DSLR Photography Forum

Taken at Morro Bay a couple of weeks ago.

WOW! Well captured Craig, He is almost in the air Wonderful photograph, I loved it,

Thank you,
with my love,
nia

Thanks for the comments Nia.

Great action shot, C.

Thanks

I was on the end of the sea wall and the odd wave was hitting me with a little spray... the lens and 50D seem to of come through unscathed though.

You've definitely captured a great moment here. But as this is in the critique section, I was looking at more of what it's showing. The background bothers me a bit; there's an odd feel to the background, with what looks like camera movement causing a double-line boke along the buildings. (I doubt that's what it is, I'm just at a loss for a better description.) Since the story is the surfer, not the place, I don't think you'd lose anything by cropping down from the top to include the surf and beach but exclude most of the green from the background. I hate getting all camera-clubby by recommending a crop, but it might help simplify the composition.

Get Camera Clubby by all means This is headed for competition at some point in the PJ section for sure.

It is probably camera shake causing it, I was panning as i was shooting these. Thanks for the critique.

I see two important elements in your picture, Craig, the surfer and the wave in the foreground. It flows nicely across the frame.

I would agree with Matthews comment about crop, if you could preserve the format and not breaking much the flow of the wave along the frame. The possible crop that I can see would place the surfer in the middle left of the frame.

I would advice trying a bw conversion with yellow or red filter and lift up the light a lot more. In this way, I see the white lines of the foam in the background enhancing the context, and the surfer popping up. Maybe a possible crop just to get rid of the white blurry thing in the upper right corner. There you have a nice straight line of foam to top or to use as a base in composition.

I know it is a bit odd to think about a picture like this one in bw but I believe it would be interesting giving a try.

Thanks for the comments Irma. I plan to use this shot in a PhotoJournalism Division, B&W Images don't fair well in that context, but from an art perspective i will certainly give it a whirl.

I would have been proud to capture something this good.

My only critique would be to raise up the midtones a bit, then find a suitable new black point to preserve the same realistic contrast.
You're in no danger of clipping the highs as far as I can tell.
Just would like it a little brighter overall.

I like your composition as-is--gives me a sense of "place".
Too tight and you start getting compared to the geezers who stand in the water and shoot surfers for a living. This isn't that type of shot and shouldn't pretend to be.

Thanks for the comments Alan.

No definitely not standing in the water, though i did get a little wet. Where this was shot at Morro Bay, there is a sea wall and Road that separates the Bay from the harbor. I clambered along the sea wall as far out as I felt safe and the surfers in the bay came in pretty close, though most of my shots are still at 500mm. I was pretty happy with the results overall, this was my first time shooting surfers other than Kite Surfers.

I wish I lived closer to the coast.
Stuff like this is exciting.
Wetter and better than the rodeo.

Then i have double luck, Clovis has a great Rodeo every April