Sorry, couldn't help myself - pics for 3rd ave folks on 7.15

[TwoZeroWest]

A few new (to me only, I'm sure) faces on the bay today.

...and some old hands (you know who you are).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twozerowes ... 410856187/

Enjoy the pics!

TZW

[Fassn8]

TZW,
More great pics! One thing I think is cool to see is the "full sequence" of shots for a particular jump or trick. Meaning, I assume you have many more shots of each rider before and after the ones you've posted showing their approach and landing/crash. Often times this is not only fun to see, but can be very helpful to riders trying to dial in a particular trick. Many magazines go a step further and stitch the photos together into one image (Thats a LOT of photoshop work getting the layers and masks correct). Anyway, I realize posting more photos means more work, but perhaps something to keep in mind for future shoots. Just a thought and certainly not criticism.

Thanks again!

PS. Be careful. If you start hanging out at 3rd ave too much you may start kiting and well... then you'll be totally addicted like the rest of us. :)

[TwoZeroWest]

Thanks for your thoughts. You're saying what I've been thinking - and seeing elsewhere.

I've not had a chance to investigate how to create the stitched sequences but I have a friend up in Portland who's done it and could probably give me a few pointers. And you're right, I could post a lot more sequences as individual frames so that the "performers" can see what's right and what's wrong with their technique on a particular trick. That's actually a pretty good plan but to tell the truth I'm still trying to dial in the best way to utilize my equipment to get the best shots. It's also probably something that oughtta be up on THIS site in the gallery area. I'll keep it in mind as a place to expand into.

One thing I will say is that stitching a sequence together means that it needs to be a landscape sort of shoot - panning across the water at somewhat of a distance from right to left or left to right. There needs to be some room around the kiter to work with in doing the stitch. The way most tricks are performed at 3rd Ave is that the kiter approaches the shoreline (and the lenses of waiting shooters), lifts off and then arcs by to a landing 50'-100' away. To get a sequence that can be stitched the trick should be performed at a more or less uniform distance from the camera and in a straight line rather than the inbound/outbound way they typically occur at the point. Tricks could be executed off the end of the point parallel to the shoreline either in the "lagoon" or on the bay side of the point to accomplish this.

The most spectacular sorts of shots would be taken around golden hour - the hour before sunset - with the kiter traveling into the sun. Thus off the point and running from the bridge towards the airport would produce stunning pics. In another month the sun will set at a time when this light would be available at about the time most folks' would have warmed up and performance would be peaking. In short, a month from now is going to literally be the best time of the year to get these kinds of shots at 3rd Ave.

WRT becoming addicted, I understand completely. There are more than a few things in life like that - I got lucky and turned both of mine into professions - the flying being the full-time gig right now. With the wife out of work I can't afford to spend the cash to begin and to be honest I'm a little afraid of exactly what you foresee if I were to start. It'd sure be nice to try it one day. Perhaps...


Thanks for the input! I'm a sponge - just taking it all in.

TZW

[windhorny]

Now i dont know this for sure but there cant possibly be a happy ending to this picture.

[ramsey]

nonsense, I land all my tricks. :)

It was nice having an almost exclusive photo sesh yesterday. not too many people at the point. Hey TZW, feel free to yell at me to move away from the camera. Be glad to help out to make a better shot. I was wondering if i came to close and it looks like in some pics i sure did.

Thanks for taking the shots. Always nice to see cameras at the point.

[TwoZeroWest]

nonsense, I land all my tricks. :)

It was nice having an almost exclusive photo sesh yesterday. not too many people at the point. Hey TZW, feel free to yell at me to move away from the camera. Be glad to help out to make a better shot. I was wondering if i came to close and it looks like in some pics i sure did.

Thanks for taking the shots. Always nice to see cameras at the point.

Thanks. I'm not quite ready to start telling you guys what to do. I need to learn more about what's possible before I start asking for specific stuff. As I get a better sense of this we should probably open a discussion about how to get the best images. I'm learning a lot.

There are other shots I'd like to get using other lenses, but I'm working on getting a good portfolio of the folks who come out to play first. I'm learning what different people know how to do, what they seem to like to do, and what they might be willing to try on a lark.

Thanks for being a willing subject - even if it wasn't always pretty!

TZW

[TwoZeroWest]

An as for the shot above, this is the entire sequence ...

Only one person knows for sure whether this hurt or not - and he may be a liar :)

Note: I had the wrong series up at first. This is the right one.