Surf shots-In tight

Steve Cavigliano

Hello all,
After another week of stormy weather :cry today looked like a repeat. I had some business over by the beach, so I figured I'd bring the camera and see if I could get a few shots in.

To my surprise, it was beautiful at the beach. The Sun was out, no clouds (nothing but clouds, 30 miles away, but none here :scratch ) and it was shirtsleeve weather (maybe 65 degrees). We ate lunch on the Wharf and I could see that there were quite a few surfers out at Steamer's Lane. So after a great lunch (for Andy: fried calamari, scallops, shrimp and NE Clam Chowdah :eat ) we headed to the Lighthouse and I got a few shots in :clap (first time in almost a week :rolleyes )

I didn't want to get the "same old shots" I have been getting and decided to get real tight. Karen has mentioned this regarding indoor sports shots and I thought it would be kewl to apply it to surfing if I could. It was typical late afternoon Santa Cruz lighting. Say, I was shooting towards 12 o'clock, the Sun was on my right at 1 o'clock. So it was harsh and caused some heavy shadows, but I think these came out OK. Not much action, or context though :dunno

Please lemme know what you think I could have/should have done differently.




Too tight? Too bright? Too boring....lol?


Thanks for looking,
Steve

ridetwistyroads

I wouldn't say to bright at all! Most execelent!! Third's my favorite, great capture of the action.

Fascha

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

tack-sharp and gorgeous. I agree it's refreshing to get in that tight. I might even experiment to see what a little tighter might look like. Maybe use the upper corner of the board as an anchor for the upper left corner of the frame?

wxwax

Ahhhhh, we have a winnah! Definitely #3. The face, the pose, the action - first rate! The other two aren't nearly as interesting.

maczippy

Personally, I think as shots they're lovely a clear and emotive; they show the concentration and tenacity required.

For surfers, there's always the need to show the wave, or what it was they were "riding" so from that perspective, at least for me, they're too close.

...and here I was waiting for the call!!

Andrew

Steve Cavigliano

ridetwistyroads wrote:

I wouldn't say to bright at all! Most execelent!! Third's my favorite, great capture of the action.

Thanks

That 3rd one is my fav too. Most of these waves were breaking left to right, so the faces in most of my other shots are turned in the opposite direction :cry

Thanks for taking the time to comment :-)

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Fascha wrote:

tack-sharp and gorgeous. I agree it's refreshing to get in that tight. I might even experiment to see what a little tighter might look like. Maybe use the upper corner of the board as an anchor for the upper left corner of the frame?

Thanks Fascha

I agree about getting in tight. It's a nice change of pace. But, as Andrew points out (and I agree wholeheartedly), for the most part, surf pics need to have the wave in them. But it is fun to once in awhile get real close. I hope you get a chance to try it out. Corner to corner with the board might be kewl

What I'd really would be to get close enough to see the face and yet get the wave in the frame too. I'll have to work on that one.....lol

Thanks for the comments,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

wxwax wrote:

Ahhhhh, we have a winnah! Definitely #3. The face, the pose, the action - first rate! The other two aren't nearly as interesting.

Thanks Sid

Yeah, I agree. Just like many of my bird shots. Those 1st two are Butt Shots....lol But, I did like the pattern in the water on the 2nd shot. It almost looks like smoke

Thanks for taking the time to look,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

maczippy wrote:

Personally, I think as shots they're lovely a clear and emotive; they show the concentration and tenacity required.

For surfers, there's always the need to show the wave, or what it was they were "riding" so from that perspective, at least for me, they're too close.

...and here I was waiting for the call!!

Andrew

Thanks Andrew

See above re; getting the wave in the shot. I surfed quite a bit in the long board days, and remember drooling over those wall of water shots from the Pipeline

I liked these just for the point you mention. Like working over the mountain in skiing, these guys and gals, are working the wave for all it's worth. It takes lots of concentration to do this, when in a split second you could find yourself buried under tons of colddddddddddddd water. You can see that focus in their eyes and the confidence in the set of their jaw. Anywho, as I mentioned above, this is a nice once in awhile type shot, but the wave gives the shot context. Sort of like the ball being in the frame in a ball sport shot.

Andrew, I apologize. It was a business/family trip. Part of my business was to make sure my daughter who is here from NY, got to eat at Stagnaro's So I only shot for about 10 minutes.

I would love to shoot with you one of these days. As a matter of fact your name did come up. I was telling the guy shooting next to me (he had a 1d MkII and a 300mm L) about your surfer on the rock with the whitewater in the BG. Great shot

This one is a bit better from the "wave in the frame POV" but he's too small....lol


Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Andy

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

yo steve,

excellent shots, my friend!



and thanks for taking the time to explain how you do it

Harryb

Hey Steve,

I think this is the best of all of them. Very excellent

ginger_55

I like the last one a whole lot. It shows the concentration exremely well to me, because of the great big poweful wave. I can feel that shot more than any other surfer shot I have seen.

I wonder if it would make KPOTD, since we are having a run on them tonight.

I cannot tell you how much I like that picture. If he were bigger the wave would look smaller. Or something.

ginger

Andy

more than meets the eye

Harryb wrote:

Hey Steve,

I think this is the best of all of them. Very excellent

this one *is* really good, steve. and dig the reflection of the surfer, in the wave

Dee

Hi Steve


I like the last one best, mainly because of the surfer's expression, and the dynamic angle. In my opinion the water is too bright, doesn't look real, and my monitor is a little dark :

As for being framed too closely, it depends on the action. I think this last one works just fine framed the way it is... the others maybe could have been showing more water.

BTW, found the butterflies, but it was so cold and foggy there weren't too many hanging around.

Kalamata

maczippy wrote:

For surfers, there's always the need to show the wave, or what it was they were "riding" so from that perspective, at least for me, they're too close.



Andrew

I agree, too close but its a perspective you normally don't see. Thanks for sharing.
Ed
SW of Western Australia

ian408

I'd say #3 was a keeper. But the other two, a bit tight. Plus the only show
backs. The tube shot is nice too. You might get away with a crop on that
though.

Hope to get out on Sunday--will the weather hold? Who knows? Will I be
shooting in the rain? Maybe

Ian

Angelo

gosh these are good. VERY dramatic. so you were up inside the lighthouse? what lens were you using?

gus

Harryb wrote:

Hey Steve,

I think this is the best of all of them. Very excellent

Now your talking steve....superb shot mate

Which lens ? Very sharp


.

4labs

Definately a few winners Steve.. Thnxs for sharing and for explaining the conditions you shot in...Between you and Andy's food talk and all the time I have been at my computer since joining my waistline is expanding rapidly...

winger

Dee wrote:

I like the last one best, mainly because of the surfer's expression, and the dynamic angle. In my opinion the water is too bright, doesn't look real, and my monitor is a little dark :

As for being framed too closely, it depends on the action. I think this last one works just fine framed the way it is... the others maybe could have been showing more water.

BTW, found the butterflies, but it was so cold and foggy there weren't too many hanging around.

I liked the last two you posted (this on and the one with the curl of the wave)
I guess in terms of tight you could also think in terms of who is the viewing audience. I mean an ice wide angle picture of a surfer in a wave maybe cool, but if you are doing a feature story on the guy you are going to want to see his face. That is why makes the last shot so great, its close enough to see his face you you can see him riding the wave. The facial expersion on the 3rd on is great. And I would imagine in a surfing magazine you would proably see a mix of ones cropped really tight and ones not as tight and ones far away.

I just looked at the last one again, it really is a fantasic shot.

Steve Cavigliano

andy wrote:

yo steve,

excellent shots, my friend!



and thanks for taking the time to explain how you do it

Thanks Andy

Since those shots were so tight, I figured I should explain what I was trying to do. That's what I really enjoy about shooting the same sort of subjects, over and over. You can experiment, or play around, instead of shooting the same old way every time. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. But, I find that I always learn something, no matter how the pics come out

Thanks for the comments,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Harryb wrote:

Hey Steve,

I think this is the best of all of them. Very excellent

Thanks Harry

I like that one too. The cliff I stand on has 2 vantage points. Straight ahead you get people catching waves really close to the cliff. Sometimes partially blocked off by the cliff. So the optimum focal length is maybe 200mm's. There's another break off to the left where you can get out to 400-500mm's. I swung over to get this shot and was only zoomed to 226mm's

See, I learned from this shot too. I learned that I need 2 cameras One with a zoom lens set to 200mm's and one with a zoom lens set to 400mm's. While I'm dreeaming, I'd have one of those zooms attached to a 1D MkII Ahhhhhh, there's nothing like the sound of ripping/tearing fabric :lol (the sound the MkII makes when churning out 8fps )

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

ginger_55 wrote:

I like the last one a whole lot. It shows the concentration exremely well to me, because of the great big poweful wave. I can feel that shot more than any other surfer shot I have seen.

I wonder if it would make KPOTD, since we are having a run on them tonight.

I cannot tell you how much I like that picture. If he were bigger the wave would look smaller. Or something.

ginger

Thanks Ginger

I'm glad you liked the shot. As for it having a shot at a KOPTD, I don't think so. I do appreciate the compliment though

Yeah, the bigger smaller issue is always there. If you make him look bigger, so you can see his face, you lose the wave (or a sizeable portion of it). If you get the wave in, his features become too small

A little more zoom nextime might just do the trick :

Thanks for the comments and for taking the time to look,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Dee wrote:

I like the last one best, mainly because of the surfer's expression, and the dynamic angle. In my opinion the water is too bright, doesn't look real, and my monitor is a little dark :

As for being framed too closely, it depends on the action. I think this last one works just fine framed the way it is... the others maybe could have been showing more water.

BTW, found the butterflies, but it was so cold and foggy there weren't too many hanging around.

Thanks Dee

You might be right about the water being too bright. I was shooting at - 2/3 EV comp and the whitewater was close to blow out, in some of the frames.

I agree that close can be good. I just have to be judicious about which shots to get tight with. It seems that the shots of the surfer facing the camera are much nicer than those going away from the camera shots

Hey!! Glad you found the B-flys I think they will be there for another month or so. So maybe you'll get a chance to do a re-shoot, on a nicer day Plus, in the next few weeks the mud swallows will be building their mudnests under the eaves of the Lighthouse. These quick little birds swooping, darting and hovering outside the nests while feeding food to their hatchlings can make for some really kewl shots

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Kalamata wrote:

I agree, too close but its a perspective you normally don't see. Thanks for sharing.
Ed
SW of Western Australia

Ed,
Thanks for your comments

You are correct about if being a perspective not normally seen. That's exactly why I wanted to try it. I realize it won't work for the majority of surf shots, but it was kind of fun and I did get a few keepers.

Plus, as Andy can attest to, I am very out-going and I talk to pretty much anyone else out shooting.....lol So I have met lots of surf shooters and get to talk cameras/lenses and techniques everytime out If I come home with some decent pictures, that's just icing on the cake :lol

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

ian408 wrote:

I'd say #3 was a keeper. But the other two, a bit tight. Plus the only show
backs. The tube shot is nice too. You might get away with a crop on that
though.

Hope to get out on Sunday--will the weather hold? Who knows? Will I be
shooting in the rain? Maybe

Ian

Thanks Ian

Good luck on the weather tomorrow. Another storm is supposed to roll in tonight :uhoh If there's a decent swell, shooting in the rain might not be too bad if you can keep your kit dry. You'll probably have your pick of a spot along the railing :lol

I agree about the 1st two shots (at least now that it's been pointed out repeatedly....lol), butt shots are not very interesting The shot with the surfers facing the cam are much more viewable.

The tube shot is already cropped a bit. His whole reflection was in the original. I wound up shooting that at 226mm's. I should have been longer But, you know how it is at this location? Shooting wider out front and longer to the right (although I guess you shoot long both directions with that 500mm lens...lol). I swung around, saw the shot, and didn't have time to re-adjust the zoom. Oh well, maybe next time.....lol

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve Cavigliano

Angelo wrote:

gosh these are good. VERY dramatic. so you were up inside the lighthouse? what lens were you using?

Thanks Angelo

No, I wasn't in the Lighthouse. I was on a cliff (where the Lighthouse is located) above the waves, shooting out and down. I shoot behind the railing, but you always have shooters, or surfers who will go over/around the railing. So you have people to shot through/around. Making for some extra excitement...lol




I was using the Sigma F4-F6.3 50-500mm lens (affectionately called the Bigma). On a bright day, it's a real good performer (high shutter speeds available using ISO200/400) and gives you a nice range for surf shots.

Thanks for looking and taking the time to comment,
Steve

Seamus

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

I was using the Sigma F4-F6.3 50-500mm lens (affectionately called the Bigma). On a bright day, it's a real good performer (high shutter speeds available using ISO200/400) and gives you a nice range for surf shots.

Thanks for looking and taking the time to comment,
Steve

Great shots Steve. You are making an impressive case for the Bigma.

Steve Cavigliano

Humungus wrote:

Now your talking steve....superb shot mate

Which lens ? Very sharp


.

Thanks Gus

I was using the Bigma. As I posted above, in good light it's a really nice lens for this type of shooting. Plus, you can get a Canon or Nikon version Bring a camera with a Canon mount to Yosemite and I'll let ya take her out for a test drive....lol

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Angelo

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Thanks Angelo

No, I wasn't in the Lighthouse. I was on a cliff (where the Lighthouse is located) above the waves, shooting out and down. I shoot behind the railing, but you always have shooters, or surfers who will go over/around the railing. So you have people to shot through/around. Making for some extra excitement...lol


I was using the Sigma F4-F6.3 50-500mm lens (affectionately called the Bigma). On a bright day, it's a real good performer (high shutter speeds available using ISO200/400) and gives you a nice range for surf shots.

Thanks for looking and taking the time to comment,
Steve

Steve thanks for the response; I gathered as much from your thread. The fact that you capture these shots from this perspective is just amazing. The uncertainty of how they are captured adds to their allure. It almost seems like you're on the next board, . We can thank the beautiful "left" coast for this, huh?

I think Ginger was right... you should submit to KPOTD

Steve Cavigliano

4labs wrote:

Definately a few winners Steve.. Thnxs for sharing and for explaining the conditions you shot in...Between you and Andy's food talk and all the time I have been at my computer since joining my waistline is expanding rapidly...

Thanks 4labs

Yeah, sitting at the puter, or even shooting pics doesn't burn up very many calories Not to mention, that you live in the state with some of the best food in the world :hotcake :eat I'd be huge (well, huger than I currently am) if I lived back there. But, as you know, shooting pics can sure work up an appetite....lol Plus, there's a lot of truth to the saying that "it's all about the food" :lol4 For example, when out for dinner, my wife bugs me to take pics of the family and I'm too busy taking shots of the food....lol

Not to worry about the expanding waistline. Soon you guys will thaw out and you'll have that slimming high humidity to cope with :uhoh


Glad you liked the shots and thanks for taking the time to comment,
Steve