Today’s Canada Games athlete portrait is of swimmer Jacqueline Murchison.
I wanted to start off with some portraits outside the pool. Figured it would be easier to shoot them first, that way she wouldn’t get all wet and have to stand around.
Since we were indoors, it was easy to get some slower speeds to try out some more zooming, panning and rotating.
Then I decided to get her in the pool, but still without the cap and goggles.
Tried a few different shutter speeds to see how I could affect the ambient light.
For the shot below, the shutter speed was set to 1/30th, the aperture was at F8. My meter was not zeroed, it was in the minus. That way I knew the only light being exposed was the flash, and some of the reflected light on the water.
To get more of the ambient light in to prevent a darker background, I set a slower shutter speed(1/8th of a second at F8) Now my meter was zeroed, and there is more ambient light in the background. The drawback however is that everything looks a bit green because of the flourescent lights.
Then we got the cap and goggles on.
For the one below, the shutter speed was set to 1/80th of a second
For this one, it was set to 1/20th of a second to let a bit more ambient light in. I prefer the top one better.
No offense to those who swim the breaststroke, but it’s not the most photogenic of the strokes. I tried a few shots, but when the swimmer comes up out of the water, their hands are close together, they are looking down, it just doesn’t work for a portrait.
I really liked the reflections on the water, so I had Jacqueline move down into deeper water so just her head would be above the surface.
I really liked the reflection on the goggles on this shot.
I also tried some shots of her moving through the water, albeit on her back. I really liked the ripples on the surface.
Also tried some close up portraits of her mostly submerged.
I ended the shoots with some shots of her leaping out of the water. Lots of cool splashing, nice smiles, but they maybe look a bit too synchronized swimming and not breaststroke. Not dissing synchro…just saying!
To see more in this series, head to my Canada Games Athlete Galleries on my site that contains more images from this shoot.
To see the full series of posts in the Canada Games Series, click here.
Next up….RUGBY!
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