want to convey with the photo. Regardless of the sport or even non sports work - you frame a shot to include something of interest and exclude non-interesting elements. IMO, for skiing / boarding there are 3 types of shots:

Emphasize the athlete

Emphasize the maneuver

Emphasize the location

Deciding which type of shot you are going for will control your positioning (or if you don't have freedom, the position you're put in may dictate whether or not the third option is a good one)

The trickier thing is deciding between option 1 and 2. In that context you need to decide if you need the pipe in the frame to add appropriate context to the menuever or not. After all, the pipe - in and of itself is very uninteresting with standard framing (although it might be more interesting with ultrawides or fisheyes if you could get in the right position).

Framing loose and cropping later you'll lose too much detail and POP. You want to keep cropping to a minimum.

[Gimli]

I guess what I'll have to do is look through magazines etc for shot ideas too.

I tried to get closer shots of the riders like Shaun White. Though his photos I couldn't get close enough.

I'll get to try this all again in April up at Whistler and I'll try and go with a game plan. The event I went to was my first and i was just excited to be able to shoot from the media area.

I have this shot of another rider:


Which does give a bit more emphasis on the rider himself. Though the background below him isn't exciting is it?

[vIZnquest]

From where I sit I find this shot to be better than what is used in the magazines. I am referring to your second posted shot.

Great stuff.

[Kronnic]

vIZnquest wrote:

From where I sit I find this shot to be better than what is used in the magazines. I am referring to your second posted shot.

Great stuff.

Agree