Cross country ski

ZapoTeX · Jan 15, 2012

1 - Swiss

2 - Italian

3 - Line of skiers

4 - Austrian

5 - Another Austrian

6 - American with hair up

7 - French

C&C welcome

CMfromIL · Jan 15, 2012

Love the colors, nice sharp focus. Might I ask why you cut everyone off at the knees? I'd like to see some with the entire skier. Try rotating the camera 90 degrees, and shoot portrait style.

ZapoTeX · Jan 15, 2012

Hi CM,

thanks for the comments!

You won't believe it, but I had already written this reply to your message:

INTENDED REPLY BEGINS
I do have some pics with the full body, but because they all skied closed to each other, it was pretty hard to get a nice shot of a skier without confusing elements around it. And the few times I did, I made mistakes in focus, exposure or composition.
INTENDED REPLY ENDS

However, after I had already written that, I took another look at the photos of today and it looks like I do have some acceptable full-body shots. Here they are:

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

All in all, I guess I very much like the shots where the athlete's fatigue, determination and pain show clearly on her/his face. But I very much appreciate your suggestion!

CMfromIL · Jan 15, 2012

#12 and #14 are my favorite. Pehaps a small crop on #14 cutting either the left or the right crowd off, resulting in the skier not being directly in the center, but I love the expression. Really makes you feel like you are there.

Nice job.

ZapoTeX · Jan 15, 2012

Thanks for the comments!

Totally agree on the 14th, I actually tried, but cutting the right would have cut the left ski, while cutting the left would have killed the overexposed banner and snow that nicely contrasts with the skier's black outfit. However, the picture as is looks pretty static indeed.

Thanks again!

Compaq · Jan 15, 2012

Surely Norway won this...I mean, we pretty much own cross country skiing - both male and female LOL. I wish there were more Norwegians!

Nice set!

ZapoTeX · Jan 16, 2012

Hi Compaq, thanks for your comments!

Actually, Norway won the Single Sprint Men and was third at the Single Sprint Ladies, but did not do better than 4th at the other races: Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country - Function "Place description"By & thanks again!

camjam · Jan 16, 2012

Seems to be necessary to compromise between getting a nice close up of facial expressions and a full body photo showing the movement of the athlete. Personally, I really like both. ZapaTex....nice photos!

ZapoTeX · Jan 16, 2012

Thanks camjam for your comments!

Compaq · Jan 16, 2012

Well, I can live with that.

A few of your subjects could use some more exposure, they are a little dark. Blown snow isn't something I'd mind in this context.

ZapoTeX · Jan 16, 2012

Hi Compaq,

thanks for the additional passage!

And for the very good comment. I'm now looking at the photos again and I totally agree with you. The light was quite difficult, but my ISO setting was low enough to at least take care of that during development.

Thanks again!

brian_f2.8 · Jan 16, 2012

The full body shots are much more professional and entertaining. Shoot wide in landscape or tight in portrait.

Tony S · Jan 16, 2012

I like the closeups of the face, but to cover the race properly you do need to include full body shots which you did. In that first group of shots I can see one tweek that might help make them stronger images. Take note of the skiers facial positions, most of them are looking down and forward. The angle you shot from is a bit high, get down lower so you can really see those expressions better.

ZapoTeX · Jan 17, 2012

Hi Brian and Tony, thanks for your comments!

Shoot wide in landscape or tight in portrait.

Great advice. I actually do not have any actual portraits, showing just the face (and a bit of shoulders maybe), I wish there was another race to try again!

Take note of the skiers facial positions, most of them are looking down and forward. The angle you shot from is a bit high, get down lower so you can really see those expressions better.

Great advice too! The fence and the crowd would have made it difficult (it was an urban race, the snow had come with trucks from the mountain and they had built a ring in a downtown park in Milan), but I did not even try to lower the camera and I'm sure I could have gone that direction a little bit.

Thanks everyone!