Some more skating/biking Photos

MagnumPhotography · Oct 16, 2009

Just took these today, these are the bet one's a could take out. I was being extremely picky, I would have taken out a few more of them to but I wanted to have a decent selection that could get critiqued.

C&C always loved!

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Derrel · Oct 16, 2009

In shots 1-4, your camera's point of view is too high...a couple of those would look okay if the background were blue sky, but the house, lightpoles, and the two girls talking in the background kill the interest in the subject. Seeing a pair of girls in the background, talking to one another, is a powerful subliminal message that the skateboarding going on is not interesting enough to watch.

Using a longer focal length, from slightly farther away, will narrow the angle of view behind the subjects,and at the same time, will prevent that "far away and small and insignificant" look that a wide-angle lens on small format digital imparts.

On your last shots, 5,6,and 7, your lens is being hit by the late afternoon sun, and it is causing lens flare, which is killing the contrast. Here, it would help to have an assistant standing to your left, throwing the shadow from his body, or a piece of cardboard, onto the front of your lens. Shot 6 is a good example of problems with the whole shoot-- two women sitting on a bench, talking to one another in the background; a plastic garbage can in the background, a light pole in the background, two kids, and a guy walking by. Then, there's the guy in the air on the bike. He's got a LOT of competition for the eye's interest.

What you need to do is get the composition un-cluttered, working from the background forward to the guy on the board or the bike. Shoot from a low position, and make sure your lens is absolutely clean and grease-free when shooting toward the sun, and have an assistant shade your lens. Try as hard as you can for a people-free background,and if people are present, ask them to LOOK toward the skateboarder, as if they are watching, or otherwise ask them to move over. And eliminate light poles--they absolutely kill a shot.

gsgary · Oct 16, 2009

Fill flash is your friend for shooting biking and skating, you need to work on your positioning big time,as above try and get clean backgrounds or shoot at F2.8 to blur it