Taking photo's of skateboarding

RottenBars

New member
Hello all.. I'm brand new to this site as of 10 minutes ago. I hope that it will bring me the help and community that I'm looking for. Well enough of that its time i get down to what I'm making this post about in the first place. So due to a terrible leg injury a few months ago that required surgery I'm unable to work and also unable to do what I love the most (Which was what injured me) which is go skateboarding I have decided to take up being the on photography side of skateboarding now. I have taken photos as a hobby my whole life but within the last 3 months I have had this desire to learn and learn as much as I can and possibly turn my hobby into something else. So anyways, I used to shoot photos of my homies skateboarding all on the auto settings and there was never much depth to them at all. I looked up a few sites about using manual settings and what not and my pictures have gotten better. Well, I'm always looking to progress in anything that I do so that is why I have come to this forum in the hopes that i could pick someones brain. I'm trying to figure out and find what is like the best way to go settings wise when taking photos of skateboarding. Would just like some feedback and perhaps what some of the settings and things you use to make photos of skateboarding turn out better..I'm shooting with a D90 as well.. So yeah. Hopefully this makes some sense and I hope to get some great Feedback.
 

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Welcome! Post a picture in the tread and tell us what you want to change about it. I'm sure you'll get some help.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Hello all.. I'm brand new to this site as of 10 minutes ago. I hope that it will bring me the help and community that I'm looking for. Well enough of that its time i get down to what I'm making this post about in the first place. So due to a terrible leg injury a few months ago that required surgery I'm unable to work and also unable to do what I love the most (Which was what injured me) which is go skateboarding I have decided to take up being the on photography side of skateboarding now. I have taken photos as a hobby my whole life but within the last 3 months I have had this desire to learn and learn as much as I can and possibly turn my hobby into something else. So anyways, I used to shoot photos of my homies skateboarding all on the auto settings and there was never much depth to them at all. I looked up a few sites about using manual settings and what not and my pictures have gotten better. Well, I'm always looking to progress in anything that I do so that is why I have come to this forum in the hopes that i could pick someones brain. I'm trying to figure out and find what is like the best way to go settings wise when taking photos of skateboarding. Would just like some feedback and perhaps what some of the settings and things you use to make photos of skateboarding turn out better..I'm shooting with a D90 as well.. So yeah. Hopefully this makes some sense and I hope to get some great Feedback.

As for what settings, what gear will you be shooting with? That's really just details but we could probably be more specific if we know more about what you'll be using.

It's hard to suggest specific settings because I don't look at photography as set of "recipe cards" where a bunch of predetermined settings are what's needed to get a high keeper ratio. That being said, I'd probably be in Manual with Auto-ISO. I'd want to shoot with a relatively wide focal-length which will lessen the chance of cutting off important details on the edges of the frame and will give me lots of leeway when cropping the shots in 'post. I'd want an aperture small enough to keep the entire board (from front to rear) in absolutely sharp focus but no smaller. I'd want to keep the shutter speed at 1/1000 or better though I suppose, in a pinch, I might let that drop to 1/500. Keeping to this shutter speed may very well drive up the ISO but hey, welcome to the Juggling Act that is Photography. I'd tweak these setting as needed based on results. In short none of this would be set in stone; everything about pretty much every setting I've mentioned could go right out the window based on even one tiny detail that reveals itself on location.

As far as composition goes I would be going for clean backgrounds (huge IMO), decisive-moment shots and shots showing intense effort or emotion on the skater's face. Using angles would be huuuge, getting the camera down to ground level to increase the feeling of height and excitement of the tricks, for example; though shooting from above could be just as interesting depending on the angle, location, etc. And clean backgrounds.
 

WarbirdAirbrush2

Senior Member
Welcome to the site! I have been here only a short time but it's been great.
Are the best skateboarding images an overall capture (wide angle lens, perhaps) or freezing a moment (fast shutter speed with a shallow to medium depth of field) or tying physical athleticism with an expression of concentration (or fear or elation) of the skateboarder?
The most active sport I photograph is auto racing. Panning with a relatively slow shutter speed to blur the background creates the effect of speed in the image. With the Nikon D750 set to Auto-ISO on a User setting, I can set shutter and aperture and let the camera decide the ISO. For me, this is a fantastic function. I am unfamiliar with the D90 but you may have something similar.
There's not much in this reply that you didn't know already, but welcome to the site and looking forward to your photos. And heal up quickly!
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
Welcome to the site. Depending on whether you know the skater and how good they are will in many ways dictate how close you get. For example, I shoot some BMX pro's. We know each other and I know there skills. There are times the end of my lens is within a foot of their tire. A wide angle lens gives a great look and is often desired. However, if I don't know the rider or it's a comp then I'm further back and need the ability to zoom.

Settings, wide open on your aperture to get the light in unless you're working in real close. Then I tend to be between f/2.8 and f/4.

Shutter, I like 1/1600 or faster depending on how close and the rider.

ISO ends up where it needs to be to accommodate the other two.

When able, get the face/eyes in the shot.

Look for creative setups. For example, shadows can be cool.

If you choose to do a Dutch angle on your shots then make it clear that's what you're doing and not that your shooting was lazy and had a lean.

Pay attention to the direction of the sun so you can avoid your shadow in the shot. Get low to make them higher. Try to get them to kick the caps up a little bit so you can see the face.

Sorry, I can't get to my good up close photos (not sure which drive they are on), but here are a few examples.
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22281883_1498599873562004_4662231038665887917_n.jpg
 
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