Monday, August 5, 2024

Back at the beach volleyball venue to photo the action...and...

Last night the USA team of Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng were playing beach volleyball against the Italian team with a starting time of 10pm. I thought that this would be perfect, because then I could capture the game, but get there early and get another crack at getting a even better sunset shot in the iconic venue. And that actually happened! 

I got to the venue about two hours before the start of the USA game. There was another game going on, but I just positioned myself at the highest point, dead center this time around! It was not nearly as crowded as the last time I was there, but we still had a group of 6 or 7 of us photographers up there hoping for a nice sunset. Honestly, it was really great just hanging out, enjoying this incredible view and sharing stories and laughs with the other photogs. I saw the sun just about to go below the horizon and took this photo at f/22 to create the starburst effect on the setting sun.


And just before Hughes and Cheng started their game, we had this perfect light. Remember a while back when I said that I got my dream shot, well this one is even better. Mother nature did her job for sure!

And then, once I felt that I had the shot I wanted from up above, I made my way down to the sand to shoot court side.


I will be honest with you, this sport is not easy to shoot. There are many times when I would hit the shutter button but miss the action. I was not happy with what I was getting with the Canon R5 MKII (using the RF70-200mm lens). Then I thought "well...this is the perfect time to try the pre-capture mode of the new camera" where the camera can go back and save images 1/2 second before I fully press the shutter button. And this made a huge difference to my images! 


I was able to wait for the action and then hit the shutter button and get peak of action. (Note: I have not been using this feature up until now because the other sports are easier to predict AND I did not want to add another 2000 images to my culling process for each event.)


After switching to this new mode I was getting what I wanted! 



I was typically focusing on whomever was closest to me at the time.


I was shooting at a burst rate of 20 images per second, but could have changed the camera to go as high as 30 images per second. 


Even at 20fps I was able to catch moments like this showing the actual impact on the ball. Pretty amazing.



I tried shooting in different positions around the court, from the back and from the side.


I liked the side shots better, especially when they dove for the ball.


They had a really long rally and Sara ended up making a great diving save to help them win a point.


Kelly turned right towards us with this funny smile on her face.


Then it was back to business and a big win!


So much of the Olympics is about the reaction, and the reaction in these two photos says it all.



It is so awesome (and a real honor) to be able to sit feet away from the action and capture these moments.


__________________________________________________________

• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Asia and more. 

* Thank you to Canon, Apple, ProGrade Digital, Crucial, Tiffen, DataColor, ThinkTank, Adobe, and CameraBits  for providing loaner product to me for the Olympic Games!

 _________________________________________________________________  


3 comments:

  1. for this blog post I was waiting after watching the game yesterday and recognising one of my favorite olympic photografer :
    god job and gread photos :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. for this blog post I was waiting after watching the game yesterday and recognising one of my favorite olympic photografer :
    god job and gread photos :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I shoot Roller Derby and that pre-capture option would be a lifesaver. Usually we're anticipating the action and by the time we see the action and press the shutter they have already moved on.

    ReplyDelete