» 19 Radical Skateboard Photography Tips

Nov 29, 2008

19 Radical Skateboard Photography Tips

by Susheel Chandradhas

This guest post is by Brian Auer – a photography enthusiast, blogger, photoblogger, and podcaster.

Skateboard photography can be quite interesting and exciting for a photographer. Skaters can be found in most cities and towns, either in skate parks or out on the streets. Below, you’ll find a collection of skateboard photography tips and great example photos.

The tips aren’t massively in-depth because the intent isn’t to lecture about these things. Instead, take what you can from them, build on them with your own knowledge, and study the photos for inspiration. You’ll also notice that many of these tips can be applied to other types of photography, so keep an open mind while reading.

1. PORTRAITS

Even though the exciting part of photographing skaters is when they’re in action, you shouldn’t forget that they’re still people with a face. If you don’t know the skaters, you might try working up the courage to ask them for a portrait. A lot of these folks are interesting and outgoing – the perfect ingredients for a great portrait.

Photo by Erik J. Gustafson [CC by-nc-sa]

2. PERSPECTIVE

Shooting at your normal stance is so 2005. Shooting from a crouch is a little better. But if you want some really interesting stuff, get down on the ground and make giants of the skaters. If you’re really brave, let somebody jump over your head (of course, use caution and don’t be stupid about it).

Photo by alvelynalko [CC by-nc-nd]

3. SUBJECT

The skaters aren’t the only good subjects out there – shoot the boards too! Focusing the attention on the board and allowing the legs and feet to become secondary subjects can be quite powerful.

Photo by Seb* [aka *] [CC by-nc-sa]

4. TILT

Adding tilt to your composition naturally creates a feeling of uneasiness and slight chaos. That type of mood goes quite well with extreme sports such as skateboarding.

Photo by looking4poetry [CC by-nc-nd]

5. PREMONITION

Watch your subjects (or even just one subject) and take note of what they’re doing. I had been watching this guy skate for 15 or 20 minutes and I saw him move the trash can in front of the ledge he’d been jumping from. It was obvious what he was going to be doing, so I positioned myself, got the camera ready, and fired one off right at the perfect moment.

Photo by Brian Auer [CC by-nc-nd]

6. ACTION SEQUENCE

If you happen to have a tripod with you (or a really steady hand), you can leave the camera pointed in one direction and rapid fire as the subject crosses your path. Then use a little post-processing trickery to create a composite, and you’ve got a slick little action sequence.

Photo by thEOS. [CC by-nd]

7. ALTERNATIVE SEQUENCE

Catch a bunch of different poses from one of the skaters and slap them all together. Go beyond the typical diptych or triptych – four or five makes for a pretty cool image.

Photo by graphistolage.com [CC by-nc-nd]

8. NIGHT

Working at night can help you isolate your subject better than during the day. And depending on your light source, you can really add some intensity and contrast. Alternatively, working at a high ISO can produce beautifully gritty photos (especially if you go black and white).

Photo by tunaboat [CC by-nd]

9. UP CLOSE

Don’t just sit off on the sidelines trying to keep your entire subject inside the frame. Get up close and focus on different parts of the skaters – just stay out of the way or you’ll tick people off and kill your chances of finishing the session. If you’re unsure, talk with them and let them make suggestions for getting close-ups (you can bet they’ll have some good ideas).

Photo by Bushery [CC by-nc-nd]

10. SILHOUETTE

If the lighting is all wrong for your typical photos, work with it and go for the silhouette shot. This works best if the sun is somewhere other than straight above (preferably behind the skater and in front of you) and if you use manual exposure settings or play with your exposure compensation.

Photo by Pensiero [CC by-nc-nd]

11. SPEED

Rather than freezing the action in every shot, try mixing it up by slowing down that shutter speed and conveying the motion of the skaters.

Photo by quiiver [CC by-nc-sa]

12. WIDE ANGLE

Using wide angles will allow you to get fairly close while including much of the surrounding scene. Pay attention to the shapes and structures around the skaters and include them in the photo for more visual impact.

Photo by Jesus Arellanes [CC by-nc-nd]

13. SHADOWS

If it’s nice and sunny, pay attention to the shadows. Sometimes they can be quite interesting subjects – especially if you cut out part of the person creating that shadow.

Photo by adrian zorz [CC by-nc-nd]

14. FLASH

On the flip side of slowing down and capturing motion, sometimes you’ll want to freeze the subject completely. Unless it’s bright and sunny, you may need to use a flash to accomplish this. Try working with an off-camera flash for more interesting results.

Photo by Christopher Nalefski Photography [CC by-nc-nd]

15. STREETS

Not all skaters stick to the skate parks – with a little luck, you can find skaters in just about any city. Look for rails, steps, ramps, or any other structure that could be used as a skater playground. Capturing skaters away from a park can make your photos more raw and real.

Photo by JEKY [CC by]

16. ODDITIES

Always keep your eyes open (and your camera ready) for the oddball encounters. You never know who or what might cross your path unexpectedly.

Photo by Brian Auer [CC by-nc-nd]

17. CHARACTERS

Likewise, watch out for interesting characters.

Photo by Eole [CC by-nc-sa]

18. STEP BACK

Not every skateboarding shot needs to be up close and tightly cropped. Step back a little and make the skater a small, but important, part of the scene. Also, if you’re near any structures, try going vertical and shoot down onto your subjects.

Photo by baboonô [CC by-nc]

19. CANDIDS

Make good use of longer lenses to give yourself more working distance – this allows you to stay out of the way while catching true moments candidly. And don’t put the camera down as soon as the action is over. Sometimes you’ll find great shots when the skater isn’t even skating.

Photo by Brian Auer [CC by-nc-nd]

This is part of the Beyond Phototips Birthday Special Series. Go here to see all the posts so far.

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31 Comments, Comment or Ping

Susheel Chandradhas

Brian,

Did I mention how cool this post is? Rockin’ dude!

Thank you for sharing it with our readers!

Nov 30th, 2008
Brian Auer

My pleasure Susheel! I had a lot of fun putting this one together!

Nov 30th, 2008
Richard Wong

Great article Brian. A lot of good ideas here.

Dec 3rd, 2008
latoga

Ask and thou shall receive Brian…great post! A lot of these tips can be applied to photographing any subject, not just skaters…especially #18 and #19. Both of those are favorites of mine when photographing weddings or events.

Dec 3rd, 2008
Raquel

This goes beyond just radical skateboard photography…just about any human (or animal) action sport can make good on these excellent photo tips. The photos are truly amazing!

Dec 3rd, 2008
James Nater

I have to STRONGLY disagree with tips #3 and a little bit of #9 and #13. RULE#1 in Skateboard photography, NEVER cut off the skaters heads in a photo. No skateboard magazine will publish those photos.

#1 Skateboard Photography Tip should be: RESEARCH. Pick up a skateboard magazine. Look at other photos in the magazines. Read the articles. Understand what the audience wants to see. They don’t want to see a board, kids look up to these pros as well as the tricks they do. These kids know every sponsor a pro has, and every trick they’ve done at every famous spot or skate park. There is way way way more to it than just a mag full of photos.

Any photographer aiming to shoot skateboarding must have some sort of background in skateboarding, if not, you’ll need to do A LOT of research if you want know how to make your photos more appealing to a skateboarder audience and skateboard magazines. FYI: Most skateboarders hate seeing photos in non-skateboarding magazines or newspapers, because almost every time, the photographer, who has no skateboarding background or knowledge, only uses techniques familiar to him or her and THINKS it’s a good photo.

Skateboarders can INSTANTLY tell if the photo was taken by a real skateboard photographer or not.

Jan 19th, 2009
Worsl

#2, #3, and #4 really!? #2- Shooting underneath the skater is so 2005! How many shots from underneath do you ever see in a mag? #3- Never, never cut off the skater, looks terrible, you want to see his face. Also, wont be in a mag. #4- I think that was the only shot where the shot was tilted. The half decent shots shown above were always horizontally or vertically straight.

Feb 12th, 2009
Glen

I must say that these are rather spectacular. I am looking to go for skating photography in the near future so these tips have given me great advice.

Thanks for posting!

Mar 18th, 2009
ryan hunter

its obvious that whoever did this article isnt a skate photographer and if he is he cant be into skating all that some of this is really bad advvice. If you want to get better at taking photos you should probably be into skateboarding and check out magazines and see what other people are doing

Mar 19th, 2009
WOZNY

Dope website bro! I like it, keep em comin, I’ll read it!

Apr 5th, 2009
Joey Randales

Take me some pics dude!

Apr 21st, 2009
Will Woytowich

Awesome mang. Real helpful.

May 12th, 2009
PIPOO

DUDEE BRIAN!!
Amazing!, I just started to photograph skaters, as I think it’s hell interesting and amazing way to spend time.. and you really helped me out, as I was cutting short of ideas!
Rock on man! and keep ‘em comin’!
:)

May 24th, 2009
WML

Holy shit…pic in tip14 is my school….and great tips.

May 29th, 2009
Owen

I completely disagree with #2 and #3. Sometimes I use tilt like in #4, but only when we’re hitting launch ramps.

Jul 27th, 2009
Jeff

If you wish to join the boring masses of photogs in skate magazines, by all means, shoot the same shot that everyone else has. If you have some actual creativity, think & see outside the norm. Great tips for real photographers.

Aug 22nd, 2009
wizz

you should learn a little bit more about skateboarding if you want to take good skate photos…

cutting off a skater head like tips #9 is a bad idea..

and, skate mag aren’t boring!…, so read it.

a good skate photo is not about photography technique.
it’s about skateboarding.

the trick a skater does,
who the skater is,
the obstacle the skater jump off, slide or grind…
is much more important.

Sep 13th, 2009
Erica

This is rad. Thanks for posting it

Sep 28th, 2009
todd george

yeah i agree with the skaters here i am a skater/photographer and cutting off the skaters heads is a bad idea. thats why we use fish eye lens so we can still get close up shots without cutting off the heads or any part of the body also another tip you can use is to use your surrounding like if you can find a peep whole or between trees or bushes. well im gunna go so peace and hope you learn more just go and have fun.

Oct 21st, 2009
Ryan

Great Tips, Awesome Job On The Blog.
Ryan

Nov 6th, 2009
Cep Giydir

Nice tips. What usually the focusing mode when capturing these action stopping shots? AI servo or AI focus?

Feb 13th, 2010
Felix

Hey those are really great tips! I’m taking photos with my digital camera (panasonic lumix DMC-FX150) and working it good, but I’m thinking of getting a more powerful device.. I really don’t know much about cameras so I don’t know what I might be looking for.. any ideas? I heard 35mm are good for sport photography in general.
Thanks

Feb 18th, 2010
Susheel Chandradhas

Yes, 35mm cameras, more specifically, SLRs are better for sport photography. Because of the speed of the action, SLR cameras are necessary to really understand what you’re capturing in the frame.

Mar 8th, 2010
Susheel Chandradhas

On the canon, I would go with AI Servo, and ensure that my focus point selector is in the right place when I click the shutter release.

Mar 8th, 2010