Skimboarding mini-sequence

[Photo Kap]

Here's a mini-sequence of my friend alex skimboarding

[SmartWombat]

The middle shot has the best action for me, caught the spray well there.
I would take a little bit off the bottom, I wish you'd shot it a little higher actually.
There is a little more spray higher up that escaped you.

Are you manual focussing ?

[Photo-John]

Those are sweet. I like both the first and second one. But I'd crop them both tighter and move your buddy out of the middle so the composition follows the rule of thirds. For photos like this I often Iike to put the rider on the right side of the photo and let the spray cover the other two-thirds. But I always avoid having my main subject right in the middle.

Why don't you tell us about how you shot these? What kind of gear, how far away were you, what focus technique, etc. I'm sure there are others here who'd like to know. Technically these are excellent. The only place I can see room for improvement is composition.

[jacobovs]

I love the first two but especially the second. You got that great swirl of the water. Can anyone figure out why the black of his wetsuit looks odd. I kind of like having the frozen curl on the right even though it breaks the rule of thirds. Nice catch!

[Photo Kap]

Thanks for the comments

The middle shot has the best action for me, caught the spray well there.
I would take a little bit off the bottom, I wish you'd shot it a little higher actually.
There is a little more spray higher up that escaped you.

Are you manual focussing ?

Yea, I see what you mean about missing that extra spray, but usually when I shoot skimboarding, I try to focus mainly on the rider and the wave, the spray is usually after those on my priorities list. But I see how that could make it a better shot.

I manually focus sometimes with skimming, but usually I just use auto focus because skimming happens so quickly and it's hard for me to keep the focus perfect. For these ones, I was shooting auto

Those are sweet. I like both the first and second one. But I'd crop them both tighter and move your buddy out of the middle so the composition follows the rule of thirds. For photos like this I often Iike to put the rider on the right side of the photo and let the spray cover the other two-thirds. But I always avoid having my main subject right in the middle.

Why don't you tell us about how you shot these? What kind of gear, how far away were you, what focus technique, etc. I'm sure there are others here who'd like to know. Technically these are excellent. The only place I can see room for improvement is composition.

I see what you mean, how the rule of thirds could make these types of shots better. I'll keep that in mind next time I'm shooting. Thank you But for this sequence, in that second picture I was more worried about getting the breaking wave to the left of my buddy (right when looking at the picture). I guess I could have caught it all if I zoomed out a bit, but I'll remember that next time.

My setup: Nikon D40x with my 55-200 VR, which I love and use for any long range action. I was using auto focus, so nothing fancy there. And these were handheld, as are all of my skimboarding shots. I never use extra support, just because skimming happens on shore, very quickly, and I can get close enough (usually anywhere between 10 to 50 feet away, depending on where the skimmer runs off to) to where I can support the camera myself.

[SmartWombat]

If you're using AF then for composition you're going to have to use the corner AF points.
It is different at first to pan and keep the subject out of the centre of the picture.
My main problem was in low light, it was hard to get focus.
The centre AF point is more sensitive, and on some models, faster.

It can be tricky if you have to shift focus point quickly as the action changes.
I've set up my Canon with a single button return to centre AF point if I'm in a hurry.

I really like the 20D joystick AF point selection, rather than the 1D two-dial method.
But I still can't remember which way to turn the dials after 3 years.

[Photo Kap]

If you're using AF then for composition you're going to have to use the corner AF points.

Ok, I'll keep that in mind and test it out next time I'm at the beach. Thanks for all the advice