My first challenge

I've just been to Hyde Park to attempt photographing some of the skateboarders there. I didn't appreciate how difficult this would be. I found that most of the pictures I took were out of focus or just the background would be in focus becuase the skaters were simply moving to fast for me to keep up! At first I just kept my camera on the automatic setting as I'm lazy and used to doing this, but after a while of unsuccessful photographs I had a go at doing it all manually. I wanted to find a balance between a good depth of field to solve the problem of just the background being in focus, and a fast shutter speed to capture all the movement. I got a few alright pictures using this method but found the shutter speed still wasnt fast enough so I compromised on depth of field by focusing my camera on a particular box then waiting patiently for someone to do something cool looking on it. This meant I had my camera totally ready to take a picture as it was already in focus and I was holding it really steadily, and it worked much better as I got most of my good shots from using this method.

I'm quite pleased with how all the above shots turned out. I did have trouble keeping the whole person in shot, as you can see above, I cut off this guys arm which totally ruins the picure - I just didnt anticipate how high they could jump! I also used the sport function on my camera which enabled me to take continuous shots which helped capture a range of different actions so I could then choose which one looks best. You could also display them together to get some sense of movement. The only problem with this setting is that it only focusing once at the beginning so not every picture in the sequence would be in focus.

I tried to take afew pictures using a slower shutter speed to get parts out of focus to really emphasise the movements the skaters were making. Most of them didnt turn out too well, I think the shutter speed was a little too slow because they all came out as a messy blur. But I did like this shot as you can still make out the figure but the long blurred lines capture the action well.

I just like how the shadow tells the story of what the bmxer is doing and not him.

This guy was taking pictures of his friend riding this box over and over again to get the right shot. He set up an automatic flash to one side to light up his subject and got low on the ground for a really good angle. I think this is definately the best way to photograph sports like this. If you know someone who is willing to have their picture taken and doesnt mind doing the same stuff again and again it really helps you capture the best moments, whereas I was stood considerably further away as I didnt dare go onto the actual skate park (too dangerous!) so I encountered a lot more problems, like people walking in front of the camera, camera shake as I was zoomed in so much and limited angles to take pictures from.