Extreme sports photography and adventure in general offer us great opportunities to obtain incredible and unique images, either for the particularity and impact of the sport itself, either for the beauty or peculiarity of the environment in which it develops (paratroopering, mountaineering, climbing, etc. ) or for the sum of the two things.
The truth is that extreme sports photography is usually almost as impressive as the sport itself, as it seeks to capture the peculiarity of each of these extreme sports, the beauty of the environment, difficulty, vertigo, speed, strength, etc.
- However.
- It is not always easy to access these sports and not photograph them.
- Many of them require the photographer to be an amateur or a very good connoisseur of the sport to be able to access the images (mountaineering.
- Trekking.
- Paratroopering.
- Etc.
- ) and thus be able to obtain the best photographs and make the best decisions regarding equipment.
- Location and safety.
And as difficult doesn’t mean anything to be impossible, let’s look at some tricks and tips to succeed in these extreme photographs.
Let’s look at each of these tips in depth
The love of sport usually lead us to want to photograph it, but it can also be the other way around, if you don’t know the sport try to find out everything you can before you start photographing it with your camera. Knowing what you’re up against will make you make the best decisions to succeed in both imaging and your safety and/or comfort.
Choosing your hardware intelligently and correctly can make the difference between getting great photos or not, so it’s so important to know what we’ll find and what situations we’ll face once we get to the right location.
It is important that you do not miss anything for obvious reasons, but also that you do not save anything, because being too busy depending on the situation can prevent you from continuing or accessing places that are difficult to access.
For this reason, think carefully about what you’re going to wear, which lens(s) is the best choice for what you’re going to photograph, whether or not you need a tripod or a monopod, whether it’s worth taking the external flash, how many memory cards you expect you might need, etc. And above all, think about your comfort and well-being (choose your shoes, clothes, protect yourself from the sun if necessary, etc. ) , if there is no photographer, no photo?
These will depend on several factors such as how quickly the subject we want to photograph will move, whether the activity is developing in an open or closed space, the time of day the action occurs, etc.
Whenever you can, study the best place or place to locate yourself, even if it is a mountain excursion, if you can go in advance, study the route, the best frames, the light you will have, etc. Success is almost guaranteed. Otherwise, and besides everything happens fast, you don’t know what you want or where to put yourself, you’re likely to miss beautiful images. And once you have it under control, when you have the right equipment, at the right time and place, you can afford a good dose of improvisation; That’s when you have to allow yourself to be original, test new perspectives, new points of view, etc.
Try to portray the emotion of the moment, the athlete, and not only the sport itself, look for victorious or sad faces, focused on effort, look for a message and pass it to the viewer, make him feel the emotion of the moment, take portraits (don’t forget to focus on your eyes) or details like hands grasping the limestone, etc.
Yes, to get good images it is important to be close, and sometimes take risks, but you should never jeopardize its integrity (more than usual) and if it can be your team’s either, be responsible and set your own limits.
I hope it helped you with this advice. If so or you think someone else might be interested, share it Thank you very much!