Raw Transcript
small waves probably not the most inspiring subject for most surf photographers but it can offer you the opportunity to practice the same techniques you’re going to use when the waves get bigger and the surfers all come out to surf them in a really safe environment and in an environment where you can repeat a lot more frequently the the situation you’re going to be in so for instance when it’s big big waves long period swells coming in you might struggle to have lots of opportunities to try out this technique that you do you’re working on but with small waves you doesn’t matter if it’s the wave of the day or if it’s you know if the swell if the peak swell is this size and the average swell is that size it doesn’t matter if it’s a set wave or not you’re going to get twenty-five opportunities every minute to get the shot that you’re after so never underestimate the the potential of small waves to allow you to practice your surf photography and practice is one of the absolute key things you need to be doing to improve with everything but especially with surf photography so when it’s a small day like a nearly flat day you can still take amazing photos you can still experiment it’s a great time to use a new piece of equipment new lens new lens port new housing something like that it’s a perfect testing environment so I use those days for for that kind of thing to kind of hone my skills and and often it’s it’s an opportunity where if the light isn’t great there’s no one else is surfing you want kind of got that freedom you don’t feel like you’re missing out on going to this local you know reef where you would dig are the conditions are perfect for exile I better go there and I better take another 200 shots which are very similar to the last session I had a spot X this you don’t find any of that you’re like I’ll just go down maybe I’ll go down into a little corner I’ll find a little wedgie Shore break or I’ll or I’ll try underwater shots over a boulder that’s breaking and yeah I think it’s an opportunity to to practice don’t see small waves as a real bummer and just imagine the opportunities you’ll have when the waves are small to practice these techniques that are going to really help you improve when the waves do get really really good so in terms of actual techniques for small waves I try and get as low as possible quite often so right down into the trough of the wave and shoot up towards the lip and then when it’s this big there’s not really any consequences to getting trapped in the wrong position you can lie on the sand or the reef or something and let it wash over you and the underwater is normally really good when it’s smaller there’s less sand or debris getting churned up by the wave so you can often get a really nice underwater shot also smaller is that the shower will need to be to break and the shallow of the water the clearer it’s going to be because obviously like drops off quite a lot as it goes through the water if it’s it’s only that deep then you’re going to see the bottom really clearly and that’s going to really help and bring up the the textures and the colors in in there your underwater photos so there’s there’s lots of opportunities when it’s small to take advantage of I would say try things that I find work well are shallow depth-of-field photos because you get a lot of opportunities to to test it out when it’s bigger it’s hard I find to to get that to get the the shallower depth of field because everything’s just on that much bigger scale if you bring things smaller in and you concentrate more and you can pick out that focus more and I think that kind of shallow depth-of-field look can separate the those what would be just a snapshot of a small wave and make it something unique so there’s a few ideas to go with when the waves are really small and you still want to be practicing and getting in the water and going through the motions of practicing these techniques