Sport
If you’re interested in how I process my images you might want to take a look at a 12 minute video I’ve added to my YouTube channel. I take you step by step through the Photoshop layers in working up the image below, plus some of my thinking behind why I processed it that way.
The 170kg Lift
Had a great afternoon photographing the speed skating at Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham yesterday. It’s quite a few months since I covered any significant sporting event so it was great to get the gear out & get back on the horse so to speak. Speed skaters make great subjects - colour, shape, motion it’s all there and other than it being a bit cold you’re not at the mercy of the weather. They had most of the stadium lights on yesterday (not always the case) so the light was good too. Here’s a typical one;
A behind the scenes look at how I get my squash images. Includes typical camera settings & a processing example. Photographing professional squash is frankly one of the most uncomfortable sports shoots I do, but its return for effort (in terms of producing competition images) is very good.
Back in August I spent the day photographing cross country horse jumping at Frickley Park. In an attempt to increase the impact of the image I mounted a remote camera at ground level close to the fence. This angle definitely helps to add drama I think. If you’d like to see how I did it here’s a short video;
This image was taken at the European Freestyle Championships at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, September '19. This fast-paced sport relies heavily on technique and agility as paddlers attempt to execute a variety of different tricks in a 45 second time frame. Points are awarded based on how many different spins and rotations a paddler can perform, with bonus points awarded if they are able to get out of the water and in to the air. Because they stay in one place to perform in front of a judge, it's a perfect sport for photographers to get great action shots. Here’s a short video showing the action;
Elise Christie is one of the UK’s top speed skaters & well used to winning gold medals, so I guess this one won’t mean much to her - but it does to me! It was awarded a gold medal at the 2019 Smethwick International Salon & I’m really chuffed about it. I love sports photography & speed skating is such a photogenic genre - colour, shape and grace, it’s all there.
