i've been surfing for 15 years now without ever really getting any good pictures, usually because any of my friends interested are right out in the water with me. so this past weekend there was an afternoon swell and my dad came to check out what i love so much and play with a new nikon i had purchased. he only shot a few waves but i thought they were pretty cool shots. curious to think what other surfers think. i know i'm not kelly slater and don't mind being ripped. just curiosity killing the cat...
sidenote: what are everyone thought's on gopro's mounted on the noses of boards? i kinda hate everything about them except the shots they get, so i'm torn.
This girl I know put one on her paddle board and it was constant crotch shots so that was cool. Other than that I think they're extremely played out. I suppose they could be a good training tool for footwork. Try turning it around for a new perspective on the wave. I think the best shots come from the beach or from a friend in the impact zone. Take one for the team and snap some shots of your buddies for 30 minutes then trade out. If you like the pictures a gopro takes how can you hate everything about them?
2 main reasons: i'll use last sunday as an example, i saw a guy with one on his board who couldn't make it through the shore break. he literally gave up after a few minutes. they seem to be on boards of people who won't get a great shot anyway, but thats my small sample size second reason: i find myself pulling into waves and barrels i shouldn't just to hope for a cool screen grab rather than surf a good wave. i don't necessarily hate everything about them, i mean i use mine for tons of other stuff, more of just disliking them on the nose of boards.
... hey back to the original point! what do you think of the pictures? i consider it a decent cut back, not my best but it wasn't a perfect wave and was just on a 5'6
To finish off that turn you need to turn your head in the direction that the nose is pointed. Ride it into the foam ball and the turn back and continue on.
Initiate the turn in your upper body with your head and shoulders, keep your head pointed in the direction you are going to arc the turn out and keep your momentum to get you back to the foam so you can flip it around. You also need to bend your back knee a little more--especially at the beginning of your turn. This will put more weight on your back foot so you can pivot better and get a little more rail in the water.
what he said. your back shoulder is too far back and your head is still looking down the wave and not into the turn. compare:
If you mean nose mounted gopro pointed back towards the surfer, i think the shots they get are the worst part. The videos are worse. With the camera fixed on the board, perspective is lost...the board and rider remain fixed while the wave moves back and forth behind the fixed foreground.
What Erock and pumpmaster said. Thank your Dad for taking such good pics. Looks like your on the right track, as mentioned earlier, keep your head facing the direction you want to go. I wish i could get one of my friends to take a sequence of shots like that for me, so i could see where i need to improve. Those 4 shots will help your surfing tremendously, as well as, advice from some of the guys on this forum. Great thread!
This reminds me... This weekend in the line-up, I saw someone who was turning his head in more directions than he was doing actual turns. I mean he's going down the line but his head was moving as if from a recoil reaction to his turns, except that he was not doing any turns at all. No harm done, except that it looked like a really bad habit, and was not aesthetically pleasing at all.
