The Sports Series Part 5: Track Cycling

Aerodynamics has a lot to do with speed sports which is why cyclists try to maintain a profile as slim as possible to be able to cut through the air stream more effectively.

There are several events held on the track as far as track cycling goes. I caught up with the men's team event wherein the objective is to achieve the fastest lap time. There are four riders for each team and then they run the track in a straight line with the front rider "punching a hole" through the air stream while the other riders go through the hole he has created allowing them to ride faster. Then at some point of the track, the front rider moves out and rejoins the team at the back and the whole process is repeated for several laps. But, hey, this article is not about track cycling but about photographing track cycling.

Like any other track sports, the riders run through a predetermined course in a repetetive manner and therefore, their actions are more predictable and just in case, you did not get the last shot right, you know you'll have more than one chance to get it right.

VANTAGE POINT

I took this photo from the top of the bleachers giving it a "from the ceiling" look kind of shot.

For a spectator, the seating bleachers in the Aspire Hall (where this event was held) were arranged on one side of the long side of the velodrome only. However, the venue was not jam packed with spectators so I had the chance to change seats as often as I wanted. I tried some shots at the lower end of the bleachers, the upper end, the left upper end, the right upper end, the middle. I tried them all but in the end, and because the velodrome itself was bigger than the seating section, the differences in viewing angle is not really that significant.

PANNING

This sport is about speed and so, as mentioned in Part: 1 BASIC GUIDELINES, the irony of using slower shutter to a speed sports applies. Of course, the purpose is not to have everything blurred but rather to pan and keep the speeding subject in focus and let the rest be motion blurred. As mentioned also in that part, you need some swivelling practice with your hips to get a smooth pan.

Panning kept the riders in fair focus while the non moving elements were motion blurred.

I have photographed sports where the action is a lot faster than this so getting the kind of shots I wanted was fairly easy for me. Besides, the velodrome is perhaps the most regular track there is - it is simply an oval and riders don't change directions.

FAST SHUTTERS

You really don't want to use a very fast shutter and strictly freeze action because such a shot will make the riders look like standing still. The purpose of showing speed is then defeated. However, fast shutters have their place in this kind of sports and that is when going for close-ups of the riders in action. The best way of capturing their expressions as they exert the kind of effort they do to propel those bikes is by freezing the action. Unfortunately, my lens is not long enough and not fast enough to capture such kind of shots.

Obviously you can't pan when your subject(s) are at this point of the track - the corner where they make a turn. Motion blur therefore becomes irrelevant. This is one case where fast shutter is useful.

Another way of using fast shutter is when riders are in the corner as they make a turn, wherein they are virtually facing the camera. Obviously panning is not applicable here and therefore, motion blur is irrelevant. However, the way the bikes are tilted and with a clear view of the riders faces (or at least the one in front) are enough to show action. For this kind of shot, you need to switch your focusing mode to AI Focus for a single shot or AI Servo for multiple shots (sorry, that was Canon speak). For the latter, be sure that your camera or lens's focusing can cope with your camera's continuous shooting speed. For single shots, you can also pre-focus manually and wait for the bikes to hit your pre-focused point.

CONCLUSION

Like I said, I've shot sports that are faster than cycling and, at least in my book, more exciting. The repetitive actions bored me after a while and so I really did not spent much time watching it. However, if you are into panning shots would like some practice on it, this sport, I think is a good one.

Cheers,

alexdpx

Next - Greco-Roman Wrestling

The Sports Series Part 3: SWIMMING

Many swimmers prefer to use shaded goggles. This one with clear goggles shows the intensity of the action by offering a view of his eyes.

The swimming events in the Asian Games was important to me because of my two pamangkins who are swimmers themselves. In fact, I bought my tickets to this sporting event months before it was actually held to make sure that I'd be able to see it.

SEATS CHOICE

There really wasn't that much choice of seats because they are only on one side of the pool. The other side was reserved to delegates and others with special pass. So my only choice actually was either a seat at the lower or the upper row, and the left end or the right end of the bleachers.

My wife and I chose seats at the lower row to get as close to the action as possible. The seats were also somewhere midpoint of the pool so we could have an acceptable vantage point whichever end the swimmers would start or finish. If I have chosen a seat at one end of the pool, I would probably get a good shot of the swimmers as they jump off, or when they finish, but then, those would be all the shots I could get. It would have been very limiting to shoot the rest of the action from that viewpoint.

PEAK MOMENTS

In breaststroke, swimmers virtually glide on water.

It should be fairly easy to know the peak moments in swimming because the swimmers' actions are repetitive and basically follows a rythmic pattern. What makes it difficult is the excessive splash of water around, that a lot of times they cover the faces of the swimmers even when they resurface for air.

Butterfly is perhaps the most physically demanding stroke but the most action packed to photograph.

Breast stroke is probably the one with the least splash because the swimmers arms and legs remain mostly underwater when they do their strokes. Such movements make tham virtually just glide on water. With butterfly stroke, there's plenty of splash when they do that dolphin kick and both arms paddle at the same time. But the swimmers are able to lift their bodies above water from head down to most of their upper body so you still get a fairly good view of the swimmer in action.

Swimmers just swivel their heads up to gasp for air. Getting a good view of their facial expressions is, therefore, trickier since most of their head is still under water and such moment happens very quickly.

Freestyle (front crawl) and back stroke (back crawl) are perhaps the trickiest to shoot succesfully. Often times, you only get to capture arms above the water. With freestyle, the swimmers have their faces down under water and just pivots from time to time to gasp for air. With backstroke, although they are facing up, there is still a thin layer of water on their faces most of the time plus the excessive splashes.

As can be seen in this shot, in despite the swimmer facing the ceiling, a considerable amount of water still obscures the view of his face.

I didn't thought swimming is such a tricky sport to photograph well.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS TO SHOOT

A jump off happens just once for each heat. You, therefore, have to wait for the next heat to get your second chance.

Another peak moment to shoot should be when the swimmers jump-off from their platforms. However, you really need to be close to the action to capture an effective photo. The tricky part is that this action happens just once for every heat so you'll have to be as prepared as the swimmers are when that gun fires. You won't get a second chance. Of course, there will probably be other heats but sometimes, a particular jump off is more important than other all other jump offs. For example, the one for the gold medal race.

Korean swimmer Park Tae Hwan celebrates after winning this heat and the Asian Games record for 1500 meters freestyle. Despite such accomplishments, his celebration here seems a little "toned down".

What about the celebration when a swimmer wins? From what I have observed, it's not that exciting. Even when they have broken a record, the swimmers' acts of jubilations doesn't seem to be as exciting as when a football (soccer) player scores a goal or when Michael Schumacher jumps up from the podium before or after receiving his trophy. Often times, they just raise a fist, or both fists, and smile - no explosion of emotions. I'm not saying they don't do more than that because they do, but such are rare occurences so you still better have to have yourself and that camera ready.

CONCLUSION

Swimming is a fast-paced and an exciting competition to watch and photograph, but a rather tricky one. Not difficult but tricky. Each heat lasts for just a few minutes so opportunities for great sports action shots are limited. Choice of vantage point and to have a really fast long lens is most ideal.

The photographer should be ready before the competition starts and should have everything pre-planned. As mentioned above, each heat lasts for a few minutes - you won't have time for trial and error because, most of the time, you won't have a second chance.

Next - Athletics

Cheers,

alexdpx

The Sports Series Part 2: Beach Volleyball

The right place at the right time, the right equipment, the right settings and a little bit of luck = formula for a succesful sports shoot.

The recently concluded Asian Games was a dream shoot for me because sports is the main reason why I bought the gears I bought. I favored the EOS 20D over the 350D because of its magnesium alloy body and most importantly, its 5 fps continuous shooting speed. If I could afford a 1DMkII, that's what I would have bought. Although any equipment will do to a certain extent, having the right equipment often times makes a difference. But this discussion is not about photographic gears so I won't go that far.

This is the best of 5 frames of continuous shooting. High shutter speed froze both ladies and the ball in mid-air.

It was the first time I've seen live and photographed all of the competitive sporting events I've been to in the last Asian Games and one of them was beach volleyball which is the subject of this article. I'm not new to the sport and I'm quite familiar with the rules but this is the first time ever I've photographed it.

PREPARATION

When I arrived at the venue, there aren't that many people yet so I was able to choose the seat I liked. At first, I thought of sitting right in the middle, perpendicular to the net. I thought that's where most of the action is and I would have a good view of both teams by pointing my camera either to the left or to the right - just like I usually do when shooting tennis. T hen I realized that the referee would be standing on top of one end of the net and he might block my view. Even if he doesn't, I figured that during a spike/block action, I wouldn't have a good view of the players' faces. So I decided to relocate to a seat at one end of the court.

Most of the action in volleyball, beach or otherwise, happen on the net. I therefore selected a seat where I can have views like this.

Before the game started, I took some shots of the volleyball court to test the lighting condition and find out the lowest ISO setting I can use. In the end, I decided to use ISO 1600. I also tried to develop a strategy in my head on how I'm going to shoot this remembering that somebody once told me that volleyball is one of the most difficult sports to photograph well. I thought of following the ball and it seems to be a logical strategy because where the ball is, that's where the action is.

STRATEGY

I did exactly just that during the first part of the first game with Japan versus Kazakhstan. It didn't take me long to realize that I was using the wrong strategy. The ball was moving a lot and too fast to follow that action has already happened before the lens could have the chance to focus. So, I switched to manual focus but that did not improve the situation.

If looks could kill . . . . If I had a longer lens I would have zoomed in closer to the girl with the eyes. However, I think this shot is not so bad because the blurred opponent on foreground adds to the picture's story wherein she's being sized up by her opponent.

I was starting to get frustrated so I put down the camera and watched the game for a while. I observed how the players move and actually started to appreciate one of the Kazakhstan player - both her looks and moves. And then, BLING!! - an idea popped in my head. Instead of following the ball, why don't I just focus on one player at a time and wait for her to make the right move? There are only 4 players in the court so I didn't think I had to wait long.

So I tried the new strategy; I did not wait that long and things started to get right.

WHAT WENT RIGHT, WHAT WENT WRONG

In general, I was happy with the shots I took. I was able to capture plenty of action at the net plus a few candid shots of the players. I selected the right seat which offered plenty of good views including those of a group of Filipinos waving our flag and cheering our players. The strategy of focusing on one player at a time worked really well - simply waiting for the ball to come to her and let her make her moves.

The seat I chose did not afford me that many opportunities for action shots away from the net. I would consider this a lucky shot.

The seat I chose was not perfect though. I did not have a good view of the player making a serve. The far end of the court was too far and the view was obscured by the net. It also did not offer views as when players receive the ball and goes for those dives and digs. As a spectator, I do not have the luxury of moving around; otherwise I run the risk of disturbing other spectators and catching the security officers' attention.

Who do you think won? Sports photography is not only about action, it's also about human drama.

Oh well, maybe next time around.

Next - Swimming

Cheers,

alexdpx