Kayak Competitions/Reno Riverfest, Day 2

[TheNevadanStig]

Yesterday was all about the tricks and style of freestyle. Today was all about speed with races. Two types of races today, the first a slalom type race run one at a time. The second was a race with fewer technical sections, but the kayakers were sent out in groups of 4. That one was fairly entertaining, with the competitors showing no remorse, slamming, tipping each other, often times even hitting each other with the paddles. Here's some of my favorite shots from today:

101 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

115 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

668 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

600 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

569 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

464 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

I absolutely LOVE this shot. The water glare up to the eye just does it for me:

428 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

Alternate crop:
428(2) by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr


And just for a fun little tidbit: If a racer tips and can't right themselves, they have to get out and become what they call a swimmer. If at any point during the competition you become a swimmer, you are forced to chug a beer out of your boot as soon as you reach shore. Got the moment here:
191 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

 

[TheNevadanStig]

Anyone home?

 

[imagemaker46]

Great series of images, not a bad one in the bunch.

 

[liquorboxracing]

What were these shot with? They are outstanding.

 

[curtyoungblood]

There are some nice images here, and you've got some good action captured.

There are a couple of things that you could improve to make them really great.

The deep shadows on the participants' faces bother me. It would be nice to get some light in there. The only practical solution I can see is to position yourself in a place where the sun is a little more likely to hit their faces and wait until they're looking a little more up, which they may not actually do.

I'd also like to see a little more context on some of the photos to see what they're up against.

 

[TheNevadanStig]

What were these shot with? They are outstanding.

Nikon D3200 and a cheap sigma 70-300 Thank you for the kind words!

There are some nice images here, and you've got some good action captured.

There are a couple of things that you could improve to make them really great.

The deep shadows on the participants' faces bother me. It would be nice to get some light in there. The only practical solution I can see is to position yourself in a place where the sun is a little more likely to hit their faces and wait until they're looking a little more up, which they may not actually do.

I'd also like to see a little more context on some of the photos to see what they're up against.

Not much that I could do about the lighting. The river flows east, and it was in the early evening, so sun setting in the west behind them. Rivers being rivers 98% of the action is heading one way haha. I am not sure what you mean by more context?

 

[imagemaker46]

I think by context would mean shooting loose so you can see more of what the course looks like. Kind of like how you see so many crappy loose skateboard pictures that show the entire neighbourhood. I think the crops on these are perfect, as for the light/shadows, you're right there isn't anything that you can do about it, and it's not something I would even be concerned about. Shooting anything in bright sun isn't shooting in a studio with controlled light, you do what you can, and the exposures all look good to me. If there is one thing have learned is that some people get so picky about the smallest element of an image that they fail to see the content, it's almost as if they want to find something wrong just to make a comment.

curtyoungblood if you have never shot an event like this, or shot anything where bright sun and water is involved, there is so much light shifting around that if you sit and wait for a paddler to look up you'll end up with nothing. The movements are quick and in constant change. There are opportunities to wait for faces, but there is never a guarantee that the light will be there.

The content is there, the action is there and the exposures are good, in my books, all the elements for a great image is there.

 

[runnah]

Kind of like how you see so many crappy loose skateboard pictures that show the entire neighbourhood.

Why is that crappy?

 

[curtyoungblood]

I mean that I would like to see something with a looser crop so that I can see more of the river and the rapids and all that. It isn't that I think there is a problem with the way the photos are cropped. I agree that you've got some nice tightly cropped and medium cropped images. I particularly like the 3rd and 4th images, but looking at the group as a whole, I feel like something wide is missing.

 

[imagemaker46]

Kind of like how you see so many crappy loose skateboard pictures that show the entire neighbourhood.

Why is that crappy?

What I see that happens is when the crop includes all the trees, houses, etc, you lose focus on the subject, especially when they are being shot at f11. There is no separation from the backgrounds. Photos can still be cropped tight without losing the overall content.

 

[TheNevadanStig]

I have a few looser ones as well. This isn't by any means the entire set, I took about 1500 images over the course of the weekend. I just know it's kind of an unwritten rule not to get the threads too pic heavy. As for more of the course, there wasn't much. One rapids feature, one set of buoys for one turn, then the finish line.

This is a decent one that is shot a bit looser from the others already posted:
706 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

 

[tevo]

Nice set, daylight sports are tough on the light. I will sometimes go through in Lr and use an adjustment brush on the faces to bring the shadows up a bit, it can help show eyes depending on how deep the shadows were. These look great though, especially considering your setup- great work.

I have a few looser ones as well. This isn't by any means the entire set, I took about 1500 images over the course of the weekend. I just know it's kind of an unwritten rule not to get the threads too pic heavy. As for more of the course, there wasn't much. One rapids feature, one set of buoys for one turn, then the finish line.

This is a decent one that is shot a bit looser from the others already posted:
https://flic.kr/p/niiKpS706 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

I like to include some loose shots in a set just for variety, but often times when shooting loose it is easy to lose the subject in the background and other elements. In this cases, the subject becomes all of the competitors and not just the one in focus; this works, but if the whole set was loose like this it would not give us the same up close & personal view of the event.

 

[tirediron]

Well done!

 

[TheNevadanStig]

Nice set, daylight sports are tough on the light. I will sometimes go through in Lr and use an adjustment brush on the faces to bring the shadows up a bit, it can help show eyes depending on how deep the shadows were. These look great though, especially considering your setup- great work.

I have a few looser ones as well. This isn't by any means the entire set, I took about 1500 images over the course of the weekend. I just know it's kind of an unwritten rule not to get the threads too pic heavy. As for more of the course, there wasn't much. One rapids feature, one set of buoys for one turn, then the finish line.

This is a decent one that is shot a bit looser from the others already posted:
706 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

I like to include some loose shots in a set just for variety, but often times when shooting loose it is easy to lose the subject in the background and other elements. In this cases, the subject becomes all of the competitors and not just the one in focus; this works, but if the whole set was loose like this it would not give us the same up close & personal view of the event.

Thanks! I don't have LR, but I did do a little exposure adjustments on some of the faces in PS using the dodge tool. Not sure if that's an accepted way of doing it, still learning a lot about post. It was a real fine line between slight improvement and making it look like I shopped a head in. I think I was working with the exposure settings around 7% on the dodge tool set to shadows.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Saw these the other day, enjoyed looking at all the great photos you took. Hope this leads to other opportunities for you.