World Ski Championship Pictures and some advice please!

Sean Puffett

Hi all, and yep I'm a newbie in the forum so looking forward to spending more time here. I have a question that I hope you folks can offer some words of wisdom on.

I currently live in Sweden where I've been published a few times in local papers and magazines. Having said that, I'm still learning the trade and am always open for advice.

Right now, I have a media pass to the World Ski Championships that is right down the road from me in Åre. Still no actual skiing yet due to the snow :rolleyes but there have been some extreme events to shoot.

My problem is with night (floodlit) photography. I was in a press cordon in a prime position taking shots like the one here of Jon Olsson - a very famous freestyle skier:



As you can see, this one is nicely in focus. But, it took 3 skiers flying by before I got this focus setting and locked to Manual Focus. This was a fast USM 10-22 lens as well.

My question is, is there any better technique than this, i.e. using AF to get to the right setting and then locking off with MF? I can't see any other way but I'd love to hear your opinions. Obviously my technique means I may miss a few jumpers until the lens hits one spot on!!

For those of you who are full-time professionals, you must take this all in your stride, but for little old me, I still feel like a fish out of water standing in a press area with the seasoned pro's!! Talk about lens envy :dunno .. They even had wireless remote studio flashes on the slope with them. Mind you, it did allow me to get shots like this:



Anyway, I'd love to hear your opinions on the focussing problem and if you're at all interested in skiing, I'll be trying to get shots of all the races so take a look at my World Ski Championship gallery on my smugmug site over the next week and a half. I'd love to have your feedback..

Regards,
Sean

Phyxius

Sean,

I've never taken pictures, let alone sports pictures, in a setting that dark. I'm sorry I don't have any suggestions for you. But, that last shot, the multi strobe one is great!!!!

Did you try auto focus at all? Some lenses focus faster than others, I don't know anything about the lens you were, but I googled it and it appears to be 3.5-4.5. The lens may not be fast enough to focus in light that low. Manual focus is an option, if you're fast and have a good eye.

I'm interested to hear what other people have to suggest.

Oh! And welcome to DGrin!

-Christina

Sean Puffett

Hi Christina - thanks for the reply and the welcome!

Yes, you're right about the lens, it's f3.5-4.5. Having said that, I misled you last night and only gave you part of the story (sorry, was tired!). I only used the 10-22 on the long exposure strobe shots so that I could get the ground in to add scale to the image.

The lens I was having the trouble with that shot the close-ups was the 60mm f2.8 lens. Although it's a fast USM lens, it didn't track and focus as well as I'd like on AI Servo which is why when I reviewed the shots on the small screen I found one that looked in focus and switched to MF at that point.

I guess I'm on the right lines though so I'm not too concerned. I just wish there was actually a "lock focus" button on the lens because once I'd switched to manual I was getting some great shots... right up until I accidentally hit the focus ring and pushed it out of focus meaning I had to start over again on AF til I got it right!

Ah well, ya lives and learns!!

Thanks for the feedback on the picture too, I'm glad you like it. One of those rare moments of creativity during a shoot where I'm trying so hard to capture everything just right!

More photos of the men's and women's Super-G should be going into the gallery tonight for anyone who's interested. Here's a taster in the meantime though of Anje Pärson of Sweden doing her trademark victory celebration!



Imagine.... all that way down without skis... and she still won