[LRflex] Re: Speed Skating Photos...

Ted wrote:


Good morning David,
Well done mon ami! Particularly with the head-on photos of the skaters coming right at you. Certainly if these are manual focus? Which I believe them to be?
Sad to say, Ted, but these were all hand-held, AF shots.... nearly all with the Olympus 50~200 f2.8-3.5 zoom. A very nice lens, for the purpose. I was particularly impressed with the speed and accuracy of the Oly's AF system and of it's IS system.
Last year, I used the 80~200/f4 Vario-Elmar on a Canon 30D, and although I did OK, I got a far higher percentage of "keepers" with the AF system.
One thing I don?t see is any indication of speed? Yep I know they?re probably going like a ding-bat outta hell and they speak well of your ability to hand focus and shoot and keep them sharp. However?.. ?It?s Speed Skating!? May I ask why you wouldn?t shoot some on the straightaway doing a ?swishy pan? as they blew by you?
I didn't shoot any "swishy pans", as you like to call 'em, because I was trying to get the faces, for the club members. For this, you get the best shots as they come through the corners, as they have quite a lean - though that depends on their speed. Shots taken on the straight-away have little impression of speed, other than in a "swishy pan".
But then you know all this. And you did shoot a few like it but they didn?t quite work. Right? Or you?re saving them to blow everyone away!
Sorry, Ted. No such shots on that day! :-( I have done "swishy pans" at the rodeo, but none of the speed skaters. Perhaps, next year!
Apart from that, they?re a fine collection of good photographs which I?d imagine would be a few local sales by the competitors.
Thanks! I liked 'em, too. Particularly the ones on the bottom row, in the falling show. (I was impressed that the snow did not affect the AF, at all!)
But dang that?s outside in the dead of winter and colder than a hooker?s heart on a Saturday night standing in the snow and wind! J It?s all yours mon ami, all yours! J No matter how good the photos look it?s still all yours!
That's why they invented "long johns" and "shirt Johns" (which is what our 5 yr old grand-daughter calls a turtle-neck sweater)!
Naw I?ve done my time on winter sports, now if they had speed skating in Hawaii? Please, do call. I?ll be your assistant! 

Y'know, they do most speed skating indoors ... Hawaii is a possibility! :-)

Thanks for looking.

Cheers!

---

David Young,
Logan Lake, CANADA

Limited Edition Prints at: www.furnfeather.net
Personal Web-site at: www.main.furnfeather.net

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