Gymnastics Competition - DPChallenge Forums

06/19/2005 02:41:04 AM · #1

I shot a Gymnastics competition on June 12th, and have finally gotten the majority of the good photos up online. I think I did fairly well, given what I had to work with.. but would like some opinions and critiques (or just comments) if possible. I know some of the color balances are way off, but I didn't work on these for professional reasons.. just for quick emailing to the parents.

All of these photos, except for the ones of the floor routines, were shot with the Sigma 70-300mm Macro Super II, at ISO 1600, and usually between f4 and f4.5

The floor routines were shot with a Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7 MF between f/2.4 and f/4

Gymnastics Photos

*EDIT* Oh yah.. and for many of the photos, I was a little generous with Neatimage.. please forgive me. LOL

Message edited by author 2005-06-19 02:44:54.

theskitch6

Canon EOS-600D/T3i Rebel

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

06/19/2005 02:46:11 AM · #2

I'll never understand how anyone can bend themselves like that. Even at that age.
Great shots! I'd suggest every once in a while using a slow shutter speed to catch the motion of what's going on. Give some action to the shot.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

06/19/2005 02:49:12 AM · #3

Originally posted by theskitch6:

Thanks :) I tried what you suggested for my first competition shoot, and wasn't at all happy with that effect, personally. That's why I quickened it up this time. Still, in a few you can still see a bit of motion. I still have a bunch of Bar and Vault routine shots to come, and those shot more blurred "action".

suemack

Canon EOS-20D

06/19/2005 03:35:01 AM · #4

Great shots!! How many did you end up taking over the competition? It would have been a very tough lighting situation.

bobdaveant

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

06/19/2005 08:22:55 AM · #5

Very nice shots, my daughter is a gynmast as well and the lighting is always an issue in my shots, but I am improving with better hardware etc. You should be very proud of these photos. Good luck to your daughter in her gymnastics, what level is she competing at? My daughter is at level 4 hoping to get to level 5 soon.

love

Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i

06/19/2005 08:58:48 AM · #6

I have a friend who shoots gymnastic competitions. He sets up a studio in the back room to shoot the girls either before or after the competition. He sets up two computers, has two photoshop gurus working on the images, prints and sells them on the spot...makes BUNCHES of moolah!

Message edited by author 2005-06-19 09:00:31.

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

06/19/2005 09:07:51 AM · #7

Originally posted by Artyste:

Originally posted by theskitch6:
Great shots! I'd suggest every once in a while using a slow shutter speed to catch the motion of what's going on. Give some action to the shot.

Thanks :) I tried what you suggested for my first competition shoot, and wasn't at all happy with that effect, personally.

You'll need a tripod... you want everything to be in perfect focus except the blur of the action.

One other thought... I don't know if flash was allowed, and maybe your camera can't do this, so save this idea for later: But if you can do a longer exposure with the flash going off multiple times (a strobe-like effect) then you can freeze the action multiple times in the frame (i.e. you would see 3 of the same girl as she runs and does a handstand, etc).

bobdaveant

Canon EOS-60D

06/19/2005 09:09:42 AM · #8

In every competition I have been with my daughter flash is strictly not allowed.

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

06/19/2005 10:05:32 AM · #9

Originally posted by bobdaveant:

In every competition I have been with my daughter flash is strictly not allowed.

That's what I figured... Well, you could always do the "strobe flash" at a practice one day. It's a really cool effect.

This really isn't the best example, but it's the only one I have online. Here, my boy is repeated 3 times, but this is not a "photoshop trick", he appears 3 times because the flash went off 3 times while he ran across the room. My daughter, meanwhile, was holding still reading a book.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

06/19/2005 10:34:13 AM · #10

Nice work, Arty. I'm particularly fond of "Look what I can do!", where the expression on the face of the BG girl is priceless, and the BG fabrics themselves are wodnerfully funky.

Robt.

06/19/2005 01:54:00 PM · #11

Originally posted by dwterry:

Originally posted by bobdaveant:
In every competition I have been with my daughter flash is strictly not allowed.

That's what I figured... Well, you could always do the "strobe flash" at a practice one day. It's a really cool effect.

This really isn't the best example, but it's the only one I have online. Here, my boy is repeated 3 times, but this is not a "photoshop trick", he appears 3 times because the flash went off 3 times while he ran across the room. My daughter, meanwhile, was holding still reading a book.

I don't really shoot at the practices much because they have a "no photography of children other than your own" clause, but they still make you sit in the viewing gallery, so it's almost pointless.. also.. even at practices, no flash allowed ;)
Plus, my current hardware doesn't allow strobe flash.

Nice idea though.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

06/19/2005 01:55:04 PM · #12

Originally posted by bobdaveant:

Well, she's not my daughter, just the girl I care for.. and I've been made the unofficial photographer. She's competing at what is known here as KIP2. Don't really know what KIP stands for.. this was only her second ever competition, and she's only been in Gymnastics since September of 2004!

Message edited by author 2005-06-19 13:55:38.

BlackDot

Canon EOS-20D

06/19/2005 01:55:28 PM · #13

Nice Shots there.
I worked a Rythmic competition this weekend with balls and ropes etc. Light was real crappy and so were the backgrounds. My F828 @ISO 200 is more noisy than a DSLR at 1600, so I'm putting in the order for my 350D tomorrow :)
At my wife's old club, there was a lawsuit against a photog who came onto the carpet and flashed a girl on the uneven bars. She broke her back with the fall, so yes, no flash.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

06/19/2005 01:58:05 PM · #14

Originally posted by dwterry:

Originally posted by Artyste:

Originally posted by theskitch6:
Great shots! I'd suggest every once in a while using a slow shutter speed to catch the motion of what's going on. Give some action to the shot.

Thanks :) I tried what you suggested for my first competition shoot, and wasn't at all happy with that effect, personally.

You'll need a tripod... you want everything to be in perfect focus except the blur of the action.

One other thought... I don't know if flash was allowed, and maybe your camera can't do this, so save this idea for later: But if you can do a longer exposure with the flash going off multiple times (a strobe-like effect) then you can freeze the action multiple times in the frame (i.e. you would see 3 of the same girl as she runs and does a handstand, etc).

I was on a tripod.. the issue *I* had was the fact that I couldn't get where I wanted to be for the shots. The backgrounds were terrible, there were constantly people and objects in my way, etc. We'll have to see at the next competition what it's like, and I'll keep your suggestion in mind in my set-up and see how clever I can be finding areas to shoot from without breaking the "no leaving the viewing area" rule.

BlackDot

Canon EOS-20D

06/19/2005 02:06:30 PM · #15

Oh yeah, For position, I spoke to the judges and nested myself just to the right of their table on the floor.