I went back to the indoor skate park that I shot in a week or so ago. This time I decided to rely on my flash for my main lighting instead of trying to use it for fill flash. I had to pay close attention to my distance and adjust the FEC accordingly. I shot in RAW and made some small adjustments in Camera RAW and then did noise reduction and sharpening in PS. C&C always welcome.

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate4.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate5.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate6.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate7.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate8.jpg

good, but watch your focus and sharpening. don't overdo it. one thing to consider instead of just flashing the crap out of the subjects is to set the camera is either first or second curtain (whichever you prefer) then slow your shutter speed to something that will give you blur. still shoot with the same power on the flash, maybe a bit less. you'll get something with a lot more motion blur, but still maintain the original shape and detail of the rider. It is a very cool look, try it out.

Yeah I'm practicing keeping the focus point on the rider. It's easier with my 28-135 as I can shoot tighter and I find that makes it easier to keep the fous point on them. Last time I shot with my 50 f1.8, but I couldn't get close enough so the rider was a bit small in the viewfinder which made it hard to keep the focus point in them. I was going to try some with a slow shutter, but then I got distracted by some of the riders with the stunts they were doing and forgot. I'll definitely try that next time. Some of my friends are riding there so I'll be shooting there a fair amount this Winter. When it comes to sharpening I have a hard time knowing when it's too much. How about this one?

http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate9.jpg

I love #2. She looks like she has great height.. WOW... Love them.. I don't know editing very well so I cannot comment on that, but the action is great...

the sharpening looks a bit too much. try toning down your radius and playing with the amount and threshold. you want to avoid haloing, as it is the telltale sign of over-sharpening.

OK. I don't know what you mean by haloing. Could you tell me where you see that in mine?

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=sharpening

So then if I understand what you're talking about, in #7 the slight white at the bottom of the rider's t-shirt and on his sleeve is a sign of over sharpening? Is this better?
http://home.comcast.net/~tadrscin/skate16.jpg

yes, that is better. you didn't have much haloing as it was, I'm just giving you somethin to think about when PPing.

OK, thanks for the tips. Is this something that is more prevelant when using a flash? I looked at my cyclocross photos again and I don't see any haloing at all, but I do in several of the photos I posted in this thread.

hmm, not entirely sure. it may be, just being caused by the big difference between the brightness of your subject and the darkness of the background, and when you sharpen that line, it tends to just pop out a bit more. that may be the case, but I'm not entirely sure. sharpening according to the specific photo is also important, because some photos can use a bit more/less than others, and there's really no perfect blanket sharpening for all the images.

OK. I'm going back there tonight and shoot some more. I'm gonnna try some with a slow shutter, panning and even zooming to see what sort of interesting shots I can get.