Sprint kayaking

antonye · June 11, 2007

Some pictures from the British National Sprint kayaking regatta a couple of weeks ago. Always difficult to bring out the power and skill used in a sport like this. Just hope I've done in some justice. Enjoy....

http://antonye.smugmug.com/gallery/2849083#159948781

http://antonye.smugmug.com/gallery/2849083#159951931

http://antonye.smugmug.com/gallery/2849083#159946718

http://antonye.smugmug.com/gallery/2849083#159944930

zoomer · June 11, 2007

They look kind of blurry...maybe that was your intent.
They seem to lack a main subject.
Maybe freeze the action and crop to clearly define your subject and you are on the right track.
Not trying to be critical just trying to help out.

JoeL · June 11, 2007

No matter what anyone says, theres no such thing as a bad picture, only images that we use when we start learning to mix the mortar for the foundation that will raise us higher toward manipulating light into the beautiful images we create later..... (thats just my philosophy)

We have to stay positive,,,,

So unless it was your intention for the images to be out of focus there are a couple things to work on or look at for possible causes.

A lot depends on your lens and camera's ability to focus fast enough to stop the motion of the subject in the viewfinder.

It looked like you posted the images pretty much straight away with no Photoshop adjustments, if thats the case a lot of them can be cleaned up and made to look better for viewing.

Which lens were you using? If you can post or email me the exif data I would be more than happy to help you out in any way possible, theres lots of others on here with great advice and tips that will help also.

I looked at your still images in the other galleries and most of them looked more like snapshots than photographs but thats ok if you are new to the hobby or thats the look you wanted.

Most of the people pics were blurry, I think theres an issue with adjustments or lens or something, even the people that were just barely moving were blurred, as much light as it seems was available the images should have been much sharper.

We all started the same way, thats why we practice, ask questions, practice, learn, get better, look at others images and practice, and did I mention practice??...

As far as the sports images in your galleries it looks like the camera was adjusted wrong, the lens was waaay too slow or you need to work on practicing "panning" so that you can keep the subject in focus as it moves. Also if youre planning on shooting much in the way of water sports a Circular Polarizer will help a lot with reflections, clarity and color.

I would have shot the Kayaking events in "Aperture Priority" mode with the camera adjusting the shutter speed, it looked like it was really bright so the shutter speed should have been plenty high even with a slower lens to stop the motion.

It also seemed as if some of the images were reversed.. it looked like the steering wheels were on the wrong side of the cars....

, just kidding..

Hang in there and lets figure out what needs adjusting or changing to get you on the right track with some sharp, clear images. Email me if I can be of any help at all.

Joe

antonye · June 12, 2007

Thanks for your comments, and your patience. Clearly there is a little way to go. I didn't realise the focus on these was so out.

Joel, your comments were very helpful. Let me explain what I was trying to do. Most of the kayaking pictures were shot at around 1/100, (canon 350D and 100-400mm lens) with an attempt to focus on one racer, and produce a blur of action and water spray around them. The most exciting part of a race is the start where a huge amount of effort goes into moving these boats.

I realise this requires panning, and I need a lot more practice.

Unlike slalom, there is not a lot of water spray around the racer, and the slow speed was an attempt to allow more movement and spray into the scene. I was willing to put up with some blur, but did not realise it was so bad. However I was deliberately trying to get away from the prestine, static style of photo.

What concerns me more is that you say some of my standing photos were blurry. Curiously my eye presciption has changed significantly recently. Can that be the reason, or is it a poor excuse!!

Any help would be appreciated.

ian408 · June 12, 2007

To add a bit to Joe's comments.

When your shutterspeeds are low, your panning technique needs to be
spot on. This is especially true with moving subjects like yours.

Focus is important. How do you have the camera set up for focus?
If the AF is tracking something other than your main subject, you'll end
up with OOF shots. Try the Canon software--it can show you where the
AF grabbed focus. As a side note, the 350D is not a fast auto-focus
camera though there's a lot of light and it shouldn't be too much of
a problem in this situation.

Something else to try when working on panning is Tv mode. Set the shutter
speed high, say 1/1000 at least. Practice panning. When you feel you've got
the motion down (remember to pan through the shutter--that is keep panning
while you depress the shutter), lower the shutter speed and have another
go. Keep doing this until your subject remains in focus and you've got the
amount of blur you want.

Good luck!

antonye · June 12, 2007

ian408 wrote:

To add a bit to Joe's comments.

When your shutterspeeds are low, your panning technique needs to be
spot on. This is especially true with moving subjects like yours.

Focus is important. How do you have the camera set up for focus?
If the AF is tracking something other than your main subject, you'll end
up with OOF shots. Try the Canon software--it can show you where the
AF grabbed focus. As a side note, the 350D is not a fast auto-focus
camera though there's a lot of light and it shouldn't be too much of
a problem in this situation.

Something else to try when working on panning is Tv mode. Set the shutter
speed high, say 1/1000 at least. Practice panning. When you feel you've got
the motion down (remember to pan through the shutter--that is keep panning
while you depress the shutter), lower the shutter speed and have another
go. Keep doing this until your subject remains in focus and you've got the
amount of blur you want.

Good luck!

Thanks Ian. I will go for higher speeds and improve panning. I did try AF on early pictures, and discovered that it is ineffective for these sorts of shots, so now uses manual, which should not be hard because the line of the subject is predictable.

You say the "canon software shows where focus was". Which software?

Do you have any thoughts on use of IS at higher speeds. I use mode 2 for panning, but am not sure how useful it is?

Sprint kayaking

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