JonathanDurandPhoto
FollowAwesome shoot at the Shred skatepark in Cape Town South Africa.
Awesome shoot at the Shred skatepark in Cape Town South Africa.
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken at "The Shred" indoor skatepark in Cape Town. It's one of my favorite spots to shoot.Time
This was taken around 19:30 in the evening. The guys usually get there around 5, but seeing as I still have a full-time job, I'm generally there around 6 and this photo was taken a little later in the session. The guys start building the confidence and they hit the bowl a little later during the day.Lighting
This was a tough one concerning lighting as it was quite dark that day. The problem is that I like to be mobile, I don't like staying in one spot, so I set up my lights in a way that I will still have light no matter where I go in the bowl. As I don't have the most incredible equipment, this was a tough one, but luckily I got this one right.Equipment
I used my Canon 7D with two 430EX-II Speedlites and a trigger. This was taken with the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 Lens. I'm a huge fan of the wider lenses for extreme sport.Inspiration
This particular angle and photo have been in my mind for quite a while, but I've had very bad luck with this particular athlete. I felt like we're not working very well together. Every time I went to the other side, he was pulling his sick tricks on the side that I wasn't, so it was quite frustrating. I decided to just approach the guy and he was super willing to pose. Luckily I could quickly set up the equipment and get in place. This was actually the first take of him, but his friends gave me a few test shots before he came a long.Editing
When it comes to the skating, I feel like this is my art and not my job, so it leaves me to be creative. I don't have a precise method to edit these as it will depend on how I feel, but I'll start in lightroom with a simple edit and tweaks and then will do any cleanup (if necessary) in Photoshop.In my camera bag
These days I'm rocking a Sony a6500 and still have my Canon lenses (one of these days I'll be ready for the upgraded Sony lenses). As a backup, I still have the Canon 7D. My lenses include a Canon 70-200mm f4 (The non-IS version), a Canon 50mm f1.4 USM and Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 Lens. For flash photography, I'll use the Canon 430EX-II speedlites with the Canon 7D (As I don't have lights for the Sony at this stage). Then there are Filters, triggers, and other accessories as well.Feedback
My advice would be to really look at your angles. I want the action to show how high and crazy this stunt is, I do this by choosing a low angle so that the subject looks higher and I looked at my exposure. On this particular shot I could have exposed the skater a little more, but I liked what I saw and kept it that way.