help for shooting swimming?

Elaine

My son is on a low-key swim team this summer. His first meet is tomorrow and it's indoors. (He'll have three more meets that I believe will all be outdoors.)
Do I need to worry about the gear or do anything about the heat and humidity that goes along with an indoor pool?
I'm guessing I won't be in a very good spot for photos, but my longest lens is an f/4. Will my 85 1.8 be useful at all?
Do I still shoot for faces, certain arm positions (such as in butterfly), starting positions, end reactions, or ???

You all have helped me through soccer and baseball. Now I need some swimming pointers! Thanks in advance.

johng

Elaine,

F4 won't be bright enough without using external flash. If you have external flash, it is not allowed at the start of a heat but USUALLY allowed during the race. You would want to ask to be certain.

The 85 is of minimal use. You could get SOME use depending on where on the deck you're shooting (if you'r not on the deck then don't count on any shots).
A big difference between swimming and other sports is most swimming shots are torso only - so you shoot much tighter than other sports.
The biggest thing with swimming is positioning for stroke:
Freestyle - shoot from the side. You want shots as the face comes out toward you. You'll get more chances in longer races - a 50m race with a good swimmer you may only get a single shot opportunity (if that) depending on which side they breath.

Backstroke - generally from the side but good shot from behind the blocks at the start or either end after a turn as they move away but most shots from the side.

Fly - strait on - you want the arms strait out - make sure on this stroke to frame loosely to save room for an 8x10 crop.

Breast - strait on and 45 degrees.

On breast and fly - cheat your focus a bit and focus on the water ahead of the swimmer as they go under then when they pop up the focus will have less travel path on the ring to go.

Elaine

Yay! Thank you so much! I've never been to a swim meet of any kind, so I really don't know what to expect as far as how much I'll be able to move around. Tomorrow's meet is just a small duel, so maybe I'll have more freedom, but it's a small pool and I think parents are supposed to stay put in one area. I do have a flash, but I don't think I should use it.

Would the 135 f/2 be useful, or are fast zooms a better idea?
For outdoor meets, will a polarizer be useful?
Do I need to worry about condensation indoors?

double_b

Elaine wrote:

Yay! Thank you so much! I've never been to a swim meet of any kind, so I really don't know what to expect as far as how much I'll be able to move around. Tomorrow's meet is just a small duel, so maybe I'll have more freedom, but it's a small pool and I think parents are supposed to stay put in one area. I do have a flash, but I don't think I should use it.

Would the 135 f/2 be useful, or are fast zooms a better idea?
For outdoor meets, will a polarizer be useful?
Do I need to worry about condensation indoors?

You shouldn't have to worry too much about condensation. Typically you have to be more concerned about that with wild swings in temperature liek middle of winter going from cold car to hot humid pool. I've been to a lot of swim meets and I haven't been to a venue yet where the AC outside the pool area would be of any concern.

What camera do you have? How high can you go with ISO and still get decent results? Also I always shoot RAW for indoor swimming so I can adjust WB during PP. I found that trying to cheat and underexpose slightly to gain shutter speed does NOT turn out as well as exposing correctly at high ISO's. Even with my D300 noise creeps in quickly when slightly underexposed at 2000.

A 135 f2 would be useful as long as you aren't crazy far from the pool deck which if it's a low level meet shouldn't be a problem.

Not sure about the polarizer, I've never tried it but I would think it wouldn't be worth the hassle of constantly adjusting it since your angle to the sun will change as you follow the swimmer down the length of the pool.

I agree with the above poster who said you only get a few chances for breathing out the correct side(facing the camera). I tell our friend's daughter she needs to breath more toward the camera.......(she's good and breaths less than a lot of them)

Elaine

double_b wrote:

You shouldn't have to worry too much about condensation. Typically you have to be more concerned about that with wild swings in temperature liek middle of winter going from cold car to hot humid pool. I've been to a lot of swim meets and I haven't been to a venue yet where the AC outside the pool area would be of any concern.

What camera do you have? How high can you go with ISO and still get decent results? Also I always shoot RAW for indoor swimming so I can adjust WB during PP. I found that trying to cheat and underexpose slightly to gain shutter speed does NOT turn out as well as exposing correctly at high ISO's. Even with my D300 noise creeps in quickly when slightly underexposed at 2000.

A 135 f2 would be useful as long as you aren't crazy far from the pool deck which if it's a low level meet shouldn't be a problem.

Not sure about the polarizer, I've never tried it but I would think it wouldn't be worth the hassle of constantly adjusting it since your angle to the sun will change as you follow the swimmer down the length of the pool.

I agree with the above poster who said you only get a few chances for breathing out the correct side(facing the camera). I tell our friend's daughter she needs to breath more toward the camera.......(she's good and breaths less than a lot of them)

Thank you! I do shoot RAW on my 40D and I'm not afraid to bump that ISO. And I know I'm gonna have to do that tomorrow as I do not have optimum lenses for this situation. If my son sticks with this (he's not yet 8), I'll just have a good excuse to add to the lens bag! Thanks for your input!

cmason

I regularly shoot my daughters swim meets. they are in early-late evening, but outdoors. I use my 700-200 f4, and typically shoot on f4. I find that later in the day I need to bump up the ISO to 800, but usually not much more than that.

All meets I have been to use the parents as volunteers for timing, kid pushing, etc, so getting to the edge of the pool for shots of your kid is simple and everyone does it. I suspect that more 'formal' meets may not allow this

SharkBytes

I have had my kids on the swim team for five years now, and can tell you that the only things you have to worry about are:

1. Using a flash at the start (like someone already said- all the starting systems use sound as well as a white strobe);

2. Blocking the timers view of the swimmer's finish- usually I just step back as they get close to the wall;

3. Falling in! You can lose track of where you are poolside pretty quickly- you don't want to become the subject of someone's memorable photo!

attached photo was taken with a D300 and a sigma 50-500mm lens.

SharkBytes

here's a better photo-

C & C is always welcome- I'm kinda new at taking pictures that anyone other than my family sees.

time2smile

Well how did you do, and what didn't you expect.

Elaine

time2smile wrote:

Well how did you do, and what didn't you expect.

Well...the place was tiny...and HOT! Oh my, we all felt like we were in a sauna. I basically had to plant myself on a bench in the observation area and stay there the entire time (1:30-4:00). There was no place to go! I was right in the middle of the pool and had a huge post blocking my view on the right.

The pool deck was this big...all the way around...
1


At the deep end, there was a little alcove where the timers stood. (Here, my son is getting ready for breaststroke.)
2


My son swam backstroke for the medley relay. Here, they are discussing their order.
3


My son also swam solo backstroke...and he forgot to get his goggles in place before he started.
4


5


He finished by swimming a leg of the freestyle relay.
6


When I saw how small the place was, I decided to try the 85 1.8, and I just left it on the whole time. I shot at f/2 and ISO 1600 and mostly had speeds ranging from 1/400 to 1/800. That last shot was way overexposed because I had just shifted from pointing at the start to pointing to the water and I forgot to adjust...so the shutter wasn't as fast as it should have been (1/250). I did have to crop down to get these shots, but for just documenting my son's first meet (and mine too), I'm satisfied.

Next weekend is a much larger, outdoor meet, so it will be a totally different experience. There are only four meets for us this summer, so hopefully I learn quickly!

Thanks for everyone's help!!!

time2smile

Nice shots

I've been at one place just like the one you described. The only good thing was, it had glass doors/walls along the side, so light wasn't an issue.

Gringriff

Elaine wrote:

My son also swam solo backstroke...and he forgot to get his goggles in place before he started.
4

I like #4. First race. Forgot the goggles. Nice sharp capture of the eyes. Great keepsake! Great memories for years to come.

Elaine

Thank you! Yes, I'm glad to have a few memories captured from his first meet. I hope I can get some sort of keeper from each one.