Some Diving Pictures

I have not shot much diving, but since my oldest daughter picked it up this year I have given it a try. It seems like a difficult sport to get very interesting shots at. These are a few that I like:

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Last 2 are ma favourites, great images but would be good to see if you could get more of the background in shot, perhaps see if you're able to get higher and shoot down toward the pool?

urbanfreestyle wrote in post #17352923
Last 2 are ma favourites, great images but would be good to see if you could get more of the background in shot, perhaps see if you're able to get higher and shoot down toward the pool?

I settled on shooting down low like that in order to catch the dynamism of the dive, and their faces at apogee. I can't get above the divers but I have tried a couple other angles. IMO these were worse, but take a look.

First is from higher, but now I'm all the way across the pool shooting from the bleachers which is the only place to get elevated. I'm not super fond of this shot.

Second is from head on. For one thing, sharp photos from this angle are infrequent because this approach taxes the AF performance of the EOS system more than anything I've tried to date (including volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball etc.) The movement is very sudden and the diver moves dramatically closer to the camera in a short period of time. EOS AF struggles to get this. And the shots all look weird to me anyway.

Last one is standing, quarter on the to head of the board. I'd like it more if I hadn't lost her hand, but I don't know about this angle either.

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Nice stuff. Looks like a nice ambient light.
I've done a bit of diving, just because it was there when I was shooting the swimming in the other pool.
It's tough....I think my best ones were the result of panning. Not like these - you've nailed them here.

Well done !

Cheers !

I know nothing about shooting diving, but the last three are aesthetically more pleasing than the first few. Great shots.

First off, just want to say thanks for the comments from everyone. You guys are defininitely making me think here.

My first take on the first stuff I shot (where the girls wear blue suits) was that I just wasn't thrilled with the shots. I tried moving to a shorter lens (50mm/1.2 instead of the 70-200) and tried from down low, these are the shots in the green suit. I guess my feeling was seeing the face, and more of the girl looking down on the water for her position made the shots more interesting. In particular I liked the first shot overall.

Is it the loss of context (no water, no clear sense of surroundings) that people do not like about these lower shots? I'm thinking that might be it.

Overall - happy to get some thoughts and I'll take any other feedback!

Great photos of a very hard-to-shoot sport!

I love that first shot, but wonder if it might be even better with a little more context. Perhaps including a bit of the diving board/platform would help the context? And, in the very last shot....maybe just a bit more of the water under the diver? Just my two cents.