Burnt out bouldering

[mushy]

We all went to one of our small but local bouldering spots, which has had all the bush and scrub burnt away about a month back. I thought it'd be bad for photo's but it turned out quite a good bacdrop.

The walk in, much easier with very little plants in your way :wink
http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164467510-L.jpg

The light was pretty harsh to begin with, but softened up as the afternoon wore on
http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164467969-L.jpg

http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164470929-L.jpg

http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164466387-L.jpg
This was a mix of shadow and highlight recovery and I'm a little undecided on the result
http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164474161-L.jpg

We were climbing the boulders just over the back from these
http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164479014-L.jpg

Later on we checked out an area further down the hill for one last problem
http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164481961-L.jpg

http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164483081-L.jpg

PS'd in some depth of field, too much maybe?:dunno
http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164483226-L.jpg

Final shot after the sun had pretty much left us
http://mushy.smugmug.com/photos/164484607-L.jpg

Thanks for loking, feel free to comment and or critique :thumb

[Van Isle]

I think bouldering shots are the toughest to get: usually scattered light (in the trees) and not generally much aesthectic stuff going on to make them worthwhile to a non-climber who doesn't know his Gaston's from his sidepulls :rofl

I try and capture more the angle of the body against the rock, and some interesting details if I can: rock shoe smearing HARD, or a nasty crimp. I think unless the shot is really good, only climbers will care about the latest V8 send...know what I mean? :dunno

For a technique note, try going with a faster shutter speed to freeze the action more, and consider a bit of fill flash to help that along as well as opening up the shadows.

rockclimbing dot com has some good shots occaisionally, as do the climber mags on line.


I really like seeing you post up the climbing pics! Keep at it!

VI

[SitterS]

Corey Rich is a photographer and one area he specializes in is taking photos of rock climbers. He climbs right along with them. I just completed a sports photography workshop this past week and he was there and we were able to join him out at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs for instruction. Take a look at his site. www.CoreyRich.com (http://www.CoreyRich.com). He is not only a great photographer but a great guy.

Shane

[ian408]

Some good stuff but I think the lighting makes it tough.

[mushy]

Thanks all for the comments
VI, most of the time I really am just shooting for climbers, hence the shots are a little less artistic and maybe a bit more story telling (showing the height or maybe the size of a hold). Rather than the closeup of a particular feature.
I do see your point though, to make them more appealing to those who know very little about the sport.
Plus like yourself and Ian said, its time i bought a flash!
Cheers for the link Sitters, he definitely has some great photo's there.

[ian408]

Keep posting Mushy! I really dig seeing these.