ADVENTURE AND EXTREME SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY: TIPS AND TRICKS

Extreme sports and adventure photography in general, provide us with great opportunities to obtain incredible and unique images, either for the peculiarity and impact of the sport itself, or for the beauty or peculiarity of the environment in which it happens (skydiving) , mountaineering, climbing, etc.) or by the sum of the two things. The truth is that extreme sports photography is usually almost as impressive as the sport itself, since it seeks to capture the particularity of each of these risky sports, the beauty of the environment, the difficulty, the vertigo, the speed, the force, etc. Now, it is not always easy to access these sports and not photograph them. Many of them require that the photographer be fond or very knowledgeable about the sport itself to be able to access the images (mountaineering, trekking, skydiving, etc.) and thus be able to obtain the best photographs and make the best decisions regarding the team, place and security And as difficult does not mean much less impossible, let's see a few tips and tricks to get airy in these extreme photographs .

Study the sport
Choose the material well
Settings
Choose the best place
Portray emotion
Protect your equipment and protect yourself

Let's look at each of these tips in depth.

STUDY THE SPORT

The love of sport usually leads us to want to photograph it, but it can also be the other way around. If you don't know the sport, try to find out as much as you can before launching yourself to photograph it with your camera. Knowing what you are facing will make you make the best decisions to be successful both in taking pictures and in your safety and / or comfort.

CHOOSE THE MATERIAL WELL

Choosing the material correctly and conscientiously can make the difference between obtaining great photographs or not. That is why it is so important to know what we are going to find, and what situations we will have to face once we have reached the specific place. It is important that you do not miss anything for obvious reasons, but also that you do not get over anything, since going too loaded in depending on what situations you may not be able to follow the march or access places of difficult access. So think about what you are going to take, what optics or optics are the best choice for what you are going to photograph, if you are going to need or not the tripod or monopod, if it compensates you to take the external flash, how many memory cards do you expect You may need, etc. And above all, think about your comfort and your well-being (choose footwear, clothing, protect yourself from the sun if necessary, etc.), if there is no photographer, there is no photo

Choose the material carefully

CAMERA SETTINGS

These will depend on several factors such as the speed at which the subject we want to photograph will move, if the activity is carried out in an open or closed space, on the time of day at which the action occurs, and so on.

Speed : Sports in general and extremes in particular, are usually accompanied by a good dose of speed (although not always). For this it is important that you shoot at a high enough speed so that your subject is not moved. Of course, this will depend on the speed at which the protagonist moves, but we usually talk about approximate minimum values of 1/500, always depending on the focal length you are using (the greater the focal length, the more speed we need to avoid movement).
- Sweep: You can increase the sensation of movement through techniques such as sweeping .
Aperture : As you know, the aperture regulates the amount of light we let through the lens, and at the same time the depth of field or area focused on the image. Decide if the background of your scene provides relevant information to your composition or you prefer to isolate your protagonist by blurring the background.
Continuous shooting: O number of photographs per second (fps). It is convenient in sports that contain fast scenes, that you configure the camera to shoot continuously once you press the shutter. This will make sure you don't miss any photos.
JPEG or RAW? For sports in which you expect to need a lot of speed in continuous shooting (previous point), it is advisable that you prefer to record in JPEG format, since it will give you more speed to read and store images. On the contrary, if it is not a high-speed sport (climbing, trekking, mountaineering), lean better for shooting in RAW, which will provide you with better image quality and more possibilities in post-processing.
Use the priority modes : Unless you master the manual mode perfectly, it is best to set a priority depending on the type of scene you face. This will download the technical needs a bit and you can focus on other aspects such as composition, light measurement, etc. For example, if your priority is to freeze the movement, you can set a minimum fixed speed and let the camera choose the aperture (speed priority).
Auto Focus: Unless your camera goes crazy trying to chase your protagonist without achieving it because there are too many distracting elements around (in which case I would recommend the manual mode), the best for this type of situations in which we photograph movement, is that Use an autofocus mode . An AF-C or AI Servo type approach is used to photograph moving subjects. This system will focus on what moves in front of the target and will follow up whenever we have the shutter button pressed halfway. Once we decide to take the picture, you just have to press the shutter all the way down.
Stabilizer: It is a good opportunity to activate it, since it reduces possible vibrations that can cause the image to lose sharpness.
ISO: Ideally, work with ISO at the minimum possible value to avoid noise in the image. However, we do not always have enough light or sufficiently bright targets, so the ISO can help you work at high speeds in case you need more light sensitivity.

CHOOSE THE BEST PLACE

Whenever you can, dedicate yourself to study what is the best place or places to stay, even if it is a mountain excursion. If you can go beforehand , study the route, the best frames, the light you will have, etc., you are almost assured of success. If it is not, and also everything happens fast, you do not know what you want or where to place yourself, it is likely that you will miss great images. And once you have it under control, when you are right with the material, the moment and the place, you can afford a good dose of improvisation; That is when you must allow yourself to be original , try new perspectives, new points of view, and so on.

As a general rule, the closer to the action, Once you have good and impressive close-ups, it may be interesting to add images with more angle where we can enjoy the context, as long as it accompanies it.
If you are closer to the action you can do without the telephoto lenses and shoot with shorter and brighter focal points .

Choose the best place in advance

PORTRAY EMOTION

Try to portray the emotion of the moment, the athlete, and not just the sport itself. Look for the victorious or sad faces, concentrated, of effort. Look for a message and transmit it to the viewer, make it feel the emotion of the moment, make portraits (remember to focus on the eyes) or details such as hands clinging to limestone, and so on.

Look around and don't limit yourself to the obvious. Once you have those “mandatory” images, look for other stories around your scene: Faces of expectation among the public, footprints in the snow, breathtaking landscapes, athletes anxiously waiting for their turn, relationships, and so on.

PROTECT YOUR TEAM, BUT ESPECIALLY YOURSELF

Yes, to get good images it is important to be close, and sometimes risk, but you should never compromise your integrity (more than usual) and if it can be that of your team either. Be responsible and set your own limits. I hope these tips have been helpful. If so or do you think someone else may be interested, share it . Thank you very much!