Skateboarding - First attempt

I discovered this week that I live a couple of miles away from what is apparently Europes largest skatepark so I decided to go and try my hand shooting some skateboarding.

As this was my first attempt I would love some feedback from those who know this area on how the shots have turned out and what I should look to consider in future. For instance, obviously the skateboard needs to be in shot everytime but does it matter greatly if say an arm is out of shot ?

Everything was shot with a 30D and a Sigma 10-20mm and Sigma 120-300mm although I think I need something a little bit inbetween the two as 120-300 was quite cumbersome and I nearly got a skateboard in the face on the odd occasion with the 10-20mm.

1.

5 is my favorite.

Number 7 and 8 are my favorites. A little bit of fill flash on most of these shots would be help a great deal. A flash will also bring out the blues in your sky a bit.

#2 & 5 classic skate shots.
#1 looks like the guy is about to bail or wipe out

Nice pics!

I really like #2 good angle, great view of the bowl.... #7 is also a good photo, just needs to be a bit looser, just to see what hes popping off of... great job overall

Nuke #1. It looks like the guy is about to kick the board away. #6 bad angle. Arse shot. #8 - is doing a bluntslide. His foot hanging off makes it look sloppy. It could have been a great shot if the guy pulled it off.... (even if he did, it looks bad)

#7 is the best of the lot but there is no frame of reference for what the subject is doing. As for the others. Those kick turn and pivot shots are uninteresting. Like shots taken by a mate unfamiliar with the camera and doing a spray and pray. Keep at it though. A couple shots have potential.

OT. Vans must have had a firesale on shoes in the UK.

Cheers all, your input is much appreciated.

I was wondering about using flash but wasn't sure whether this was acceptable or not. I guess the pros are used to it and expect it but probably wise just to give the kids having some fun a heads up.

DerAngriff - Excellent critique, it's just what I was looking for to work out what kind of shots people are interested in. Thank you.

I think that #5 would like awesome with a bit more background blur.

Peter

Just started to take pics of Skateboarding myself, Great pics!

http://www.flickr.com/​photos/26177356@N07/

You really want to refrain from trick-in-the-sky photos. With long lens photos in skating, it's all about loose comp so you can show the entire story: the run-up, the obstacle, and the landing. I would really like to see #8 not so tight. Tight comp in skating is used best with fisheye.

I'm no expert in the field but I thought they were great, 5 stood out as the standout shot IMO.

nice pics. is that at saffron walden?
craig smedly in number 5 is unbelievably good

The board in #5 looks deadly...