Indoor Swimmer Doing the Breaststroke

Even in winter the really good swimmers are still hard at work. I was taking photographs of a year round swim team today. I used the rule of thirds for my composition. By placing the swimmer on the left side of the frame, I was able to give space in front which helps give room for the the forward movement in the image. This same arrangement works well with any fast moving objects( cars,running horses). LynnFreeny.com

Swimmer at Mid Stroke

It has been so hot and dry I could not help myself. It seems the only way to cope with the high temperatures is to submerge most of your body in water.
Swimming is one of my favorite sports to shoot. I have noticed that I can capture a moment that is normally lost when observing the event live or recorded on video.
In this image I got at a low angle close to the surface of the water. This insured that my background would be water without any distracting elements. Also by getting low it helps the viewer to feel close to the action. A long lens (200mm) was used to bring the action close enough to fill the frame. A shutter speed of 1/500 helped freeze the action. One more thing, this is one of The Flying Dolphins looking very mosquito like . LynnFreeny.com

Swimmer's Stroke

We are still having some really hot weather so here is another swimming image to help cool things down. Catching any interesting movements in swimming takes timing and fast reaction. Do not be afraid to take lots of exposures when doing action sports. The more you shoot of any subject gives you better odds of success. In the case with this image the evening light helped by adding rim lighting on the swimmers arm and a warm color temperature. The composition helps give room for the swimmer as she heads forward. Having the composition run off the page at the top adds some tension. It was shot at a f-stop of 2.8 which produced a very shallow depth of field causing the arm to be the most prominent element in the photograph. Do not forget this is one of the Flying Dolphins. LynnFreeny.com

Swimming Toward the Shadows

It is so hot today that all I feel like posting are swimming images. Swim meets are one of my favorite events to cover. The elements that seem to make it so interesting are reflecting water, fast action and vibrant colors. You can not be shy when covering sporting events. What I mean by that is the fact that if you want the best angles and want to catch the action you have to move around and even sometimes get in undignified positions to get the shot. The most boring angle is eye level because we spend our whole adult life seeing things at eye level. Small children with a camera get some of the most interesting images just because they see the world at a very low angle. LynnFreeny.com

Reflections of Summer

I am always looking for interesting shadows and reflections to add to my compositions. In order to get the reflections in the goggles in focus along with the face you have to set the lens to a small lens opening like f-11. lynnfreeny.com