Calling all skateboard photographers...

[Kegger]

Strobes are key. I actually almost had one broken on that shoot. Placement for good lighting is key. But placement for safety is even more important.

That photo was shot from the hip with nothing but an SB-600 on camera for fill. I have some other one's that are well framed and lit but my focus was a little in front of the subject. But here's another, even though the overcast is blown.

And I just went through that whole shoot and I really seem to have a thing for cutting fingers off, lol.

 

[goodoneian]

for this one i had an sb 600 to the back left and front right of the guy skating. all though not the cleanest of tricks obviously, the lighting came out good in my opinion

 

[goodoneian]

And I just went through that whole shoot and I really seem to have a thing for cutting fingers off, lol.

try backing up some, i always cut fingers and arms off for a while but started standing around 5 feet back from where i used to and i'm a lot happier with my results. also backing up lets you see the entire set the subject is ollieing or or whatever he's doing

 

[Kegger]

The point behind that one was to make it seem a lot bigger than it was lol. Only a seven stair so I tried to make it look huge.

Maybe just less stairs and more sky next time...

 

[goodoneian]

hah yeah i know what you're saying. none of my friends can do more than a five unfortunately :/

 

[chrisburke]

for this one i had an sb 600 to the back left and front right of the guy skating. all though not the cleanest of tricks obviously, the lighting came out good in my opinion

thats a pretty sweet looking pic.. looks like lots of post work to?? almost has an hdr feel to it

 

[JerryPH]

I can see the PPing too, but it's the backlighting around the guy in the air that most gives it that HDR effect. Look at the well backlit pants on his right leg and the sun on his back.

 

[goodoneian]

I can see the PPing too, but it's the backlighting around the guy in the air that most gives it that HDR effect. Look at the well backlit pants on his right leg and the sun on his back.

the only post processing i did in that was sharpen edges and clone out part of my light stand. nothing else was adjusted

*crop out part of my light stand

 

[goodoneian]

here's another example of what you can do with one flash, to the left and about 5 and a half or 6 feet up

again, no post processing except sharpen edges

 

[camera shake]

great pics and tips on skating shots. I enjoy skatebarding myself and would like to take some shots of some of the other skaters.

 

[twozero]

i like using two flashes, but three can give some really interesting shadows. I don't do much skate stuff, and tend to get bmx (since I bmx myself).

I know both of these are at night...but its the same idea. I love using a flash!

 

[chrisburke]

@goodoneian... is this the layout you had for your flashes??? were they facing the skater? were they eye level or ground level?? i really like the lighting on this shot...

 

[goodoneian]

yes, that is essentially the setup i used. here is a diagram that shows the basic height that i used for them, plus the effect the sun had on the image. the flashes were aimed to the left and right of him, not directly facing him

 

[chrisburke]

thanks.. i'll have to have a go at it later on... are you using pocket wizards to trigger your flashes?

 

[goodoneian]

thanks.. i'll have to have a go at it later on... are you using pocket wizards to trigger your flashes?

yeah it's a pretty good setup to get good results. nope i used nikon's cls with my flashes on manual ;D