Stefano Galli skater
Nov, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I was at a skatepark in Modena, "Le Gobbe". I'm a longboarder myself so I go there from time to time, alone or with my kids, to hang out and take pictures. In Italy it's not possible to practice skateboarding outside skateparks so you will find many people there.Time
I know the place well, the best time to be there is at sunset because you can mix the gorgeous light with people jumping up a small ridge. But that day, I was there because my youngest daughter wanted to meet with a friend of her. Serendipitously, a skilled skater happened to be there that day at that time.Lighting
The lighting setup I was after was very simple: a silhouetted skater against the sky. No other lights were needed outside that of the sun of course.Equipment
I had my Nikon D750 with me and knowing that I could find something interesting to shoot I brought an old friend of mine: the manual focus Nikkor 75-150 f3.5. It's an awesome lens: sharp, with good contrast and an excellent handling of extreme lighting situations like the one in this picture. You can just point it towards the sun and expect no artifacts, which is why I love it! I dodn't need a tripod as I had to use a very fast shutter speed for the silhouette anyway.Inspiration
Being a lapsed skater myself, now longboarder, I always strive for the perfect skating moment photo and Stefano Galli gave me the chance to catch one of them.Editing
There is very little processing here, it's a simple silhouette.In my camera bag
Right now my everyday setup is as follows. The camera is my Nikon D750, with a Tamron 24-70 VC attached. An 85mm f1.4 lens is also with me. There is always a YongNuo YN-685 flash with me, together with its commander, to shoot it remotely (this is insanely helpful). Then a lot of accessory stuff: a tablet to review pictures, a small reflector, a home made snoot, a flag and of course lots and lots of batteries!Feedback
If you want to catch something like this you need first to ask permission to the skater, then position yourself so that the skater ends up between you and the setting sun. Putting the lens in manual focus and the camera in manual mode is advised, because you want to be very very quick in taking this picture and you won't have much time to focus!
