Gymnasts high above the beam
Here are a couple of shots taken at a meet on Sunday. Lighting was tough as I had to push the exposure to -1 and correct in PP.
Hope you enjoy - if you would like to see more - they are posted here
http://www.digitalphotoconcept.smugmug.com/gallery/4206926#245917572
Hope you enjoy - if you would like to see more - they are posted here
http://www.digitalphotoconcept.smugmug.com/gallery/4206926#245917572
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Comments
Only gripe is both shots are crooked. But that's easily fixed.
Thanks - very fair point - my only excuse is that I shot many images and did not hand hold them all when I batch processed them - clearly, I should have went one extra step before I posted them here.
Thanks again, appreciate the feedback.
RI Photographer | RI Wedding Photographer
Shane
Blogs:
www.imagesbyshane.blogspot.com
Canon 20d and 40d
Canon 50mm 1.4
Canon 85mm 1.8
Canon 70-200L IS 2.8
The basic setings were:
EOS40D
Mode AV
Aperture - maximum - in this case f/2 (using prime lenses100mm f/2 and 135 mm f/2)
ISO 1600
Metering mode: Partial
AWB: auto
RAW image mode
Shutter speed was slow at 160th on the early shots hence the motion blur at the extremeties - on the shots above, I set the exposure at -1 and pushed the shutter speed to 1/500th still not lightning fast but if you can catch a gymnast at the extremeties of a move you can make this work. The better shots on the floor exercises were achieved by panning.
The problem with this technique (ISO1600 and an exposure of -1) is that it makes he images very grainy. To improve the final product, I created an action in PS to USM and remove the noise usiing NeatImage. Then I ran automate to apply that action to all 100 images. (Click play, go to bed and let the computer run while you sleep).
Hope that helps.
George
RI Photographer | RI Wedding Photographer
Shane
Blogs:
www.imagesbyshane.blogspot.com
Canon 20d and 40d
Canon 50mm 1.4
Canon 85mm 1.8
Canon 70-200L IS 2.8
Out of curiosity - before doing the noise reduction, did you ever do a comparison to see if your PUSH produced a better or worse result than the ISO 3200 the 40D offers?
I started shooting my daughter in gymnastics a few months back with a 30D and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS lens. I do use CWB to minimize color correction in post processing. I usually shoot RAW, Manual mode (f/2.8, 1/400 or faster), ISO 1600, focus mode set to AI SERVO, and high-speed drive mode. You'll get better as you progress thru the season.
Cuong
John,
Great question; and no I haven't.
I have another Gymnastics meet (in the same gym) to shoot on Feb 3rd ( and a road race on the 3rd ) a busy superbowl Sunday. I try both methods and do a comparison and I will report back.
RI Photographer | RI Wedding Photographer
Gymnastics photography,
I would argue one of the most challenging to capture well. John you have some spectacular gymnastics shots on your site.
If you want to know how to get the best shot John has a great level of advice his advice has elevated the quality of my shots greatly.
Johng I believe you and I have been through this before. If you want to make money doing it as a sports action event photographer. Get the shot right in the camera and upload it as fast as you can. There is no time for post processing.
I did a meet 2 weeks ago 2 days 6 sessions just over 500 athletes. Some of them were from down your way George. My photos viewed stat right now is at 115186, 70,000 of those came within the first three days after the meet, 20,000 were there before the meet the other 25,000 trickled in over the time since then, and I've done a few small things since then. Also 85% of the sales from that meet happened in the first three days, the first actually came Sunday morning early while I was driving back to the event for the second day of shooting.
If you know the sport you know there is a meet every week and chances are if you're not shooting the meet someone else is. If you don't have the shots available for them to view right away you'll lose the sale.
I shoot
manual, f/2.8, ss 320 or better, iso 3200 or if I have to my rig (SonyA700) goes to 6400 and I've used it, WB if the lights are cycling I use awb and hope for the best, if they are constant then Custom WB is the way. At the large meets my size setting is small @ 5mp not because of card space but for upload times. If the meet is smaller I'll move it up a click.
Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
Out of curiosity - when I shoot gymnastics I am covering a team. Sounds like you are shooting the entire event. Do you employ 3 other photographers then? If not, how do you handle the fact there are 4 events working at the same time?
Guys,
This is a good dialog and I appreciate the sharing of technique -and I will certainly use ISO3200 at my next meet. The file size is an interesting point. At this point in my venture I am shooting in raw (12MB) and I post process because I am really concerned with the quality of my work but know that as I get much more serious and turnaround more events in a short period of time then the time for PP will be limited.
However, I think that my new computer set up may allow me to still PP large volumes of images efficiently . I run two MAC Leopard PCs and use the "back to my Mac' feature which allows me to upload images remotely on my laptop to my office PC using any internet connection and then batch process using the application on my office PC while I am traveling and/or sleeping. I do not have many files on my laptop as I use my office PC as a file server.
Leopard rocks!!
RI Photographer | RI Wedding Photographer
Hey John,
I continually wrestle with the question of bringing on more shooters.
I'll give you the long answer.
First of all it's just me.
I sometimes shoot for just my step duaghters team when I'm shooting team only then I just follow them around.
At the events where I am covering the entire event,
Well the State meets and sectionals are run on a traditional warm up schedule. This is where the gymnast will go around the circuit and warm up every event then go back and compete every event. With these I always concentrate on beam or floor for the girls they traditionally produce the best shots and good to bad ratio, I figure out which event will have the best shots (lighting and background) I shoot the lesser of the two during warm up and the better during competition. I find the best location to shoot the event and park myself there. Then the athletes come to the event one at a time to get there picture taken(compete) and unless they have scratched both events I almost definately have a good shot of every athlete at the event.
At the invitationals they sometimes go with a non-traditional style of warm up, I would prefer the other but whatever. This is where the athletes warm-up the event then compete it then move to the next event. It very shortly becomes a mess of gymnast. This is where again I concentrate on one event and make sure I get every athlete. If there is a lull while waiting for the event that I'm shooting I'll pan around But I am always concentrating on the event I have chosen.
While I'm shooting I have someone ripping the cards deleteing the bad and sorting into team folders, when back to the house these folders all coincide with already created folders on SmugMug. I have the event coordinators forward that info to me at least a week before. SmugMug and 2 remote hard drives have the same folder array so the thinking proccess at that point is minimal.
I would only go with one more shooter (which I may do at the state meet this year) here's the thing, more shots don't necasarily mean more sales. What it does mean is more work sorting and more work for the customer finding.
At these meets you start to see the same faces so if I did floor at the last meet I'll try to do beam at the next, I know the faces that buy and always try to make sure I have great shots of them.
Floor is my favorite to shoot becuse I can do it with my eyes closed (level4,5 &6 anyway)
Beam is second and tied or maybe slightly better than floor as far as ratio and oprotunity
Bars third just because the ratio is lower and there are really only three shots to get and get good.
I never shoot vault when I'm covering the entire meet the ratio is nearly 1 out of 10 or worse there is certainly no need to stand there to capture the salute that can be done anywhere the run shots are uninteresting and the actuall shots of the vaulting is where the ration goes through the floor.
Boys meets I stick around rings and P-bars
I have only had 2 complaint regarding which shots I actually have. One wanted to know why I didn't have vault shots,more of a question than a complaint. The other was upset that I didn't shoot the awards ceremony. I don't shoot the awards ceremony for two reasons one becuase that when the no-flash rule stops and two because thats when I take a break.
Sorry about the length.
Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo