Huntington Beach, CA. Beach Games Week: Day I

[Juan23]

No work this morning, so I thought I'd cool off by going down to Huntington. The Amateur Surf Competition started today so I snapped a few "Amateur" pics from the pier. (I wish I had a polarizer.... sigh) Anyways, Enjoy.

http://photos22.flickr.com/27859533_6587ef7d8f_b.jpg

http://photos22.flickr.com/27859950_0dbedee366_b.jpg

http://photos23.flickr.com/27858588_7c11f8486e_b.jpg

http://photos21.flickr.com/27858293_bc99549a9f_b.jpg

http://photos23.flickr.com/27862498_2a38d326a7_b.jpg

http://photos23.flickr.com/27862655_909a4d035a_b.jpg

Full Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35129560@N00/sets/630091/

[SurfKahakai]

You did a pretty good job at catching the surfers at the peak of the action. I see you and I both have the same problem when it comes to blown out white water. In a lot of my pictures the white water is a big distraction.

Here's one for an example:

http://socalsurfpics.com/albums/userpics/10003/Jalama%2015%20Jul%208.jpg

[Juan23]

I see you and I both have the same problem when it comes to blown out white water.


Anyone have any tips on solving that problem?

[SurfKahakai]

If you come across one I'd love to hear it. I was flipping through a surfing magazine and actually saw a few pictures with what appeared to be blown out white water. I guess the pros can't do it either.

[RAitch]

Well, shooting in RAW could help... and if you drop the exposure compensation a bit so that the waves aren't 255-255-255 that you should be able to fix.

You can use CTRL-ALT-~ to select the highlights, CTRL-J to copy the highlights to a new layer and change the blend mode to multiply. Create another one and try softlight for the blend mode to introduce contrast. Duplicate the layers if you need more effect, drop the opacity if you need less.

Now, I haven't tried taking surfing pictures before, so I'm not sure how much you can correct. I know that with direct flash portraits, it helps to get rid of the facial blowouts.

As far as a photography-based solution, I'm not really sure. If you expose for the highlights, your subject will be dark and dull. If you expose for the subject, your waves will blow (out).

Notice how picture 2 doesn't look as distracting and picture 1? I think if you fill the frame with whitecaps you'll be in trouble. Personally, I don't mind the blowouts in the second picture. With RAW and post processing, you should be able to create a nice result.

I'm sure others here have some good photographic/composition suggestions. That's not my strong point.

[RAitch]

Oh, about picture number 2, his face is totally dark... which is a bigger problem than the whiteout. I doubt there's much you can do except try to fill the frame with as much colour water as you can.

Maybe try framing more ahead so more clear water in front is in the picture and the white breaks are only on a portion. Obviously that won't work in every case (turns).

Also, try the thirds rule to get more foreground water or background sky in the photo.

Place the surfer a third over from a side and either a third down or up.