The sea around Cape Town has been monstrously big for a few days, which means no diving! So instead of sulking for a week I decided to try my hand (or lens) at some surf photography. I went out with Steve Benjamin to the infamous Sunset Reef to try and get some shots of the big wave boys in action. Not having done this before it was quite an experience. These surfers are INSANE, no buts about it. It was scary enough sitting in a boat and having to duck out of the way at the last minute, but try to imagine actually getting into the imapct zone with just a small piece of fiberglass...
Wow very nice big wave shots Jean - wish I could have been there with you!
James
Wow very nice big wave shots Jean - wish I could have been there with you!
James
Great shots!
May sound like a silly question but...Wondering if there is any way to do this as an HDR? At 1/1000 and 9fps on a D300 can Photomatix Pro merge them so you could get better exposure of the divers? You may not have the ability to get the battery pack into whatever you used to protect the camera, but just a thought. Or maybe some creative Photoshop with the surfer on a separate layer?
Sorry all, but I spent the weekend trying HDR so that is where my head is right now.
Andy
Great shots!
May sound like a silly question but...Wondering if there is any way to do this as an HDR? At 1/1000 and 9fps on a D300 can Photomatix Pro merge them so you could get better exposure of the divers? You may not have the ability to get the battery pack into whatever you used to protect the camera, but just a thought. Or maybe some creative Photoshop with the surfer on a separate layer?
Sorry all, but I spent the weekend trying HDR so that is where my head is right now.
Andy
Good question Andy. The boat could only hold station on one side and as a result most shots were almost into the light. The waves and sky were nicely exposed but on almost all the shots the surfer list just a silouette. I've not tried HDR so maybe next time....
Jean.
I think true HDR will be impossible here, as the one thing one needs to merge multiple exposures is absolute identical images except for the exposure; the moving water and boat and surfer all negate this. One can of course do pseudo-HDR effect with one image. Probably best to use a single image with multiple screen layers in PS, affecting only the parts you want to lighten using masks.
Great shots Jean! Especially like the second to last composition. What lens did you use?
Great shots Jean! Especially like the second to last composition. What lens did you use?
Jeff, it was the cheapest and nastiest piece of glass in my collection... The old non-VR 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G...
