Water Skiing Tourney Photo Advice

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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
I've been asked to shoot a water skiing tournament this weekend (both days).

The one rule I'm informed of is that I can't ride in the boat, so I'll be shooting from shore. It's about 70-90 feet from where I'll shoot from to the buoys on my side of the channel.

Does anyone have any advice on how I should approach this? Any tips on photographing water skiers?
​
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
What kind of lens will you be using? I hope you have a tripod! :) What time of day?

Use a fast shutter speed (1/500th or higher,depending on speed of action), and since you'll be doing a lot of panning, try to keep it as smooth as possible. Aperture is up to you, but I would use between f/4 to f/8.
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
What kind of lens will you be using? --- I can use my 80-200 f2.8 and utilize its autofocus. I can also use my 300 f4.5 manual focus and pre-focus on a particular spot.

I hope you have a tripod! :) ---- Yes

What time of day? --- First skier in the water at 8 AM and the tourney goes all day.

Use a fast shutter speed (1/500th or higher,depending on speed of action), and since you'll be doing a lot of panning, try to keep it as smooth as possible. Aperture is up to you, but I would use between f/4 to f/8. --- I plan to use a remote trigger that I'll hold on to on the tripod head panning arm. I am hoping that I'll be able go at 1/2000 to 1/4000 all day. I want to keep my ISO as low as I can also.
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
A little while back I shot some snowboarders. The thing I learned was keep shooting after the snowboarder landed it because the wipeouts were great.
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Moab Man said:
A little while back I shot some snowboarders. The thing I learned was keep shooting after the snowboarder landed it because the wipeouts were great.
Click to expand...

Like this? Wipeout-1.jpg
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
Landing it looks cool, but crash and burn can be spectacular!

The snowboarders thought the pictures were great, but loved seeing themselves when they lost it.
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Water Ski Curtain.jpg
This shot is of my co-worker.

One of my lessons learned is that the tripod was an impediment for most of the day I was shooting at 1/2000 of a second or faster most of the time and the tripod slowed me down. I suppose that if I had a good quality video panning head on the tripod, it would have been better. But I don't and it wasn't. Most of my shots were hand-held at extremely fast shutter speeds. I did get a few shots by pre-focusing on a buoy and shooting a sequence as the skier approached and skied through the turn, but it wasn't the norm.

WM
 
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Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
The monopod would probably be great since it allows quite a bit more movement to follow the skiers and it just prevents you to have to support the whole camera lens assembly during a full day of shooting. I'd use one for sure if it was me.

​Nice shots.
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Marcel said:
The monopod would probably be great since it allows quite a bit more movement to follow the skiers and it just prevents you to have to support the whole camera lens assembly during a full day of shooting. I'd use one for sure if it was me.

​Nice shots.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Marcel.

I did have a monopod there, but couldn't get a good feel for it under the situation. I need to work on my technique for using the monopod in a fast moving sport. With time and practice, hopefully I can develop a good procedure to use.

WM
 
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donaldjledet

Senior Member
About 40 years ago My family and friends thats all we did all summer long is water ski .
With one ski and also bare footed.
Ah the good old days.
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
One thing you should look into is hyperfocal distance It really helps when you are shooting something that is fast moving and not all in the same plane. Most lenses don't have the markings on them now to help set this but there is a iPhone app that will help you set it. DOFMaster
 
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Kodiak

Senior Member
Hi everyone,

Some time ago, I was taking pictures for a press agency of an international (European)
water skiing competition.

I had all the shots I needed, including those of the favourite runner, and I went home not
knowing that the runner was killed before the end of his round for the championship. While
all the press was logically present to cover the events, I was already in the office of the
chief-editor. He heard of the news and had an idea for the front page of the next edition
(and I'm still not aware of the situation!). He told me all about it and explained me his
vision of the 1st page title and a photo from last year…

"Listen, I said, let me remove the runner from this shot and…
Great idea! …just do it and quick…

As I was doing the work, I thought of a quote to put there or something. This quote from Lennon
he accepted but not that I put his name; he hated him deeply!

So this is the picture of the front page as it was published (without the ©).

View attachment 44645
 
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RogerThat99

Senior Member
I shoot a lot of boat racing. I have also found a tripod to be more of an impediment than a help. I usually just shoot hand held, but sometimes use a monopod.
 
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donaldjledet

Senior Member
Kodiak said:
Hi everyone,

Some time ago, I was taking pictures for a press agency of an international (European)
water skiing competition.

I had all the shots I needed, including those of the favourite runner, and I went home not
knowing that the runner was killed before the end of his round for the championship. While
all the press was logically present to cover the events, I was already in the office of the
chief-editor. He heard of the news and had an idea for the front page of the next edition
(and I'm still not aware of the situation!). He told me all about it and explained me his
vision of the 1st page title and a photo from last year…

"Listen, I said, let me remove the runner from this shot and…
Great idea! …just do it and quick…

As I was doing the work, I thought of a quote to put there or something. This quote from Lennon
he accepted but not that I put his name; he hated him deeply!

So this is the picture of the front page as it was published (without the ©).

View attachment 44645
Click to expand...

​ Yes Lennon had some great ideas its sad he left us so early in Life.
 
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donaldjledet

Senior Member
Also was just thinking what if?
What if the court of Appeals hadn't
overturned the deportation of John Lennon
for marijuana conviction in britain.
He could very well still be living.
 
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