Water is proving to be very much my theme so far this year,
as my last few photography events have been very much that.
Last week I photographed the Oceania/ NZ Olympic qualifiers in
canoe slalom at the Wero white water park in Auckland.
This weekend, just a short 2 hour drive south of
Auckland, to Lake Karapiro, photographing the NZ GT “Hydro Thunder” Speed boat and
Hydroplane races.
As this is my second year photographing this event, I had
good prior knowledge on where to position myself. However, unlike last year,
the weather was a tad varied with some early overcast clouds, but eventually clearing
up late afternoon to clear blue skies.
Some of the challenges you can face with water based events
are generally around how your camera will react to rapid variations in lighting
created by water reflections, and in most cases sharp contrasts between your subject
and the surroundings.
First up.... a few test shots.
The histogram was showing more of a shift towards the highlights
(brightness) . So I dialed back my exposure by 1.5 stops. Then I increased my
ISO to 400 so I had the luxury of shooting much higher shutter speeds.
Just as well considering most of the speed boats where
capable of 180km/h plus.
I then gave some consideration to the white balance settings
and the metering modes. I decided to go with Cloudy initially due to some
pending rain clouds early morning then migrated to Auto as the day started to
unfold.
I also opted for Centre point average for metering, whilst
ensuring my focus points (9pt) would be fixed on my subjects.
I also noted that the big boats (Hydroplanes) created an amazing
wake behind them. One of the team technical guys had said that at full speed
the spray can go as high as 5 meters. Valuable knowledge and just as well I had
a second camera so I made sure that I had good coverage for all compositions.
So the results…….Not bad and I’m happy with the outcomes considering
the variable weather conditions, and as always I constantly reviewed my images throughout
the day making slight changes to White balance and exposure times.
Your camera’s histogram can be your friend so learn how to
interpret and understand this key part of your camera. Happy clicking.
Technical Stuff (Averages across the day)
F4.5 - 5.0
ISO 400
Focal Length (varied) 350mm - 600mm
Shutter Speed 1/300 - 1/2000
Variable White Balance.
Image Gallery
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