Hi.

This is my first post, but i have been checking out this forum for a few weeks now. I was lucky enough to use my friend's Canon 350D with Sigma 50 - 500mm lens in August, when we were in Greece. I was instantly hooked! I have always been interested in surfing and kite surfing photography, but never got a chance to try out a SLR or DSLR.

So now that I'm hooked, I'm hoping to get my own kit together in January. (A Canon 20d with a Sigma 70 - 200mm f2.8 lens). But in the meantime, I'll be logging in to the forum whenever I get a chance. I think it's great to have a forum specially for sports photography. Some of the images posted are just amazing and the forum has also been great in helping me make up my mind as to what to buy.

I posted 3 photos that I took in Greece - you'll notice that I have not done anything to them (crop, colour) as I'd like to hear what you have to say about them without trying to do anything to them.

Cheerio
jojo

Welcome, JoJo. Its great to see that you found our forum here.

I can't say that I know a lot about surfing photography, but these images look great. I especially like the first one. Great job, and welcome to the group.

Welcome JoJo,

Hmmm, I figured out right away you were in England.... "kit" gave it away ;)

Well it looks like you have a good start. Adjustments I would make on these are as follows

#1: nice composition and timing! I think I'd probably crop the person on the right out but it's not a must. A little color work, and lightening up the main person in the shot.

#2 & 3 I would have zoomed in more before taking the shot, this could have been really godd using a 500mm! Same as above on colors.

Nice start though, and variety is always good around here too! Don't get a lot of these types of photos here.

JS

Another Brit on the forum at last, welcome !

Good to see something that's not a mountain bike :)
#1 is particularly nice, although I'd crop it perhaps ot lose the bloke on the right.
The water spray is fantastic, I'm always torn between a slow exposure and a blurred wall of water, or a shorter shutter speed and seeing the droplets and patterns in the water.

The others, well the subject is a little small, were they all zoomed to 500mm?
If you'd got the same zoom on thee, they'd be much better.
I still do that with race photos, when I'm not close enough to the action I shoot anyway.

#2 is close, I think it's either too early or too late, I'd like to see him inverted if that's what he's going fo off the top of the wave.

#3 is intereting, because it's not his kite that's in the shot, I can only just make out the surfer behind him, just right of centre.

I look forward to more ...

#1 is good, but would have been better with a longer zoom or from an angle a bit more on the your right. the rest, like everyone else has said, are too far away. Try to get some more action with the surfer if you don't have interesting bg's. They need a bit of contrast, and maybe some shadow highlights. Keep shooting!

Well I would just say that some cropping is needed. You have a Kite and people that are in the back ground that really aren't apart of the shots. Other than that, they look good.

Sweet! I think these are the first kiteboard photos on this forum. I'm always psyched when someone posts some new sports on the forum. The more variety the more interesting it is. Plus, I think we all have different, sport-specific skills. I assume that we can all learn something from each other.

I've noticed a bunch of impressive sports photos taken with the 350D / Rebel XT, in the last couple of days. That camera is looking better and better.

How was the Sigma 50-500mm lens?

The Sigma 50 - 500 is a bit slow, but then again, you must forgive me as I'm a beginner, so might not be giving you accurate information!! The overall view is that it's a pretty good lens - especially for the price.

I agree with the "cropping suggestions". The kitesurfing was at a beach in Greece where it was impossible to get close to the kitesurfers. But then again, that is the overall downside of taking photos of kitesurfers. I hope to improve on this when I'm in Sydney, Australia next year. (It's now WAY too cold here for the kitesurfers - except a few crazy ones.)

I'm going to a Canon Workshop this weekend that's happening at one of the camera shops in London. I hope they are prepared, as I'm going to test their knowledge to the limit! I want to learn!!! :D

At the moment I'm torn between whether I should buy the Canon 350D or 20D, but I'm beginning to lean more towards the 350D.

Edit - I have deleted the photo, as I just checked it again and it's pretty low standard....