Week 5. Techniques and Equipment needed to achieve a cohesive advertising portfolio.

For the research into Equipment and Technique I concentrated mostly on the Surf photography aspect of the major folio. Surf Photography, and water plays a huge role in all of Rip Curls advertising. The studio component of the folio can be completed without much research as you can simply use a macro lens for the close up shots and your standard 24-105mm lens, or 70-200 for the other shots.

So for the location and more surf specific style photography, you would need more equipment, you would need to think about your shots ans select locations carefully. Surf photography is a small industry in Australia with a few specialist photographers who work the surf magazine circuit and combine surf photography with landscape or underwater photography.

Below is a list of the equipment and some research into the techniques used in surf/outdoor/water photography. The style that Rip Curl use throughout their advertising.   

Lens

• Long Zoom Lens to shoot from the beach (surfing shots) 600+
• Normal Zoom - a range of lengths from 100-400mm 
• extender tubes to increase zoom length - a range of extensions can be used or stacked to get you more length
• Fish eye lens to shoot from inside tube waves
• Wide angle16-24mm
• Tilt Shift lens 
• Standard 50mm or 24-70mm
• Portrait lens 80mm

Camera

• Underwater Camera (either a housing or a cheaper underwater camera)
• Board Camera for remote use 
• 5D for shooting still and RAW

Other equipment

• Underwater Housing 
• Tripod or Monopod  
• polarizing filter
• bags to cart all the gear around in
• Need a car to get to locations

Ways of getting the shots

• Helicopter
• Water Craft - Boat, jet Ski, or a board to get you out in the water
• underwater shots, in the water shots (most popular at the moment is shots while in the water to get up close to the action, this is also used a lot in Rip Curl advertising)

Techniques

• Shooting in the morning is best for front lit natural sun light and creates soft colours and this is usually when most surfers are out and about
• Shooting in the evening will give back lit light and produce richer warmer colour but also a silhouette surfer or blown out backgrounds
• Shooting on sunny days is usually best but if you get a overcast day and dull colours switch to B&W and remove the colour
• Shooting from the beach is standard
• Shooting from in the water close to the action is a great way to get up close and personal
• Shooting from a pier or boat will get you closer but dryer and switching up the angles
• Rapid shutter firer is always good when trying to capture fast movement as you can select the best shot in a series
• Use a higher shutter speed 600+ and a higher ISO of 400 to 640
• Single or a few centered focus points to allow tracking movement
• fill the frame with the action is a classic way to shoot surfers
• A great surfing shot is not just a great picture, it also needs to capture the feeling of the rider at that moment in time....... Live the Search

Image Source: http://www.ripcurl.com.au/index.php?contact

Sources
Digital Photography School, http://www.digital-photography-school.com/surf-photography-for-beginners-equipment-techniques-and-tips
Tim McKenner, Photographer, http://www.tim-mckenna.com/faq-technical-9-how-to-take-surf-photography.html
Aqua Bumps, http://www.aquabumps.com/2011/01/24/my-gear/
Surf Photography 101 by Mike Baird, http://bairdphotos.com/surf-photo-blurb-101/