Costa Rica Surf

One from the beach and one from the water. Water shot is with a 20D & 10-22mm and the other is with a 5DMKII & 100-400mm L.

C&C please ... I know, the water shot is oof. Any tips on manual focusing?

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1st one you missed focus.. but the second is great.

I wanted to add that your exposures on both look great.. you have some nice non blown whites in there.

canonnoob wrote in post #9272855
1st one you missed focus.. but the second is great.

I wanted to add that your exposures on both look great.. you have some nice non blown whites in there.

I've been told that just left of infinity is best @ man. focus .... cant seem to dial it in though.
Thanks ... maybe a little too much sharpening on the second one?

Mark II wrote in post #9272870
I've been told that just left of infinity is best @ man. focus .... cant seem to dial it in though.
Thanks ... maybe a little too much sharpening on the second one?

possibly but it could just be because of the compression.. I dunno though.

Keep on workin it! 1st one is really great, sans in focus. WB and exposure look good. 2nd looks oversharpened but great framing!

Very much agree with Ogre. Many sports pics are done without taking the time to crop, even in post, for great impact of composition. Yours are quite sharp in that respect.

My first suggestion would be to shoot manual but if you are not comfortable shooting manual or if the light is changing a lot then shoot in Av mode instead of Tv mode. I would also suggest shooting at ISO 200 or even ISO 400 instead of ISO 100. At ISO 200 you could have shot at f/5 and at ISO 400 you could have went to f/7.1. This definitely would have given you more DOF.

I also find it easier to set the focus by using a subject 10-12 feet away (When shooting with a wide lens like you were) then switching to manual focus and taping down the focus ring with a piece of gaffers tape. The helps make sure that the camera does not change focus after you have set it.

Looks like a fun day at the beach and much nicer than the 25 degrees and 3 inches of snow we had here today.

#2 is very nice!!

Thanks everyone!

Hopefully, in the coming year, I'll get better and have the opportunity to shoot more locations with the 7D.

Mark, try and bump up the iso to 2-400. it will allow you to shoot at 6.3-7.1 instead of 3.5 as in your first photo, giving you a deeper depth of field. i rarely had noise issues with my 20d at iso 400. as far as manual focusing here is what i learned form others. auto focus on something about 3 feet away, switch it to manual and drop the camera in the housing, being careful not to move teh focus ring. you can check out soem of my water shots at
www.watershotz.com
thx, chuck

waterdawg wrote in post #9277466
Mark, try and bump up the iso to 2-400. it will allow you to shoot at 6.3-7.1 instead of 3.5 as in your first photo, giving you a deeper depth of field. i rarely had noise issues with my 20d at iso 400. as far as manual focusing here is what i learned form others. auto focus on something about 3 feet away, switch it to manual and drop the camera in the housing, being careful not to move teh focus ring. you can check out soem of my water shots at
www.watershotz.com
thx, chuck

Thanks, Chuck!
It looks like we frequent the same places (Nica & Cal.) I have some friends who live in PB, Mission Beach and Ocean Beach. Been there a few times. If you ever get out at Mission Beach jetties, look for a goofy foot named John Dumesnil. He's from Texas and a cool cat.

BTW .... Some really nice shots from all the spots on your site . Thanks for the f-stop & ISO info.