Swim meet, first timer

[tonylarcombe]

Hi,

 

I've just been given the opportunity of photographing a kids swim

meet next month. I've got a 20D and 17-40L, 70-200L f4.0 and 580EX.

 

This is a new area for me, any suggestions or helpful hints would be

greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Tony.

[tomweis]

<p>I don't know where you live, but if it's cold outside, put your gear in plastic bags

before going to the natatorium as the humidy will condense on a cold camera. At the least

this would fog the lens, and at most short out the electronics. Allow a good 30 minutes or

more for the camera & lenses to warm up before taking them out of the bags.</p>

<p>I'd not use the flash. It will irritate the coaches and swimmers. Just set your ISO to

1600 or 3200 and shoot with your telephoto at the fastest shutter speed you can. Head-

on shots of the butterfly are great, side shots of the breast stroke are good.</p>

<p>Check to see if there are any viewing windows under the pool. Those can be fun.</p>

<p>As with any gym space, mercury vapor lamps may flicker and cause your white

balance to be different in different shots. I don't think there's much you can do for that

even if you set a custom WB.</p>

[nigel_keene]

Hi Tony

 

Yes some usefull tips above and I would agree no flash, if it is a competitive gala. Shoot using the lenses you have wide open. Agree Butterfly head on, but Breaststroke is also good head on if you have an agressive swimmer. Backstroke pushing away from the wall can also work quite well. Plus any starts/finishes. Dont forget the round the pool action too, reaction of coaches etc. The previous post mentioned WB and he is absolutely right I found it a nightmare but if all else fails a neat trick in Photoshop though is to go to match colour click neutralise and then re adjust luminance etc.

[don_james]

How old are the kids?

How is the lighting (the light level at a typical meet I attend is dismal; only the large venues are well-lit)?

[John Crowe]

Use your flash! Do not take shots at the start of the heat because the timing staff start there watches from a strobe burst. If there are signs that say no flash or the officials ask you not to use it then certainly abide by their rules. Fill flash will make the skin tones more natural, because without flash and even with white balance you are still going to get dreadful tones under those lights. The flash will also bring the water alive and give beautiful colours reflecting the liner colour. My daughter often notices the flash while swimming but it does not distract her and the other competitors on her team have not complained.<div></div>

[John Crowe]

One more note. Your 580 EX flash range has a few more feet than my flash, so with an f4 lens you're probably still looking at ISO 400 with flash. Without flash and still approximately 1/200 to stop the action you're looking at ISO 1600 or higher if your 20D has it. Of course all this assumes the swimming pool is indoors, I kinda take that for granted living up here in Canada! The picture I posted is cropped about 4x so don't worry too much about not filling the frame if you can't get close enough. If you're on deck you're laughing. Take a spare camera battery, flash batteries, and more than 1 GB of memory if you can. Have fun and good luck!