My First Swim Meet.....

JohnEBongo

Shot a swim meet for the first time on Saturday morming. Man, was that crazy, with 65 'events' crammed into about 5 hours. Non stop action. Had great light with the swimmers either swimming directly into or away from the sun, which made it a little easier. Here are a few of my keepers. Thanks for looking, comments welcome.

JoeL

These images are awesome!! You did a great job, swimming is one of the toughest sports to shoot.. Crisp, clear and great composition..

SitterS

I have to agree with Joe! Great job for the first time. Just spent a week at a sports workshop in which we were able to take pics at the Olympic training facilities. Indoors and they lit the place with strobes. Swimming is hard to photograph. Two things that the instructors told us to do. Always crop tight and get down on the deck to get your swimming pics. I looked at a photo from someone last night from SI and he even mentioned putting a chair in the water and standing on it to get the photo. Interesting but it sure worked.

I really like #5 as you have all body parts in the pic as well as emotion on her face and the pic is cropped tight. The lighting on #3 and #4 is great. If #4 was shot from the deck looking directly into his face with hands in the frame, then this shot would be a killer. Coming out of the water, the emotion, position of body, etc.

Hope some of this helps. After seeing so many swimming pics this week that were critiqued by the photographers at AP, SI, etc. this is the constant feedback that was given on swimming shots. These shots looked better than many I saw this week.

Shane

SitterS

Forgot to mention the FROG!!!!! COOL

Shane

vt1122

These are all great shots. The splashing water almost looks like ice.
What shutter speed were you using?

JohnEBongo

SitterS wrote:

Two things that the instructors told us to do. Always crop tight and get down on the deck to get your swimming pics.

I shot from either sitting or kneeling positions. I thought about lying down, but it would have ben harder to keep my gear dry.

SitterS wrote:

If #4 was shot from the deck looking directly into his face with hands in the frame, then this shot would be a killer. Coming out of the water, the emotion, position of body, etc.

The ends of the pool were very crowded, with timers, swimmers and others making shooting from there very difficult, so I did what I could from the side.

SitterS wrote:

Hope some of this helps. After seeing so many swimming pics this week that were critiqued by the photographers at AP, SI, etc. this is the constant feedback that was given on swimming shots. These shots looked better than many I saw this week.

Shane

Thanks for the feedback and tips........John