surfing

[pmdcm]

Comments are welcome

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/6527/058eb8.jpg

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/1921/066yc1.jpg

[nc-grayson]

pictures look nice and clear to me, but i'd like to see the first one with a tighter crop

[Roy Webber]

I shoot a lot of surf, (http://roywebber.zenfolio.com/) and even with my 100-400, its hard to get close to the action. Light is an important factor, and 2-3 hours before sunset can make for good results, providing the sun is behind you.

[cwood]

Unless I'm out there for that magical 30min in the day when the light is perfect I tend to expose the surfer separate from the rest of the image so you can get nice dark water with good spray and still have a properly exposed surfer. I think it allows for a better image although many would suggest this is not a good practice. Typically I go up 0.3 on the surfer, down 0.5 on the water and adjust the black point on the water anywhere from 10-30 points.
http://christopherwood.smugmug.com/photos/454595661_J5Pqm-L.jpg

I think the first image could come out quite a bit better with this processing.

For the second shot it looks like whatever the surfer is trying he is not going to make it (unless he is just getting off the wave here). If he was about to make a hard cut he would have to be twisted and loaded up here which would re-direct the action back towards the camera. So I like the board pointing straight up in the air but in the end we are just looking at the back up his head
http://christopherwood.smugmug.com/photos/465389650_imgms-M.jpg

[pmdcm]

Thanks for the comments.
Cwood, I have to learn to do that in photoshop.

[silvex]

It is hard to get the right light/water spray combination. I used photoshop shadow highlight for back lit surfers. Getting close to the water is key too. You must be carefull just to be with water no higher than your feet when the waters comes up at you. Usually the "wet/soaked" portion of the beach is the border line.

Also getting a custom white balance helps a LOT and setting black/white points in photoshot brings pop to the shot. The shot below is backlit and was brought to life with cuves and shadow/highlight in photoshop.

http://silvex.smugmug.com/photos/341754964_2gCfQ-L-6.jpg