So you wanna be a surf photographer.......? Part I

Tips & tricks on how to get the best from your camera and one step closer to capturing competition winning surf shots.

Over the course of the next few months Surfing Atlas image consultant and photographer Matt Smith of Crystalbluephotography.com will be explaining the secrets behind getting professional looking surf imagery. Starting this month with the basics he will move on to looking at both pre and post capture techniques in coming months including how to work with light, lens selection and PhotoShop classes in optimising your surfing shots.

Part I Know the basics

Okay, first of all let’s get one thing straight, getting great surf images doesn’t have to mean remortgaging the house or getting a hefty bank loan to purchase the very latest high end digital imaging gear to get good shots. Many of the digital cameras on the market today are well within most people’s budget are quite sufficient for producing great results, surf photography is more about location and timing and thinking outside the box to get new and interesting results and doesn’t always revolve around getting the latest hot grom deep in an Indo barrel. A little imagination and technical skill can get you on track to producing some great atmospheric shots of your local break. Here are my top 5 tips to separate your shots from the pile.

Tip 1 – Composition

As mentioned above, it doesn’t matter what photography gear you may or may not own, or how many megapixels you have to your name, bells and whistles don’t make a great photographer – but an eye for composition does. Believe it or not there is a very simple rule to composition and if you live by it, it’ll get you through a whole heap of photographic situations and get you bagging great shots. It’s not a secret rule closely guarded and in fact it is very simple – it’s called the rule of thirds.

At this point I’ll refer you to the image below; you will notice it has been divided by three “imaginary” lines that cut the image into three both horizontally and vertically. Where these lines intersect is the “sweet spot” in most compositional situations. Here’s why, when shooting a subject it seldom looks visually pleasing bang in the middle of the picture, place it on one of these four intersection points, and your subject instantly looks more eye catching. Similarly place a horizon or dominant edge on either the top third or bottom third line to make the image less boring and more dynamic. It sounds simple but until pointed out it may not be that obvious, try it and see. Now you will start to notice this is the case in many successful images you view.

In this shot of my local beach I chose to place the stick on the lower left third intersection and the dominant horizontals of the dark wave lines on the top third horizontal line to improve the impact of the image. Do you agree this looks better than if the stick were central and the waves running across the middle of the shot?

Tip 2 - Angles

It’s all in the angles! Look for interesting angles that you think may not have been shot from before, this may involve walking around to the other side of the cove or climbing a tree and don’t be afraid to lay on the ground too for that ultra low dynamic look. This will possibly get you funny looks from passersby, as well as a winning shot. Look to frame your fav wave through tree branches or breaks in rock formations to add foreground interest, this acts to naturally focus the viewers attention on the focal point of the image, your wave, and fills in otherwise uninteresting open expanses of water. Or maybe take a few steps back and use people as your foreground frame fillers.

Alternatively look for background detail to add interest to your shot, high cliffs are a good example, if possible position yourself and use them as a backdrop for a more unique shot.

However you choose to compose your shots always remember to get that horizon straight. It may sound like a school boy error but it always amazes me how many shots you see with wonky skylines, it doesn’t take much thought!!

Using cliffs as a back drop accentuated the colour of the water here and lift the lip spray for a more 3 Dimensional image.

It sounds simple but too many people hop out of the car in the car park, grab a quick shot and suit up and hit the surf without really thinking about the image they are capturing. This results in thousands of identical shots of the same break.

Here instead of hopping onto that rock ledge and walking up to the water’s edge I decided to hang back and use the bike and foreground rocks to add interest to the image, which almost tells us a story, the grommet heading to the surf on his bike?

Tip 3 - Lighting

Lighting can make or break a great surf image and it’s a waiting game!! It may cost you a few waves but it can be well worth it when you get that shot. The best time for good, atmospheric photography is morning or evening, the golden hours. This is when the sun is low creating great shadows, rays of warming light and fully saturated colours. Midday sun has its uses when shooting faster action based shots but it lacks character. So get up early and stay until the final rays have gone in the evening. When you’ve found your spot to shoot from hang around taking multiple shots as that sun rises, you’ll be amazed how many variations you can get of the same scene in just a few minutes as the light changes, especially on cloudy and stormy days. Wait for the sun rays to penetrate the clouds and use them in your shot for interesting skies. Such a simple factor can turn a “so what” shot into a competition winner.

Shooting early gave this image its golden character and the moody sky and light rays added detail and interest, but I had to wait for it!!

The low angle of sunlight helped pick out the detail in this wave and lifted the highlights of the spray.

Tip 4 – Lifestyle

Lifestyle is a pretty loose term really; I guess I’m kind of using it in the sense of photographing people going about their business at your local break, in a photographically suitable manner. Using the human element in your surf scenes can be a great way to improve the composition and impact of the image. There are two ways you can do this, you can either set up a posed shot using your surf buddies, or usually more naturally looking, shoot them candidly – without them knowing – by stepping back from the group and just people watching, waiting for them to arrange themselves into naturally great shot. You can also shoot complete strangers and get some great results but in this day in age that should be done with caution and be sympathetic to your subject.

On this particular morning the sky had a great stormy look to it over the line-up and I spotted these two guys milling around so I waited to see what happened. They automatically arranged themselves into this shot without any direction from me and I couldn’t resist the shot. I don’t think they know this shot even exists – thanks guys!!! But as mentioned, be sympathetic and careful who you do shoot.

This is another example of a grabbed candid lifestyle shot. In this instance I saw the girl in the foreground walking to the surf and the guy in the background exiting and just waited until both were in frame. The guy in the background aids composition and adds balance and depth to the image. Without him I probably wouldn’t have considered shooting the picture.

Tip 5 – Props

Ok your local break is devoid of people and you have no mates. Don’t worry; there is always something you can do to spice up your shots. Try including your car, pushbike or your surfing hardware – your surfboards. There are a million things you can do with these basic objects to create shots to be proud of – it just takes a little imagination.

With prop shots as well as any other type of shot you might be taking, before pressing the shutter button think – composition, composition, composition – look around inside the frame of your viewfinder, again make sure the horizon is straight, make sure the is nothing encroaching in your picture i.e. girlfriends foot, mates/your own shadow etc, Does the sunset need to be in the middle of the frame or would it look better higher? Or lower in the view finder? Just take a few seconds to review your image before you take it and think how you can improve it, do this and you’re on your way to award winning shots.

This shot was taken upon arriving early at a local break and discovering the surf wasn't up to much but the light was awesome - so the board came out anyway - every cloud and all that!! By positioning myself low to the sand and rotating the camera through 90 degrees i was able to get both the board and some of that great sky in. Fine adjustment to my positioning enabled me to get the suns reflection onto the gloss hull of the board and wetting the board added texture in the form of water droplets and bam!! A little thought led to a great shot.

So next time you’re down your local break just think of these five golden tips you’ve read about and go and get some great shots. Then send them in, we’d love to see them here at Surfing Atlas or even enter our photographer shootout competition running on the news articles page.

Next time we’re getting technical!!