Extreme Sports HELP?!

[dd-photography]

I want to take some photographs of some friends of mine BMXing and skateboarding but im not too sure of how to get the best results.
If anyone could give me some tips that would be very much appreciated!

thankyou

 

[Ross]

Depends what sort of shot you have in mind for a final result I guess

Slow shutter speeds to blur the action and background
Fast shutter speeds to freeze the moment
Fish-eye lens for ultra wide angle closeups

Depending on available light you'll probably need a flash, or a fast lens

 

[Ewan]

To start off I'd probably try some "freezing" shots. Get the shutter speed as high as you can to freeze the action completely. This should be no problem on a bright day - if you're still getting blurry pictures you can raise the ISO to 400 or so without too much noise

Use aperture priority and set the f-number as low as possible (this will probably be something like f3.5 or f4.5 on your Fuji) to get a fast shutter speed.

 

[dd-photography]

okay thanks alot! ill try that and yeah my Fuji can go down to F2.8 on manual.

 

[Ross]

I would actually be inclined to go the other way, and set shutter speed manually to get the result you want.

But, basically experiment a lot until you're satisfied with the results

 

[Ian T]

A flash is a must, especially if the light is low, such as indoors at a skatepark. The photo below I used a flash (shoe-mounted SB600) for a bit of 'fill' to make sure I captured the rider without a blur.

Really for this kind of thing you want a flash with a duration of 1/900th of a second or faster at a reasonable power. For the best results, it's useful to be able to fire flashes remotely, either using long sync cables or radio triggers. That way you can position several flashguns on stands and get some interesting effects.

Aside from that, a wide angle or fisheye lens is very useful. This photo used a Sigma 10-20, but really I could do with a Nikon 10.5 fish. Not cheap though. Oh, and personally I use shutter-priority or full manual, but you can do it either way. Selecting a wide aperture will obviously give you a fast shutter speed.

 

[mwoody]

some sound advice thanks! dont the skaters get annoyed by the big flash?

 

[Ian T]

If you stick the flash gun right in their face they might! You have to be a bit considerate about that (and getting in their way), but usually it's ok.