US Speedskating championships, day 1

catspaw · December 27, 2009

1. I've never shot ice before

2. I've never shot skating before, not to mention speed skating (and holy sh*t those buggers zip by fast. it's not panning, it's spinning!)

3. I know zip zero nada about speedskating

4. I'm a 'sports' shooter, but usually only when it comes on 4 legs and hooves. However, it does mean I had the equipment to have fun today.

So having disclosed that, I merrily skipped over to the Olympic Oval today (hey, it's 20 minutes away, why not? AND indoors) and shot all the 500m events. Stood at different points around the oval to see what sort of angles and action I could get.

I'm going to dial back the ISO a tad (it's a D3 but anything less is still better) tomorrow or whenever I go next (there's three more days...) next time, but other than that .... any feedback?

C&C welcomed!

I know from horse shows that it's just PATHETIC when a non-horse person takes photos. They've no clue what are the 'right' moments to shoot or anything else. It's painful and all the horse people, well, we shudder in horror. So I *tried* to educate myself by pursuing the US Speedskating site and Getty Images (seeing as how I ran into and chatted with the Getty guy today) and .... learned nothing. Looks like anything goes, compositionally. If I'm wrong, please feel free to clue me in. The Getty guy mostly did close up crops from today, so hard to compare the two.

Aaaany how, here are a few, full gallery at:

http://www.catspawphotos.com/Winter-Sports/Speedskating/US-Speedskating-Championships/

1.

2.

3. love the tongue...

4.

5.

6.

THANKS!

And if you are dying to compare, Getty's stash can be found at:

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&assetType=image&family=editorial&phrase=us%20speed%20skating

austinado16 · December 27, 2009

Nice shots. My favorites are head on, where the shot captures the power and form, and the the shots with them banked in the turns, all stretched out, and hanging on the razor's edge.

Chaoslillith · December 27, 2009

Your's look as good as the Getty's images.

For being used to horses which move a tad slower than speed skaters, you done good!

libbyjuju · December 28, 2009

Re: Catspaw
These are great!

I'm working on social media for US Speedskating and I invite you to post some (or all!) of these on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/USSpeedskating.

Thanks so much for posting.

catspaw · December 28, 2009

thanks to everyone's feedback. and yes, they *definitely* go faster than even a horse at a full gallop. Especially when you are panning and they are just a few feet away. However, got better at it as the day went on

Skipped day 2 but I'll be back for day 3 (and maybe 4) for more fun. Want to get the group shots of the longer races! More compositional fun.

kwkodiak · December 28, 2009

Hey Catspaw' you have some nice captures here and on your website.

A couple of suggestions for shots

1 a panned shot

2 if there is a pursuit relay, a shot of all three skaters drafting off each other,; if you catch it right, it'll be a one headed, six legged, six armed skater.

Terry

catspaw · December 28, 2009

kwkodiak wrote:

Hey Catspaw' you have some nice captures here and on your website.

A couple of suggestions for shots

1 a panned shot

2 if there is a pursuit relay, a shot of all three skaters drafting off each other,; if you catch it right, it'll be a one headed, six legged, six armed skater.

Terry

Panned shot -- do you mean basically blurred? These are panned, but shot fast enough that there is no blur

but I saw some great ones on the Getty site from the nationals a few weeks ago (alas, I wasn't free to go spend time then. dangit).

example:
http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/94377161.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921CC759DF4EBAC47D0EE9D31338295CB4EF5D4CB161BA734AFADF34E6D8317C1AC

Definitely will try for a 6 armed monster tomorrow

these were just the sprints the first day, so all two lane pairs.

thanks!

tdinardo · December 30, 2009

catspaw wrote:

1. I've never shot ice before

Good first attempt. It's not an easy sport to shoot.

Some things to keep in mind when shooting that apply not just to speedskating:

Shoot tight and crop tighter
Watch your backgrounds

Speedskating specific:

Look for the pretty moments: good form, arm at top of swing, clap fully extended.
Shoot from a lower position when possible - you want to be shooting at or below the athlete's face.

Here are a few examples:

1.

[IMG]http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000CtOc5qg04Wo/s' /[/IMG]

Nikon D3S, 400mm 2.8, 1000ISO, 1/1000, F2.8

2.

[IMG]http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000EEr1gPfcDfU/s' /[/IMG]

Nikon D3S, 400mm 2.8, 1000ISO, 1/800, F2.8

Tom Di Nardo
Bella Faccie Sports Media
US Speedskating Team Photographer

catspaw · December 30, 2009

tdinardo wrote:

Good first attempt. It's not an easy sport to shoot.

Some things to keep in mind when shooting that apply not just to speedskating:
Shoot tight and crop tighter
Watch your backgrounds

Speedskating specific:
Look for the pretty moments: good form, arm at top of swing, clap fully extended.
Shoot from a lower position when possible - you want to be shooting at or below the athlete's face.

Tom Di Nardo
Bella Faccie Sports Media
US Speedskating Team Photographer

Thank you!! I've been getting the idea (I shot yesterday and about to head back today) that there IS a rhythm that needs to be captured at the 'right' points (much like horse shows) and ... I'm getting there. Honestly, they go damned fast, but the D3 is up the task, thankfully. Else I'd be pretty screwed. I've seen the tight crops and I've seen the full body ones -- in horse shows, if you crop out anything (rider, horse, etc), it's a delete. But I can see getting in CLOSER to the subject for the most part. I've figured out which part of the oval I like to shoot on now -- either the red background in the backstretch (unless they are wearing a red suit of course...) or the white of the hockey rink on the south side. For a two day learning curve .... hey, I'm having fun

As for shooting lower, I only WISH they'd let us on the center and get some great angles from there, but alas. Can't have everything, right? I will try for lower than standing position today. I tend to vary, depending how numb my toes are in there after 3 hours.

Thank you VERY much! I've seen your photos, but only just last night, so my education has been piecemeal

I'm doing this entirely for fun (and boredom, there's STILL not enough snow out on the hills for decent skiing) and it's been a joy just to learn something 100% entirely NEW. Still doesn't mean I don't want to do it *right* though. Thank you again.

// Leah

Erbeman · December 30, 2009

Man I love it when someone comes along and makes a post like this with pics that you just don't see everyday. Thanks for the post. I think you have done a great job on the exposure on these. The thing that I think would make these much better is if pretty much all of them were shot in portrait so feet weren't cut off. In order to get them in full stride with arms high and get feet in the pic, you would really have to shoot wide and that would bring too much background into the pic. If you shoot portrait, you could shoot or crop tight and your pics would be great. That along with shooting at 2.8 or a stop down, background would be out of focus and then you're in like Flynn!!!

Now, if you could shoot during a race and get a few skaters close together, landscape would be a must, but keep it loose so we see the skates. I hope you can get some more of these shots. Good Luck.

catspaw · December 31, 2009

Erbeman wrote:

Man I love it when someone comes along and makes a post like this with pics that you just don't see everyday. Thanks for the post. I think you have done a great job on the exposure on these. The thing that I think would make these much better is if pretty much all of them were shot in portrait so feet weren't cut off. In order to get them in full stride with arms high and get feet in the pic, you would really have to shoot wide and that would bring too much background into the pic. If you shoot portrait, you could shoot or crop tight and your pics would be great. That along with shooting at 2.8 or a stop down, background would be out of focus and then you're in like Flynn!!!

Now, if you could shoot during a race and get a few skaters close together, landscape would be a must, but keep it loose so we see the skates. I hope you can get some more of these shots. Good Luck.

thanks! I didn't get any portrait mode today (no clue why), but after playing around, I gave up on trying to pan the background and set it to A and 2.8, so the backgrounds are out of focus at least

Got some GREAT tips from the team photog (Tom) who posted above and was most lovely enough to chat with me several times during the course of today's races.

Apparently, feet/legs being cut off is done with speed skating. I don't get it, I come from horse sports where those are all tossed away. But it DOES make for an impressive tight crop of the body/face/arms. Granted, most of the really good photos I've seen were with a 400mm lens, which I can only dream of

(that and that kick ass rotating monopod ... a monopod that is USEFUL! omg! I did not know they existed.).

I skipped day 2 but have day 3 (yesterday) and day 4 (today) to go through. Thankfully it's all OVER, so my 3-day crash course into a new sport and new style of shooting is done. It's been a BLAST and I'll probably seek out some more winter sporting events (especially if the unemployment status sticks around) just to see what else there is (including some more speed skating). It's cold inside the skating Oval if you aren't moving around but at least it's INSIDE. I'm not sure if I'm insane enough to stand around for hours in the snow for those guys :P Its been fricking cold outside.

So, look for another post, probably combining day 3 and 4 together. And thanks!! I checked through the archives and only saw 3 other speed skating posts -- two of which had links broken so no photos

(and alas, no team pursuit, so it's all individual skaters with a few rare side-by-sides if they were crossing over near each other)

and on the other hand, YAY OLYMPICS! Much fun cheering everyone one and seeing who's going to Vancouver!

BradfordBenn · December 31, 2009

#6 is a good shot, I really like it.

catspaw · December 31, 2009

BradfordBenn wrote:

#6 is a good shot, I really like it.

thank you! in long track, they don't often put a hand down to steady themselves like that (where as you see it all the time in short track), but I was able to capture it. Mostly I like the intensity as he looks around the turn. SO focused.

ian408 · December 31, 2009

Hi Leah!

I think you did pretty well for your first time out. Others have given some great advice as far as composition goes.

Look forward to seeing more!

US Speedskating championships, day 1

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