How I Shot That - Skating in Riedell Boots
 |
| Similar Riedell Motion Boots - http://amzn.to/2CGzq6s Shot with Sony 50mm f/1.8 - http://amzn.to/2FmZ82E Camera is Sony a6000 - http://amzn.to/2ELLKIr Buy this photo here |
Figure skating is in general a difficult sport to photograph. You will have fast moving people travelling in a low light environment. If that isn't enough to make you think twice about shooting professionally, then the ice is going to mess with your light meter. If you don't know better, then your meter will tell you there is enough light, when in fact, there isn't.
Product photography hasn't been what I was after, but I do like to get the details. A few great photographers have always said, "Get your wides, the mediums, your close ups, and your details." I find this to be great advise. As a photographer, you need to be considering the entire canvas... then remove what you don't want (I think that goes against those 360 Virtual cameras, but I digress). Figure skating and sports in general is no different.
This is an exercise in finding that detail shot. It is also an exercise in finding out how to be different, or to stand out. So often, I find photos online of figure skaters twirling, jumping, being tossed by a pairs partner and so forth. But ask any skater what item they care about the most, and you will undoubtedly find it being their skates. I know, duh! To underscore this, my wife has ornament upon ornament of ice skates for a Christmas tree.
That is what inspired me to get down low while at a high school figure skating team practice. I wanted that product type of photo of one of the skater's skates. Obviously, this was melding two types of photo styles: Product and Action. Normal product photography gets everything in a controlled environment. People get together to have lights just right, place the products ever so still, and make sure that the smoothest and most detailed photo possible could be made.
Action on an ice rink makes that impossible, unless you have rented the rink and no one else is skating. Nonetheless, my goal was to have some movement. I wanted that skate to show it was in use. My plan was to wait by the coach near the boards. Eventually one of these kids were going to come near by to talk to her.
Let the waiting game start.
But while I was waiting, I needed to find what settings would work. Usually, I photograph a skater at 1/500 or 1/750 a second. While fast, even at this shutter speed, you can find motion blur with a figure skater. My ISO was lowered from 1600 down to 1000 while increasing my aperture from 1.8 to 2.4. The 1.8 to 2.4 was needed so that I had a better depth of field. Normally, with the 50mm on a figure skater, they are far enough that f1.8 isn't a problem. Actually, normally, that lets in all that more light so the photo doesn't need to be higher than 1600 iso (it makes for a less grainy photo, compared to higher ISO numbers).
I found I had the frame speed I needed at 350th a second. Enough to freeze the photo of a slower moving skate of a subject talking to the coach. I probably took about 10 shots trying to get this one that I liked the most. The skater was stopped, but they had just barely put their right boot and blade on the ice. You can tell this skate is used. You can also tell it isn't damaged, so it is cared for.
