Shooting kayaking

Lukey

Lukey

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Lukas
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Hi, I have a family friend who's just started up a kayaking business and would like me to take some photos of some of the courses he does on the river. I've never really done any sports photography before and only have a nifty fifty and kit lens! So my question is, would purchasing the 55-250 IS be a good idea (been thinking about getting it anyway) and what sort of settings should I be thinking of using?:shrug:

Cheers:thumbs:
 
Hi mate,

The Nifty Fifty is a superb lens as it will freeze action due to it being sooo fast. How close are you going to be to the action, on your 400D that Nifty Fifty is realy a Nifty Eighty (Due to your Crop Factor).

If you are fairly close then that Nifty Fifty should see you good. Go and have a look, take your kit with you, take some snaps to see what you get (even if there is no kayaker there).

Dont forget that you will get a very shallow depth of field if you are close in with the fifty wide open, I find it soft below 2.8ish.

Settings will depend on the day (Bright sunlight or cloudy), but you ideally want a very high shutter speed to freeze that white water and kayaking action.

My understanding is that you will only get that 55-250 down as low as 4.5 at the 55mm range (I might very well be wrong here so see what others say).

Have fun :D
 
Hi,

You mention in your post that you will be shooting him doing some of the courses. Depends what he means by that.

I am a kayaker. Mostly I do sea kayaking now but I did whitewater, which I guess is what he will be doing. Normally you will not get close enough with the 50mm unless the kayaking is taking place at an artificial course (e.g. Holme Pierpoint, Nottingham) - hence the question above.

Yes, you will need a fast shutter speed but 1/250 should be enough. I think a longer lens will give you a better chance of capturing something good.

I shot film with a Pentax Z1 (only just gone digital) many years ago and never failed because the lens wasn't fast enough - f4.5 shouldn't be a problem.

Good luck.

Ken
 
You'll need more than a 50mm unless you're in the water with them...something around 200mm will be fine for most river courses....
Fast shutter speeds will freeze the action and water droplets, slower speeds will add some motion-blur for added drama...since you have the opportunity, I'd recommend you spend a while experimenting with different angles and speeds and see what works best for you...
 
In that case you will get some good shots showing a person in a kayak, which may be recognisable to the person kayaking.

However, without a longer lens you will miss the emotions of the person kayaking. For beginers this will capture the essence.

If your friend intends to use the shots as publicity, I believe this latter aspect is key.

Hope it all works out.

Ken
 
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