Well let me know what you think. Especially with the colors. I have a LCD monitor and it is difficult to know if the colors are on or off.
Well this first one is my boy doing his impression of the butterfly stroke. It was his first meet and we had some tears when he was confronted with the "high" starting blocks. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
And finally the powerhouse of the team. This young gal made the Q-time for Olympic trials in the 100 back. Unfortunately about a 1 1/2 months ago she dislocated her shoulder playing Ultimate Frisbee with the team (including her Coach). Needless to say there were some really pissed parents! This was her first meet back.
All good shots. However, I recommend getting a lower angle, like you did on the last shot. Although the first and last shots are good....you need to shoot or crop looser. Although they are both probably doing breast stroke, the arms need to be seen, and not just faces to make an effective photo. What a dumbass move on the girls part. My sister is going to the trials and she would never do a physical activity besides swimming, muchless play frisbee this close to the trials....just too much risk. What was that girl thinking and since when do swimmers have time to play frisbee?
I shot between 2.8-4.0. Although it was generally 2.8 If they are getting really close 2.8 will give you OOF shots due to small DOF and quick movements by subject. If you can try to change the aperture as they swim towards you. I was using a 300/2.8 ISO100 and in manual mode with shutter speeds ranging from 4000-8000. If the sun was in their face then it was like 6400-8000.
Watch the shadows from the sun. It can really screw up the exposure. Half the face is bright and the other half is really dark. For freestyle, position yourself on the side that they breathe on. Get low but not so low that youcan not see their face as they breathe. If you can, pick the end of the pool where the timers are not! This will give you great head-on shots with out getting in the timers way. If the meet is in a pool where there is a bulkhead then you will probably not be allowed on the bulkhead and you will have to compete with the timers and ALL of the participants.
If you want to capture the starts then do it from the side just in front of the flags. With the stronger swimmers the flags will obsure their starts.
Any other questions I will try to give you the info that I have.
Blake
Nice shots, I think if you shot around 5.6 or so you wold get more DOF and less OOF shots, I like the persepctive you have on these sorry to hear about your swimmers mishap, but things do happen, I fine that the reflection of teh water helps to fill the shadows somewhat.
I have not play with a larger DOF as of yet. I need to experiment a little more. As for the reflection of the water, it can definately fill the frame and lighten the shadows. How ever if it is at all underexposed you can get some weired color casts as you bring up the exposure, and then it seems to pick up noise. I do not have my work flow figured out yet and it is fun to play with the colors and exposure.
