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Archive 2014 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night

  
 
Russ Isabella
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


A few random shots. All are with a 1Dx: floor and bars with an 85 f/1.2L II; beam and vault with an 85/1.8. C&C welcome.

1.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ3.JPG


2.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ9.JPG


3.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ5.JPG


4.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ2.JPG


5.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ4.JPG


6.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ6.JPG


7.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ8.JPG


8.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ10.JPG


9.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ11.JPG


10.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ1.JPG


11.
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ7.JPG


12. You figure it out. I suspect Superman had days like this...
http://russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ12.JPG



Feb 08, 2014 at 05:19 PM
pjbuehner
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


very nice set as usual.


Feb 08, 2014 at 06:15 PM
Tom D
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Solid work, Russ. IQ is insane.


Feb 08, 2014 at 06:57 PM
Russ Isabella
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Thank you, Peter.

Thanks, Tom. These all might be a tad hot as I look at them on a couple of monitors other than the one I used for editing. That's what I get for messing with the settings! Hope all is well on the Duffy homestead.



Feb 08, 2014 at 08:32 PM
Matt OHarver
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Russ, as usual your stuff is top shelf, and a short guy like me can't reach to get to that level. But I always enjoy checking your gymnastic posts.


Matt



Feb 08, 2014 at 11:59 PM
Frank Lauri
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Russ….+1 with Tom's comment on the IQ. That's one of the first things that I noticed when I looked at these…..Whenever I watch any gymnastics on TV….the routines are fast with motion and you really miss the stopped beauty and gracefulness of the sport. Your shots allow us to see that.

Nice set.
Frank



Feb 09, 2014 at 06:41 AM
schlotz
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Hey Russ, 4 - its the toes, 5 - caught at a great perspective, 10 - focused determination & 12 for keeping my eye glued on what was happening!

As usual, my Sunday morning coffee always goes better with Isabella postings

Matt



Feb 09, 2014 at 08:34 AM
kateman
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Russ,
top shelf.
wish you lived in Texas. Then i could shadow you and learn even more! and a second for schlotzs' on the morning coffee
as always, thanks for sharing
B



Feb 09, 2014 at 09:41 AM
Aqualung
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Awesome Russ, #5 for me...

Chris



Feb 09, 2014 at 11:33 AM
Russ Isabella
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Hey thanks, Matt. I appreciate the kind words.

Many thanks, Frank. I hear what you are saying. When I watch videos of the meets I've shot, I'm often amazed to see what "really" happened while I was concentrating on 1/1000th of a second snippets. Some of those snippets ain't pretty, but I agree with you about some of the others that are easily missed at full speed.

Hey Matt, I know how important that Sunday morning coffee can be, so I'm glad to be a part of it! Thanks for your comments and for sharing some of what you're struck by with the images.

Bret: It would be easier if you moved to Utah. Thanks for your continued encouragement.

Thanks, Chris. Glad to know you liked #5. Definitely a different kind of shot.

The past couple of meets I've been focusing more on some of the behind-the-action stuff that goes on at these meets. Thought I'd share a few of those lighter moments.


13.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ13.JPG


14.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ15.JPG


15.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ17.JPG


16.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ19.JPG


17.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ14.JPG


18.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ18.JPG


19.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ20.JPG


20.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ16.JPG


21.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ21.JPG



Feb 09, 2014 at 02:35 PM
robby521
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


the young lady in #6 is fun to watch in all your work.


Feb 09, 2014 at 03:46 PM
Steven King
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Yeah, he does it all. Love the meet shots and all of the behind the scenes stuff too, because that really shows off how these ladies are still having fun together.


Feb 09, 2014 at 05:27 PM
lhryshko
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Numbers 2, 4, 5 and 12 are favorites for me this time. Really, really like 12 as those types of shots are very tough to capture (for me at least).

I also enjoyed the behind the scenes shots and I'm sure the gymnasts will cherish these as much as the action.

As Tom D said, insane IQ.



Feb 10, 2014 at 12:02 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


It's number 4 this time. That's an overshoot right? It hadn't really occurred to me to shoot them that way. Pak Saltos yes. Overshoots, no. My cheese just got moved. My game just changed with 4. Thank you Russ.

I'm sorry that I can't help but offer C&C solely from the methods and means and decisions by which they are shot, instead of just enjoying the pictures as art or something. I'm just not capable of reviewing work that way. So let's get back to number 4...

Brilliant decision to turn the camera vertically and shoot it late in the move. I can't recall ever doing this, because I've been stuck in the rut of timing off the release, instead of kicking back and waiting just prior to the catch. It's one or the other. One can't get the release of an overshoot in landscape and flip 90 to get the catch in portrait. I don't know how tight you shoot on the floor or crop in in post, so I guess I'm only speaking from my own limited perspective, where I don't get to do any post.

You talk about wanting to push the envelope of how this sport is memorialized in imagery... and I think it is funny how that envelope is shaped differently depending on the viewer. Some eyes are #10 envelopes. Some are #12. My eyes must be a #4 envelope, because you pushed apart the seam for me with #4.

Seriously, when I see the overshoot coming, I've automatically rotated to landscape so as not to cut off the legs at the release. But it makes perfect sense to stay portrait, skip the release, and wait a millisecond for the moment before the catch. She HAS to rotate her feet upwards (back in frame) anyway, in order to rebalance on the low bar.

I can't believe all these years have gone by and it never occurred to me to shoot the overshoot late in portrait, instead of mid air in landscape. Your number 4 definitely pushed my little envelope and expanded the way the sport can be seen from at least one person's limited perspective. Thanks for that Russ!

I just hope I can remember to actually do it when the time comes.



Feb 10, 2014 at 03:45 AM
Russ Isabella
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Thanks, Robby. I don't know that she is comfortable being in front of the camera, but her photos tend to be very striking.

Thanks, Steven. Good point. It's a high-powered program and expectations are very high each year, the goal always being to win a national championship (I think Utah has the most such wins, but it has been a while). So I agree it is great to see that the athletes seem very happy to be where they are.

Thank you, Larry. This is the first time I've positioned myself to try for the move captured in #12. I'll be going it after it again because, as you say, it's a difficult one to get just right (my problem is that even though I know it's coming, I'm always surprised when it does).

Thanks, Focus. I'm a bit confused by your post because I'm trying to imagine how bars could be shot in landscape given that it's such a vertical event (I'd have to be a good deal further away from it to shoot horizontally than I am shooting vertically). Beyond that, however, there's no question that the overshoot (and pak salto) is surprisingly difficult to shoot, for two reasons (that occur to me because I've struggled with them). First is framing. I try to shoot as tight as I can and since most of the action occurs on the high bar, I'm a distance from the bars that allows me to shoot this tight. But with the release from high to low, I have to be able to frame the full handstand-height of the athlete on the low bar, which usually requires that I move back just a bit as I am shooting. Like walking and chewing gum! Even more problematic is focus. Depth of field isn't great and their bodies are cast at an angle away from me with (obviously) their heads/faces being the last part of them to approach the lower bar. For most every other kind of shot, I can focus on the torso and the face is close enough to being in the same plane that DOF is sufficient to provide for a sharp image. Not with this shot, where focus really needs to be as close to the face as possible, and therein lies the challenge of the shot for me--a sharply focused face. Thanks for your detailed comments!

Edited on Feb 10, 2014 at 10:39 AM · View previous versions



Feb 10, 2014 at 09:36 AM
BillyHurst
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Favs are 2, 3 ,5, 10 (Really dig 5) Way to go on nailing this one!
I will echo what everyone else has said about IQ. insane!
Thanks for always sharing with us, Russ.

Billy-



Feb 10, 2014 at 10:19 AM
BillP57
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Great shots again Russ. Do you use the thin DOF more to improve backgrounds or to keep your SS high? Either way the images look beautiful.

Bill



Feb 10, 2014 at 10:37 AM
Russ Isabella
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Thanks, Billy, and you're welcome!

Thank you, Bill. I'd say both are true. I definitely am trying to work with the highest SS possible without ratcheting up ISO more than is absolutely necessary, but I also am choosing not to shoot wide open (unless I'm using a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8) to give myself a little breathing room. I'm happiest in the ballpark of ISO 4000, f/2.2 and 1/1000.

Edit: Looking at this again, I'm not sure I answered your question, Bill. I definitely am looking to blow out the backgrounds as much as possible, but am choosing not to work with the thinnest possible DOF because it seems a bit too risky. So it's a compromise of shooting as wide open as I think I can manage and still succeed at getting the desired sharpness where it counts. Shutter speed and ISO always play into this equation.



Feb 10, 2014 at 11:27 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Russ Isabella wrote:
First is framing. I try to shoot as tight as I can and since most of the action occurs on the high bar, I'm a distance from the bars that allows me to shoot this tight. But with the release from high to low, I have to be able to frame the full handstand-height of the athlete on the low bar, which usually requires that I move back just a bit as I am shooting. Like walking and chewing gum! Even more problematic is focus. Depth of field isn't great and their bodies are cast at an angle away
...Show more

^THIS^

Bears repeating. I don't know how you squeezed all of that into on short and sweet paragraph, but that is the nexus of it.

Adding to the difficulty in shooting the overshoot this way, is that unlike the pak, where the athlete's head leads the body down, in the overshoot, the body leads the head down. More specifically, the head is arcing down as if it is the weight on the end of the pendulum of a grandfather clock. From the camera POV in shot 4, the head is not that visible to the camera's auto focus sensor because it is obfuscated by much more dominant parallel lines, like her arms that just released the high bar (and her face is practically tucked under those arms as she scans for the low bar), not to mention the dominant lines of the bar hardware itself.

So as the body is rotating like a pendulum arm, the head finally appears more prominently at the last millisecond as her feet swing in the opposing direction back into frame. I really appreciate this shot, and know exactly how hard it is to find focus in that no-man's land of space between the high and the low bar, where there is no reference point to lock onto save for the fleeting flicker of the athlete who flies through the gap.



Feb 10, 2014 at 12:47 PM
Russ Isabella
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Gymnastics: A Few From Last Night


Focus Locus wrote:
^THIS^

Bears repeating. I don't know how you squeezed all of that into on short and sweet paragraph, but that is the nexus of it.

Adding to the difficulty in shooting the overshoot this way, is that unlike the pak, where the athlete's head leads the body down, in the overshoot, the body leads the head down. More specifically, the head is arcing down as if it is the weight on the end of the pendulum of a grandfather clock. From the camera POV in shot 4, the head is not that visible to the camera's auto focus sensor because it
...Show more


All of which might help to explain why currently she (Georgia Dabritz) is the best bars performer in the country.


22.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ23.jpg


23.
http://www.russisabellaphotography.com/Gymnastics2014/AZ22.jpg




Feb 10, 2014 at 06:36 PM
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