This is a tiny little break that is the only one in our area and very accessible so on a day like today with a big swell and bright sunshine, it gets rather busy.
The best part, for a non-surfer like me, is that the break runs nearly parallel to a sea wall, which makes watching easy and fun.
You captured a lot of detail - nice going! Iâm interested to know how you processed the image. It doesnât look overcooked at all. Did you add any ClearView Plus, microcontrast, or fine contrast?
I used my standard preset with lens sharpness +0.25 and then added a modest amount of fine contrast. I think the key ingredient was the 1/2000 shutter speed.
I love the amount of spray that can be caught. More than I really noticed at the time. This shot has a huge curtain of wind-whipped sprayâŠ
I love both of your shots. Where were they taken?
Oh, and talking of wiping out, hereâs a young woman who did it in styleâŠ
Sure, looks like it was an optimal choice, but capturing the right moment was also the key. Many such pictures Iâve seen are just boring, because thereâs nothing âspecialâ.
It seems that you didnât have to use local adjustments, because the light was so perfect?
I would use ST Shadows=-15, counteract with Midtones=+10, and perhaps use HSL on the water, raising just slightly Saturation and lowering Luminance. For my personal taste, that would make it a more tonally balanced composition, but maybe others wonât agree. I like its simplicity, composition, and dynamics.
Itâs also an example of photo where playing with Fine Contrast in Highlights can have strong effect, perhaps positive for some, negative for others (turning away attention from the main subject). Your microcontrast settings look to me like a balanced choice.
I like this second one much, though I would have cropped to remove the upper part with the shore.
Beautiful shot!
The location is Lyall Bay, right next to Wellington International Airport (which is the reason Iâm usually there â and if Iâm honest, I was that day, too).
No local adjustments, but there is some use of luminance curve to balance the colours a little to my liking.
I deliberately left that in there because it grounds the scene. Also, the fine curtain of spray blown off the top of the wave would be abruptly truncated if the shore were removed.
The bay is only about 1.2 km across and the proximity of suburbia is part of the location. Iâll see if I can dig out one of my aircraft shots where I use the bay to really set the scene that our airport is really quite central to the city.
This doesnât quite show the bits in the surfing shot, which are about a whole frame to the left, but does show just how âtightâ this area is. The surfing shots were taken from the sea wall that begins a little way to the left of the parked cars, lower leftâŠ
What lens did you use, focal length.
George
I had my 150-450 mm mounted but after trying a few close-in shots at full zoom, I preferred to pull back and get more of the wave action. Most of the keepers were around 300 mm or so, on an APS-C sensor, so 450 mm equivalent.
I asked for I tried several times to shoot kite surfing here on the Dutch coast. Mostly with my normal lens, 28-70. And a few times with the 80-200.
If you like surfing look for âNazare big wavesâ. Nazare is a place in Portugal. Depending on the whether far away there will be waves up to 30 meters.
If you want to know why Nazaré Canyon - Wikipedia.
George
These surfers were quite close. Iâve seen kite surfers in the same bay, but they tend to be quite a bit further out.
May 2020 5 kite surfers died in Holland. They got into a big layer of sea foam and couldnât get out anymore.
George
It sounds like a dangerous sport. One died in New Zealand not so long ago â picked up by a strong gust of wind and carried inland a fair distance.
