Shooting Skateboarding

david1701

david1701

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I wanna have a go at shooting skateboarding.

I've done a forum search and found some interesting stuff, cherryrigs flickr is useful :p

Working OCF with lencarta safari gear and speedlights, thinking 28mm on full frame, and the 85 on my 1d for another perspective

I have a friend who's into it that I'm gonna steal to learn but what ought I know before I head out?
 
Mmmm... skater boys...

Sorry, what were you saying? :suspect:
 
never done skateboarding but i used to photo rollerblading few years back.
really good for experimenting with lighting, and wide angle stuff.
i tend to use a nikon fisheye or wideangle and set a few flashes up. its amazing what colours you can get.best bet is to just experiment.
good luck
 
Being a skateboarder, or ex-skateboarder I love skateboard photos.

What sort of effects are you after, its common to see fisheyes or wide angles.

Just remember, it might be low down stuff, so expect to be on your knees (oh I say!)
 
is all good I spend most of my life shooting laying down or climbing stuff to find angles, was shooting seascapes from in the sea last night :p

Basically plan A is to dick around a lot with flashes and a fairly wide angle (not fishy or even UWA) to see what I get

any ideas to play with are appreciated ;)
 
Yeah I'd say even faster than 1/500 to be honest.

Work out when your going to take the shot ie at the peak of the ollie, timing is everything so if you miss the clicked point or highest point or whatever then it going to look wrong.

Fairly wide kinda looks wierd, obviously you can do what you want but I'd either go fisheye or no wider than 50mm.

Be careful with your flashes cos boards can go flying and knock them over, it's happened to me enough times.

A rim lights always good for bringing the subject out of the background.

That'll probably get you started anyway...
 
Shot skateboarders before, they seemed to unanimously agree that they preferred results with hard, contrasty cross lighting. Makes it look more moody blah blah etc.. Was working in a dark area at 1/200, bear in mind the flash duration is around 1/8000 (?), but when we tried with natural light it was best at around 1/400 and above.. Not very helpful I know but that's just my 2p.
 
TBH is easier starting with a 50mm range, as easier to place lighting starting out, fisheye can be a mare to light sometimes as I am sure you will agree Samuel.

With the lenses you have I would say 85 on FF would be a nice length to play with. Just experiment, and the rule is generally to show where they have been, where they are, and where they are going.
 
Ding, I actually ended up shooting portrait - oriented because of how tight the space was! At around 50mm too, so that sounds just right. Shooting wide looks great and all, but so does shooting cropped in a bit.. And its a lot easier to do!
 
I'm hanging around waiting for my lights atm, will do some testing when they arrive, not had planned to shoot this stuff when I bought them so haven't looked into flash durations too much...........
 
epic I love my 85 atm and my 50 is off for repair but either will be back in time or I'll buy a 1.8 to cover
 
The classic skate shot is the ollie from a fisheye underneath the board, normally as they're getting onto a box or something.
 
Wide angle, fisheye, 70-200... Ive used them all so far in my attempts at this subject.

The fisheye is great when you pull it off, but can suck you into the action a little too far :D

Lighting is the key though - not something I've ever done before, but I am learning - by mistake ;-)
 
Expect to get it all wrong the first time - early evening is the best time to do it with that nice directional light coupled with the OCF...
I used to 'do' BMX cyclists and it's a similar thing - the old BMX track near Brighton racecource used to be good for that...that and the little skate-park down on the Levels...
One thing - even though back then I used a motorised F5, it was getting the timing right by anticipation that really made the shot... a lot of guys back then used to 'hose' the sequence, but the real Pro's would only take one shot per jump - and it was the right one...
 
well get low is best also look out for some background that goes with the lifestyle
here one I did
3647061545_344996fa96_o.jpg
 
Here's one I did earlier: ignore the silly moon-comp...
4635320162_f67091cccb.jpg


And one of the BMX shots from way-back-when:
4635328926_5bf9bb3dd1.jpg
 
Here's one I did recently. Fisheye is a staple skate lens. It does require you get into a position where you/ your camera can get hit very easy. This shot for example I shot right on the landing spot, or where his board hits when he kicks it out. I managed to get away with this one, but boards to all parts of the body are quite common.

4612796695_ecbde0c3b5.jpg
 
One of my attempts, since we are all posting :) This was at 1/50 to get the little flourescent lamp thing to light up the graffiti, whilst the flashes did all the lighting on the subject.
4373613252_306452bd7a.jpg
 
Extreme sports are some of the most difficult things to capture, I use both a short range and a long range when I shoot at a skate park, helps to capture things that you might not be near and which might not happen again. Going full frame is definitely the way, allows a good crop.

Capturing the decisive moment:

 
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