Surftography 101
Surfing Photography Southern California Style
If you enjoy sports photography, the US Open of Surfing event hosted annually every summer in Huntington Beach (CA) is a top venue to shoot. It is open to the public, and the event organizers do provide press passes for photographers who shoot for the media. This is a good thing if you live in that area near the beach, because parking is going to be “hell on earth”. If you plan to go you just have to get there as early as possible, otherwise forget about parking near the beach. You will either have to park really far away or commute by public transport to get to the south pier. Another way to get there if you have to park far, is by scooter, skateboard or the way to get around nowadays, a ride sharing service e.g. Uber, Lyft, etc.
Surfing is a really fun sport to watch but even better if you can capture the moments. Not only is the setting mostly beautiful locations (i.e. the beaches), but it is a great way to practice different techniques in photography. Southern California has some very good surfing locations, and Huntington Beach is just one of them. Shooting there is not really restricted during public events like the US Open. Just remember to be respectful of other people’s privacy and focus on shooting the surfing. You don’t have to be a pro which is what makes this more open to anyone who has a camera, be it a DSLR/digital camera or a smartphone.
The basic camera gear to bring to the beach when shooting a surfing event are:
- DSLR or mirrorless camera
- Telephoto lens to get close shots of the action (300 mm to > 400 mm)
- Lens filters (UV, polarizer, ND, etc.)
- Tripod or monopod camera stand
- Extra SD card or other storage media for the photos
That is really all the gear I bring with me. Other photographers may use a drone, but that does require permission for events like this. Otherwise all you really need is the camera and lens and you are ready to go. It may also be important to take note that this event takes place either at the end of July or early August, so the temperature can be scorching even in Huntington Beach. Sunblock, shades and a cap may be the best photographer attire. Even a UV blocking shirt or light jacket would be ideal if you plan on being under the sun for hours. Lens filters are needed for certain imaging effects or if you want to block some light since it will really be shooting under the sun if it is not overcast. Avoid overexposure as much as possible.
You will use the tripod or monopod because it helps stabilize your image. Unless you are really good shooting handheld, use the tripod to help you hold your camera. If you bracket your shots or lock your focus, tripods can help prevent too much camera movement or shake and capture sharper images. If you plan on holding your camera for most of your shots, it is best to enable the vibration reduction for image stabilization. This is usually enabled on the lens and really helps capture images with minimal shake or blur.
Scouting for locations can be tricky the first time around. The best place for most photographers is to shoot right at the pier. You can shoot underneath the pier where it is shaded, but there is risk of getting the equipment wet. Otherwise the other best option is at the top of the pier, but it is usually more crowded there. It is best to find a spot around the pier early, before the heat begins. You can just hangout and talk to the locals while setting up your camera gear while waiting.
The reason you want to use a telephoto lens is because the distance is really much farther away than normal. In fact most sports events require a telephoto lens for shooting since you cannot come too close to the action. In surfing, the surfer can be well over 1,000 feet away from you and your camera. You need to zoom in on the action and this is the purpose of a telephoto lens. I use either a 300 mm or 400 mm lens, but more high end photographers who shoot for the media or publications choose a telephoto lens with a focal length > 400 mm. The focal length determines your light resolving power when composing the image. You use the lens to converge the light to come to a focal point from where you get the best focus on your subject. The longer your focal length (measured in mm) the more farther out you can zoom to capture an image. The length is actually measuring the distance from the point of convergence in the lens to the sensor. The longer it is, the more farther away you can zoom in. A telephoto lens without a fixed focal length is also ideal in situations where you can manually adjust the length and zoom without changing lenses.
Focal length also tells us the AOV (Angle of View). With a longer focal length you can magnify a larger area of your frame to capture a scene or subject. This is why a 400 mm lens will have superior magnification to zoom in on a surfer who is >500 feet away. You can use a 55 mm lens, but you won’t be able to zoom in all the way compared to a 400 mm lens. The AOV is calculated as follows:
The d represents the size of our cameras sensor. If you are shooting with a full frame DSLR then it is 36 mm for the horizontal angle of view while 24 mm for the vertical angle of view. The f is the focal length e.g. 300 mm. The AOV is measured in degrees and basically tells us how much of the image can be captured in the frame.
Here is a rule of thumb:
“The longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view and the higher the magnification. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and the lower the magnification.”
A telephoto lens is probably the second most expensive piece of equipment in your camera gear. If you don’t want to spend you can always rent from your local camera store. Many offer rentals with deposit, but can really save on costs if you want don’t often use a telephoto lens.
Surfing is also a fast moving action sport. Your subject will not stay still for any moment while catching a wave. Therefore set your camera to a fast shutter speed as much as possible. To get this right, it is also important to set your focus right. For example if your focus point is on the surfboard, you will probably not get a clear shot of the surfer. You can set your camera to a continuous AF mode to keep up with the surfer. This is a technique while shooting in motion, but you must have a fast shutter speed as well. It is best to start at shutter priority and then check your images. Then make gradual adjustments based on what you get until you can customize the settings when shooting in manual mode.
For best practice in action sports photography, press down the shutter button to fire off shots in rapid succession called bursts. Depending on your camera, it can shoot 3 or more frames per second. You need to set your camera to burst mode for this work. The higher the frames per second rate, the better chance you have of capturing a sharp image somewhere in the sequence. That can be a Sports Illustrated worthy cover shot in the end.
Now a thing to remember is that even though you are shooting people in sports, it is different when it comes to sports photography. Normally you compose a portrait by focusing on the eyes. It is not necessarily the same in sports photography. Instead use matrix or spot metering to capture the image focusing on the subject. I usually focus it on the body, not the closest part of the body, but one where there is a balance where I can get a sharp focus on the image. If you focus on a specific body part like the arm, it may get a sharp image, but it may also blur the rest of the body due to DOF (Depth of Field).
To get the best colors, WB (White Balance) really helps. I would choose auto WB most of the time in order to capture a more natural look. If the images are turning too cold or blue, add more warmth to the temperature (measured in Kelvin). Adjust WB to daylight, which is an ideal setting for outdoor sports events like surfing. If the images appear too warm or has an “orangey” look, add some more blue by adjusting the temperature once again. In those cases, you are manually adjusting the WB so this is no longer automatic. Further color correction can always be done during post, but getting the best color accuracy in camera can really save time. Just remember that WB is about the colors of the image.
On a more technical note, your SD card selection is also very important. I say this because that is your storage media, where your photos are saved. The thing though is, not all SD cards are the same. There are different specifications to an SD card measured in speed. Therefore if you are going to shoot sports photography, buy the fastest SD card available. When you are shooting images, they are buffered first before they are written to the storage media. If you have a fast camera that can focus well that is a plus. You also need a fast enough SD card to support high data rates. As the image is captured to buffer it must be written to the SD card. The faster the better. If the write speed is slow, it will buffer the data and cause delays in capturing the image because the storage media has to wait until it has written all the data from the current image before it can go to the next. A write speed of 90 MB/s ( 1 Megabyte = 1,000,000 bytes) allows you to capture images faster than a 40 MB/s SD card.
Supposed you are shooting images that are 16 MP (4928 x 3264) in size averaging 48 MB per image RAW (3 bytes/pixel). If your write speed is 90 MB/s then you are saving images at a time of 0.533 of a second. Compare to 40 MB/s which saves images at 1.2 seconds. It is even better at 250 MB/s which saves images at 0.192 of a second.
It may also help to shoot in high JPEG format, rather than RAW. This is because RAW in this case takes longer to write to storage because it is uncompressed data. JPEG on the other hand writes much faster to storage, but this really depends on the photographer. There are those who would still rather shoot RAW even if the processing may take a bit longer, but they compensate for this with a fast SD card write speed.
Another important thing to take note of are the weather conditions during the day. In Huntington Beach you rarely expect rain, but if you were in another event it will be different.
So why is Huntington Beach a great surf spot?
To help me with that question I asked a surfer homie Louis Rice who regularly surfs in the waters of HB. He says:
“HB is one of the most consistent spots in the world, with surfable waves pretty much 365 days a year. Not many places in the world can claim that. Add one of the most iconic landmarks (Pier), the surf culture and industry all around us, and the perfect weather, and the answer becomes rather self-evident.”
In addition to that it is a great place to learn for beginners. I have done shoots for surfing students who are enrolled at various surf camps in Bolsa Chica and HB who say just how much better it is to surf the waves in HB compared to other hot surfing locations. HB aka “Surf City” is where it is at. Great weather, golden sand and surf that breaks consistently all year long.
Another surfer buddy, Darren DiFranceisco has these words for beginning surfers:
“Long boards are easier to catch waves with and you get longer rides. Plus you can catch smaller waves so it can be used for a wide variety of conditions.”
Finally, as a photographer, what exactly are we supposed to look for when shooting surfers? I do have some background on this so for me it is about the technique and maneuvers of the surfers. Louis Rice expands by sharing his favorite maneuver as a surfer.
My favorite maneuvers include the barrel (tube), aka “getting pitted/so pitted/#bradpitted…and a full rail-wrap.
To translate into “English”, what Louis was saying is getting “inside a wave” i.e. a “barrel” or “tube” which is a fun way to surf “pitted”. Pitted like you are the pit inside an olive, get it? Like, “Dude, I got totally pitted and it was gnarly!” It’s cool, just avoid getting a “wipe out”.
I know there is a lot of lingo for surfing maneuvers in Southern California surf culture e.g. “Hang 10”, “Froth”, “Epic”, etc. Now to capture those maneuvers in the water is what I go for as a photographer. I like to shoot “aerials” as a matter of fact, but those are not common maneuvers so it is really something that exceptional surfers can do. When there is a chance to shoot it, then go for it.
At the end of the day you will be exhausted (or maybe not) from all the walking and taking photos. It will be worth it though if you can capture the images. Now what if you missed the moment on camera? Not to worry, there is always the next year to look forward to.
For more “surftography” please check out my link to more images:
