Surfer Off Montauk - Photo Study

Surfer Off Montauk © Claudia Ward; D90, 400mm, 1/1000 sec at f /5.6, ISO 200

Peter and I love to photograph outdoors, especially events like the Engine Run at Foster's Farm and the Antique Auto Show, but an especially favorite subject of ours is surfers. We've been shooting them now for several years, amateurs and pros, kids and old hippies - we don't discriminate because they're all interesting. The challenge in shooting surfers is obviously motion - the surfer's and the ocean's, and the objective is to stop it when something interesting is happening. Of the thousands of shots we've taken over the years, we probably have a handful that honestly and effectively stop the motion.

In Montauk, near the lighthouse, there's a park called Camp Hero and from the cliffs, which are at least 50 feet tall, you can look down on the surfers in Turtles Cove. A telephoto lense is a must and this day I was using my 120-400mm zoom lens - full out. My favorite setting for shooting surfers when I'm on the beach is the sport setting on my Nikon D90 which gives me the shutter speed to stop the action and a shallow depth of field which focuses attention on the surfer, so I used that setting here too. 

Generally I'm pretty pleased with this shot - I was lucky that the barrel wave was breaking at the same time this surfer caught his wave - but we can always do better. What would I do differently next time? Well, given the distance between the surfer and my camera on top of the cliffs, I'd probably use a monopod for stability and perhaps turn off Auto Focus and switch to Manual - at least I'd give it a try. I also might go to Shutter Speed setting and try shooting at 1/500th instead of 1/1000th. Any suggestions?

 

Comments

[Claudia]

Thanks to both of you, Bob and Deb.

[Deb Cobb]

This is a phenomenal shot!

[Robert]

I just got back from taking a couple photog friends from Calif on an excursion in and around the wilds of the Rocky mountains area NW of me.(we caught the awesome fall colors). They brought all this camera gear(inc tripods )which is a major hassle when flying. We chased trains in very dramatic canyons where lighting is a challenge. (I mumbled "HDR") They used tripods for everything..but sometimes you just can't use them to get that "action" shot like you did. I think the monopod is a good compromise. Keep up the good work !