Tips, tricks and settings for shooting wakeboardin

I just picked up a Nikon D60 and am going out this weekend to ride and shoot some photos. Any pointers in terms of what settings you use while shooting from the boat would be great. What mode do you like what type of Apature do you use? I am using a 55-200mm lens with VR and have a polarized filter. Is using a mono pod worth trying in the boat or do I just need to work on stabilizing the camera to my body. Thanks in advance.

a monopod would do more harm than good. just work on keeping steady hands. when i first started shooting wake, i shot in aperture priority...still do quite a bit.

Learn how to read your light meter.

Learn how aperture will effect your photo.

Learn how shutter speed will effect your photo. (when fast or slow is appropriate)

Learn how and when to adjust your ISO.

There's no one time setting because the light levels are always changing. AP might be a place to start and I'd shoot around f/4.

You won't need a monopod for wake shots. The shutter speed should be fast enough that camera shake won't show up.

Post up your shots and lets see how you did.

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quote:

i shot in aperture priority...still do quite a bit.

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AP is a great way to go if the light is changing on you as it often does in wakeboarding.

Walt or anyone else - do you have some sites, books, or references you can suggest to learn what all that even means??

I just bought a D60 and a couple lenses..but I have no idea what I am doing. I went to the Tige pro/am and got some great pics...but many were blurry...here is one that worked though:

fredmiranda.com

Here are a couple I got at the Tige shooting in AV. It's taking a lot of time to try and figure it all out, but lots of fun.

Bill,
Your shutter speed was @ 200 and thats way to slow.

For day time action shots You should be around 1000 most of the time.

I'd start in shutter mode at 1/1000 and adjust the ISO until your aperture is floating around f5.6. If the metering is stopping it down more then f8 and you're at ISO 100 then increase the shutter speed until it's averaging f5.6-f8.

If you're shooting in bright light, want to keep the aperture wide open and your shutter is maxed out then you need to think about an ND OR CP FILTER. I don't know about everyone else but any shutter under 1/800th and you're going to start seeing some motion blur.

Some simple rules: increasing shutter speed or f stop # (aperture) decreases exposure, Increasing ISO # = increased exposure.

Randy,

Which picture style are you using?

I'd do the opposite of Rich.

If I'm not shooting on manual I prefer aperture priority for wake shots. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Rich I have no idea that's why I want to roll down and spend a day on the boat with you. The light kept changing on Sunday in Portland I think my ISO was about 400. Here is one of Chris I got at the DRA.

Randy,
You were @ ISO 400 on all three shots.

Aperture priority would of worked well for you if the light was changing all the time. Set your camera on f/4 and do work. If needed kick the ISO up.

Thanks Walt, any tip for Phoenix this weekend, bright sun and 115 degrees, I'm going to die.

Bring beer... lots of beer.

have hahn take all the pics and stay in your air-conditioned hotel room.

hmmm...that didn't sound right. i wasn't suggesting your photo skills are lacking. i was merely suggesting it's GOING TO BE HOT!!!

Walt, I usually shoot AV mode as well but for a beginner it's more important to keep the shutter up then have the aperture locked down IMHO. You obviously know how to use the ISO to keep the shutter up where it needs to be.

Randy, the reason I asked about your picture styles is it appears your shots could use a tad more sharpening either in cam or in your editor. Also that sports mode you're using is giving you faster shutter speeds then a regular metering mode but in your first 2 shots it's barely fast enough and in the shot of Chris as Walt pointed out ISO400 wasn't really needed. Although it's better (again IMO) to have a slightly faster shutter (1/1600th in this case) then not enough because ISO400 is perfectly clean on the 40D. In your first two shots f4 at ISO400 would have given you more shutter which might have helped because I'm seeing a bit of motion blur in one of those. (BTW did you get a 70-200L? if not I suppose f4 might be out the window! :-) ) That metering mode you're using appears to be locking the cam at ISO 400 and then balancing the shutter (biased towards a faster speed) and aperture. that's still leaving too much to chance.

Another thing you can't discount if you're new to all this is camera shake which is not impossible to get zoomed to 200mm or longer at anything under 1/1000th. Heck with my 400 f5.6L I can get it occasionally up to 1 / 1600th.

I wish I had the original file you took of Chris I tried tweaking yours a bit below with marginal results because one can't do much with a fully compressed jpeg.

You're right there, with just a little more control over your settings and post processing I think you'll start amazing yourself. I'm going to try and get up to Shasta in Aug when the Twelkers are there, maybe we could hook up then?

Thanks for the tips!

Randy - from the angle of all your shots, you must have been right next to me...expect mine are not quite as nice, they all look like this: