Words by Michael Chan
In my eyes, skate photography is one of the coolest aspects of skateboarding. Many experienced professional photographers believe that skateboarding is the hardest sport to shoot. Really, skate photographers are as talented as the athletes they portray: the skill required to snap the single characterizing instant of a trick matches the skill needed to perform the maneuver in the first place.
It’s safe to bet that you’re interested in either skateboarding or photography if you’re reading this. I’ll review the basics of shooting manual photos for those who are more familiar with the former. We’ll cover a camera’s shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings in this intro, and then discuss these features in combination with each other in another post. Let’s get into it!
First, we have the camera’s shutter speed. Shutter speed (or exposure time) refers to the period of time where the sensor inside a camera is exposed to light. Photographers refer to shutter speeds in terms of the fraction of seconds that the sensor absorbs light — the smaller the fraction, the faster the shutter speed.
Skateboarding is a high speed activity; as a result, photographers choose to shoot with faster shutter speeds than what may be typical for taking static photos. When I meter my light exposure time to shoot skateboarding, I normally choose a shutter speed between 1/640th of a second and 1/2000th, depending on the trick and my lighting.
Next, we have the aperture. You can think of a camera’s aperture as the size of the opening of the camera lens, which changes the level (or depth) of focus that the camera can capture. Smaller openings actually broaden the total depth of focus, while larger openings shrink the focus. As an example, pictures of grand landscapes (like photos of Yosemite Valley) typically utilize smaller apertures, while intimate portraits of a person’s facial features rely on larger apertures. To learn more about apertures, check out this link.
Photographers measure aperture in “f-stops”. A lower aperture such as f2.8 or f4.0 will let more light in, but it will reduce image sharpness, and your depth of field will become much deeper, as the light is not concentrated as much as a tighter aperture. There are pros and cons to using smaller versus larger apertures (a lot of this comes down to personal preference), but if you’re just starting to shoot skating, I would suggest anything that keeps your subject and obstacle in focus, probably somewhere between f6.3 and f11.
Lastly, we have your ISO. ISO is the same as film speed in that it is your camera’s sensitivity to light. However, the higher number we go with this, the more grain and noise you will have in your image. You can think of noise in a photograph as the level of imperfection you see. Comparing an old-timey photo with an image that you might find in the pages of National Geographic may best illustrate the concept of noise fast.
ISO is a tough concept to grasp, but if you’re interested to know more, you can check out this article. As a good rule of thumb, however, it’s best to capture as much light as you can (while still keeping your subject in focus) using your shutter speed and aperture, rather than relying on a higher ISO to do the work – the less light you manage to capture, the more grainy your photo will turn out if you turn up your ISO.
Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings encompass the foundation of taking high quality photos with any camera. Adjusting any of these aspects will change the nature of any photograph — like skateboarding, there are millions of ways to approach taking a photo; by experimenting, you develop a style that is uniquely yours. I began my journey into professional photography through skateboarding; I hope either of these pursuits help you find what it is you’re passionate about, whatever that may be!
— Michael is a professional photographer based out of the Bay Area. You can find more of his work on his website, www.michaelandrewchan.com or on his Instagram @michaelchanphotos.
