I shot these in Santa Cruz a couple of days ago at the Cold Water Classic preliminaries at Steamer Lane. Constructive criticism much appreciated.

A few more...

Shots look ok, only thing a few look soft to me, try shooting a little faster say min 1000th of a second. Just make sure you go out and shoot this weekend. Swell should be pretty big and looks like good conditions. When shooting off the cliff try to shot wider to show more of the wave. All around pretty nice stuff.

Thanks for the feedback. It was my first time shooting surfing. I've been trained to crop tight on action, but I get the logic of wanting to see the wave too. Here's another example that comes closer to your critique comments. I am going to try to get out there again - it was fun to watch and photograph.
Thanks again for the feedback.

I like that view more, now go back and capture the same action as the first few shots showing the waves size and I think you will have a winner. Sat could be really good up your way so go shoot if you have the time.
Lets see what else you get!

f10? f20?

nono!!

take that MKIII off TV -shutter priority- and at least put it on AV -aperture priority- there just is no reason to be shooting at f20

that first shot is sick though.

Not everybody believes showing more wave is the best thing to do.

If the wave height is hip high and you're shooting from a pier (above the waves), there is little wave definition. Shooting from a beach accentuates wave height.

You have to decide what your subject is. Sometimes the context will be as important the surfer and sometimes no.

Consider shooting manual with at least SS1000 (to stop the suds), f8 -f11 should give enough dof to keep surfer in focus in case your focus point slips. Then you have to deal with brightness. A circular polarizer could help or EV adjustment to reduce sensor sensitivity.

just my .02

Rags

I like the first and third shots. The third looks like someone I've seen there on occasion.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it out to the coast today because I had two paying jobs. However, I did spend some time out there yesterday and here are some new images. The faster shutter speed did make them sharper but the light was overcast with constantly changing brightness. Would love comments.

a few more...

As I look at these, I'm probably still cropping too tight, but I like seeing the surfer and the amazing body language up close!

Shirley, Unless you are going for deliberate blur which is a very difficult technique to get right with surfing go for the fastest shutter speed combined with a reasonable ISO. forget F8, use you max aperture or one stop down at most. The 1D3 will give great results at ISO400 aim for a min of 1/1600th or 1/2000th. Composition is bit subjective. A good big wave demands to be in the picture whereas a messy little'un can be mostly cropped out.

good luck
David