Big White - Swoard day 2

[philw]

Here are some shots from last Friday at Big White. This is Larry McGraw during his second day on a new Swoard. There are images where he's much closer to the snow but it seems I prefered the look of the more upright stance in choosing these.

http://philwigglesworth.net/images/calendar/2010/january/larrym/971804928.jpg

http://philwigglesworth.net/images/calendar/2010/january/larrym/971804940.jpg

http://philwigglesworth.net/images/calendar/2010/january/larrym/971804961.jpg

http://philwigglesworth.net/images/calendar/2010/january/larrym/971804976.jpg

http://philwigglesworth.net/images/calendar/2010/january/larrym/971804980.jpg

http://philwigglesworth.net/images/calendar/2010/january/larrym/971804901.jpg

http://philwigglesworth.net/images/calendar/2010/january/larrym/971804915.jpg

[Willow 15]

Nice photo,s Phil, now you need to come back to UK and get some carving pics in Scotland and Pennines while the snow is still here!

[Jack Michaud]

Great shots! This is what I wanted to see in this forum! Camera? Nice exposure.

[philw]

...now you need to come back to UK and get some carving pics in Scotland and Pennines while the snow is still here!
Well I did that, but there's no snow here (Cambridge). And my gear needs washing & waxing.... but I'm sorry I missed all that.


The camera was the 5D Mk2 which is ok and the AF is fast enough if you help it a bit. I've 1-series cameras as well and they don't' seem significantly better for snowboarding. The lens for this was the 24-70.

I'd not shot with Larry before so we were kind of working out what works. the white jacket works better than I'd expected. You need to get close with that lens which takes a bit of practice.

[Jack Michaud]

Nice. I will be shooting at the ECES, and I was thinking I'd bring my 1D Mk IIN, but maybe I should take my 5D Mk II instead? I have a 24-70, 70-200/4LIS, and a 100-400L. I'd rather not bring everything. Your thoughts?

What do you mean by "helping" the AF? Turning on the assist points?

[philw]

Mmm... well I'd take two bodies anyway, just in case one doesn't work of if I break it.

I found longer lenses (I used to have a 100-400 and I have a 300 f/2.8) great for shooting races where you can't get close, so you can get people full-frame and sharp and all that. Those shots are ok but they seldom show any context - the background's not easy to include. So I try to go as wide as I can now, except that means you need to work with good riders. In fact the better the rider (and the better I know them) the wider I tend to go, because I can get closer.

On the other hand the guys shooting punters at heli/ cat operators will go long, because they don't want to get taken out by someone who overestimates their ability. I try to talk with people I've not ridden with before so they know what works, and I try to get them to ride safely.


This trip I carried a 24-70, a 14mm II and a 15mm fish. I'll be selling the Fish once I get around to it as the 14mm works just as well and is sharper/ faster to focus. I left the longer stuff at home as I knew I had only freestyle competitions to shoot, not races. It's tricky... with your options, I guess if you take the mid-range 24-70 and the 100-400 you'd be covered..




What do you mean by "helping" the AF? Turning on the assist points?
Well with all those lovely focus points I had hoped that the AF would be smart enough to distinguish "rider" from "trees" or "snow", but in fact it can't and perhaps that's not surprising. Hence I end up using mostly the middle focus point, as in practice it's hard to switch it around much whilst someone's riding past. So I like having a lot of pixels as probably the bottom third of the frame is not going to be doing much a lot of the time. So I "help" the AF by sticking the red square on the rider, and also pre-focussing with it if I know they're about to appear off something. I found I had to do the same thing with the 1-series bodies - otherwise it's just too unreliable.


Oh, I took some "follow cam" video with the 5D2 also, which at a quick look is better than I'd expect.

I'll be interested to see shots from the ECES. Two years back I shot some stuff at the "Freecarving Masters" thing over here - those were 300/ f2.8 shots as I had no accreditation and they didn't know me. So most of the competition shots are just rider against white. Next time I'll try to get some better access, tell them how I need them to ride, and perhaps we can get some rider + scenery shots.

[Jack Michaud]

Thanks for your insight. Here are some shots from the last ECES:

http://jmphotocraft.smugmug.com/Snowboarding/ECES-2008

My file names start with jm_... and were taken with my old 30D and 70-200/4LIS. The ones that start with Stowe... were taken by another shooter with a D300 and 70-200/2.8VR.

[philw]

Looks good - a mixture of light there. I used to wear black jackets myself until I saw how well they don't work in photographs. I'd like to see more backgrounds myself there too: you can see the effect of the longer lenses. Perhaps that's just a bee in my own bonnet.

[Jack Michaud]

I agree on the black jackets and the lack of backgrounds. I think some kind of background or trail edge is necessary - all white is just bad, but where we were shooting there wasn't much background worth capturing. We will try for a more picturesque shooting location and angle this time!

[philw]

Yeah the ones with the trees look good.

I think the straight "rider on white background" shot is a sort of good starting point: you have to get those exposed correctly and sharp, then you can worry about including something interesting in the frame too. I think it's easier with good riders who you know, or who are used to being shot.

[0815-fahrer]

Two years back I shot some stuff at the "Freecarving Masters" thing over here - those were 300/ f2.8 shots as I had no accreditation and they didn't know me. So most of the competition shots are just rider against white. Next time I'll try to get some better access, tell them how I need them to ride, and perhaps we can get some rider + scenery shots.


Hi Phil,

first of all: the pictures you had taken at the first FCM 2 years ago were awesome, unreal, not from this world... absolutely the best I´ve ever seen.


Maybe we should get in touch on this topic. You can probably forget the competition itselves, but for a planned freecarving-photosession there probably will be some volunteers that skillfully can drive their beloved stick as close as you want them to.
There is just one catch,... the FCM is a non profit game. The organizers work their asses off, but do not (want to) earn a penny, nickel or dime. Neither the helpers or whoever. This is pure ideology.

Please PM me over the FB-Forum, if the idea is correct, and pray for some decent Snow in May :biggthump

cheers
Eric

[philw]

Hi Eric,

I'll get in touch. I have a new German car which I quite fancy driving to the alps so maybe we can get some more shots there.

[nils]

great pics :)
Hope Larry likes his ride !
Phil > if you happen to drive by Lyon on your way to the alps, stop by so I can let you try a Dual and one of my Swellpanik swallowtails !

Would love to see examples of the 5D HD film ability too

Nils

[philw]

noooo... if I see you having fun on those I may have to change religion.... ;-)
Thanks - I may get in touch.

Larry loved the board as far as I could tell. It really was his second day on it so he was just working on switching styles, but he was having a ton of fun on it pretty much straight out of the box.

I shot some 5D2 video but I've not had time to look at it just yet - I'll post anything if it's not garbage.