First time shooting surfers. How did I do?

robbins.photo · Jun 3, 2014

sleist said:
Nikon D7100
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR1

Outstanding. Looks like you got him center mass. Tough shot into the wind at a moving target like that. So, 7.62 mm or .308? Also, what is the legal limit on surfers in your area? Here in Nebraska we can only bag 1 per day and up to 3 a year. I guess it does make sense though, we've got a pretty small surfer population around here and they don't want to thin the herd too much.

sleist · Jun 3, 2014

robbins.photo said:
Outstanding. Looks like you got him center mass. Tough shot into the wind at a moving target like that. So, 7.62 mm or .308? Also, what is the legal limit on surfers in your area? Here in Nebraska we can only bag 1 per day and up to 3 a year. I guess it does make sense though, we've got a pretty small surfer population around here and they don't want to thin the herd too much.

You can shoot whatever you can carry home here. I got some odd looks from folks with him strapped to the roof of my car, but what are you gonna do.
Googling recipes right now.

mishele · Jun 3, 2014

I thought...SHARK!! When I saw it. hehe

sleist · Jun 3, 2014

MikeFlorendo said:
Very amusing. That's what I like to do is shoot waves and surfing. I bodyboard. I would like to see what else you got. It's all about the angles and timing with surfing. Did you take sequenced shots? Looking forward to seeing your other shots.

This was a spur of the moment thing. I did really enjoy it though. Spent about 30 minutes shooting them I think.
The 70-200 did surprisingly well, but a longer lens would be much better (what else is new). These are cropped pretty tight.
Had I know I would happen upon this, I might have taken more time dialing in the AF setup.
I did some sequence shots, but the waves, though on the larger side for this beach, were not that big.
Plus, the surfers were not out deep enough and missed all the larger breaks - which I found myself getting pissed off about.

Here's a few of the better shots. They're OK, but there's plenty of room for improvement.

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Thanks for looking - and for the comments above.

MikeFlorendo · Jun 3, 2014

I like the cut back spray on #2. If you decide to try again then try angles with the surfer coming at you and straight on shots to mix it up. I normally use a 400mm lens but 200mm works with cropping. crop the surfer with 1/3 or so showing where they are going to have more of a perspective of the wave and where they are going. I like to take pictures of empty waves breaking with a shot of the barrel. Here is an example-