Tips for shooting skateboarders?

Was curious if you guys had any tips. Total newbie. Was thinking I'd ask a few friends to either hit up the skatepark or maybe just hit some stuff on the streets. Major limitation is I only have 1 lens (my Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS). Any advice you can give for a first timer?

My thoughts: Shoot from a down-low positon, get in close - try to get them in the full -frame so that the likely brightness (outdoors?) won't result in blown-out backgrounds, Shoot FAST SS (e.g., 1/1600+) or you'll be susceptable to motion blur, shoot in Manual mode & set your Aperture & SS first based on your ambient light and adjust your ISO higher so you can maintain those settings in a mid+ metered value. Oh and set to AI Servo Mode so that you can just press the button and capture multiple shots/second to choose from. I'd also do this in RAW format so that you can adjust things in PP as you need to (e.g., WB). Have fun.

For skateboarders your lens is not really limitations. Skatebording (or snowboarding) photography is a bit different then normal sport photography, and most used lenses there are ultra wide lenses. So you should do quite ok with your 17mm.
Otherwise, as Cody wrote, get close, go down and choose fast time. Flash is helpful too, so you can underexpose a bit, to keep background from being overexposed. And one more tip... shoot manual not program modes

It also looks alot better sometimes if you get the whole feature in, and not just the skater. Gives a perception of how large it is, and just the feel of street skating.

primoz wrote in post #5520608
For skateboarders your lens is not really limitations. Skatebording (or snowboarding) photography is a bit different then normal sport photography, and most used lenses there are ultra wide lenses. So you should do quite ok with your 17mm.
Otherwise, as Cody wrote, get close, go down and choose fast time. Flash is helpful too, so you can underexpose a bit, to keep background from being overexposed. And one more tip... shoot manual not program modes

Primoz,

Your comment on flash brings up a question with this type of shooting: you can't shoot in continuous mode (at least with the flash firing several times a second). So, do you prefer to use the flash, and just shoot single shot when it is charged?

It depends. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. With sports like basketball, handball or volleyball, I don't like to use strobes. It's too much action to depend on single shot only. With sports like skateboarding (I don't shoot much skateboarding, but it's similar to other sports I shoot more so..), there's one guy only, with no interaction with someone/something else, and it's pretty predictable, so single shot is not that bad. For beginning, I agree it will probably get hard to get right timing, but you get used to this pretty fast. And it's same for every sport... without knowing sport good enough, it's extremely hard to get right timing.
On top of that, there are external battery packs for on-camera flashes, and you can get few shots in row even on 8fps with that. But it's different story, and definitely not something I would suggest to buy for someone with camera and one lens. And please, don't understand me wrong, I don't mean anything bad with it, it's just that there's more important things to get before you get battery pack.

Thanks, I get what you're saying!

I'd use a shotgun - the spread means that although they're moving fast, you'll still catch them even if you're a little off.

If they're far away or you don't want to be caught, just get the best rifle you can, practise your breathing technique and if they're moving across your field of view, aim slightly in front of them.

Works every time.

primoz wrote in post #5520608
For skateboarders your lens is not really limitations. Skatebording (or snowboarding) photography is a bit different then normal sport photography, and most used lenses there are ultra wide lenses. So you should do quite ok with your 17mm.

I hear this quite a lot. Just curious is there a Canon ultra wide lens of choice for skate photography? Also for most skate photography what shutter speed do most people shoot at?

I LOVE my 17-40 for skateboarding. Relatively inexpensive, tough and no distortion!

IMO, the perfect set up would be
1D- cheap, fast and bullet proof
17-40- Inexpensive (compared to others), tough and nice
580ex II X2- Great flash, water proof and a built in PC port.
Pocket wizards- not much to explain here

I think I probably want to get shooting in the day time down before I start messing with flashes. I bought a 580EX but I'm still in the testing phase since it's a little tricky shooting with it than without. My good friend actually has a 24-105L sitting around doing nothing that he is will to sell to me on the cheap. Curious whether the 7mm difference will be significant.

big_apple_ken wrote in post #5521882
Just curious is there a Canon ultra wide lens of choice for skate photography? Also for most skate photography what shutter speed do most people shoot at?

Once again... I don't shoot skateboarding very often, so consider this when reading my replies As far as lens goes... 14/2.8 is pretty much best choice and my favorite, but it's far from cheap lens.
Shutter speed? Anything from 1/8000 to 1/2sec It depends what you are after, so there's no rule. For first time, I would definitely suggest short times, so you don't need to deal with motion blur and all the problems connected to it.