So the first segment we're gonna try to focus on using just the camera and the natural light. You know, this is a better than usual scenario, in terms of it's actually pretty bright in here. Yeah, this is not bad for an indoor facility, it's got good light. Yeah, there's windows, which is pretty nice, and there's bright daylight LED lights to my eye at least it looks like they're daylight balanced. So we're not gonna be getting funky colors showing. You shouldn't, yeah. You should be alright with some lighting. And then I can't help but notice there are these awesome shafts of light coming through these three windows, like morning light. And so, I sort of one thing-- Photographer's dream. Totally, what I've learned is, if you see nice light it's like take advantage of it right away because it's fleeting and it's gonna go away, or clouds will move in. Or, the sun of course is moving. So, I guess my first question is, I guess I'm always thinking about what, if we have 90 minu...

tes to shoot or a day to shoot, what can we do here? And I saw you warming up a little bit. Yeah-- This obviously, let's start there. Yeah if you wanted and particularly use this, these four shades of light here, you could do flat ground stuff. I'm not a flat lander, you know, but I do certain tricks that you would do on a jump on the flat ground so basically any kind of 360, 180 bar spins, the basics, usually those make for a good photograph in a chill moment like this. Cool, cool. But you can see on the roller as well, the hump, you got some light there so you might be able to do some different actual tricks jumping later if that time comes for sure. Yeah and right now, this light has already shifted over to that hump. Why don't we actually take advantage of like this center, yeah these center sections, because it feels like these are all gonna kinda move toward the hump. There might be a little bit of, I think anyone that watched yesterday, there was a lot of waiting for clouds to clear, clouds to come in. So I think, let me figure out a first position, maybe even just show me what, what's possible in this flat area. I'll kind of ride through the light because depending on how harsh the sun is, you know, like if it's in my eyes, I'll figure out a direction whether it's going like towards this way or that way kind of thing and then you'll probably catch the shadow. And one thing I can already see is ideally the more you hug, if I'm looking at this light, the more you're kind of on the right side so your shadow kicks out across the shaft of light, that would be great. Yeah we can just try, we'll mess around with some flat ground bar spins right here just on the edge of the bottom right there and see what we can get. And feel free if at the end of that, you wanna hit the hump, go for it. You know, obviously I'm just gonna seek out what's possible in the flat zone and we'll feel it out. And one other thing that's important for anyone watching from home, this is not my normal one man band set up if I'm in the field. I'm not dragging a cart with a Apple computer monitor and laptop and I'm not shooting tethered but we're shooting tethered to a computer today because we want everyone at home to see what we're shooting and frankly it allows even the students here live to see what's actually getting captured versus everyone poking their head in to look at the back of my Nikon. And so, we're not quite as nimble as if I were really working alone today with just a camera where I run around and try different positions. So occasionally I'm gonna untether from the computer because I'm gonna see an angle that, it turns out it's really hard to roll this cart up this wall and so bear with us, we're gonna stay tethered as often as possible. Quick introductions if you didn't meet them yesterday. Brett Wilhelm, Brett's gonna be assisting me today, he's also, he taught the workflow class on day one. Jeff Johnson, lighting guru and Bly Gillies, he's our Photoshop guru and has traveled a ton with me. We've all spent a lot of time together. Gotta have men behind the scenes. That's right, that's right. That is very true. Cool. And maybe I'll let you start playing and I'm gonna figure lensing and then we'll-- I'll figure out the lighting and just kind of get a little warm up run in. Thanks Graham, psyched. So I think I'm gonna actually, just because the 70-200 is on here, I'm gonna just start compressed, I'm gonna go so ISO, let's see, I'm gonna take a guess. This is full daylight. Look at the shadows, that's already cool. So I wanna at a thousandth of a second to at least see what 1000/f4 looks like. Hey look at that. That's a pretty good guess. I'm gonna go daylight white balance. There's no reason I'm shooting daylight right now and let me just see what this looks like. So I'm moving my focus point. It looks like I have good exposure actually in the shadow but I think I'm gonna push it a little bit. There we go, when he gets into this rim, let me go a few frames back, that was starting to work. I'm gonna open up just slightly. How are we doing on the histograms? Do I have a little-- You can open up a bit, yeah your highlights are still fine. Yeah that's a sweet spot right there. Put you in the light. And so that was kind of, can I open up a little more? You could go a little more but you're better. Maybe a third. Cool. So you'll notice I'm shooting a burst of images. That's the beauty of shooting with natural light is that I can actually, I'm not limited to one frame or you know, one opportunity with the strobes. So I'm a thousandth of a second. I'm a thousandth of a second, f4, 800 ISO, daylight white balance and I'm on a Nikon D which I just got which is really exciting. And I'm using a 70-200 f/2.8 lens which is kind of one of my workhorse lenses. So I'm gonna kind of just move around a little bit and see if I can't-- And Cory, I'd come down a touch unless we bring those highlights back in. I'll just go down to 640 ISO. Would it be cool if we just, kind of walk around? Yeah, yeah, I think as long as you, yup, absolutely. Feel free to roam around. I might just pull the cart over here a bit guys and I think what I'd love to do is actually, possible, maybe we go as close to this, this edge and I'm gonna try to slide up here. And Cory if you're willing to take one more pass, that looked great. And I'll warn, yeah, that was, that, that zone, that was kind of it. And I'll warn you, I'm guilty of saying one more but I mean 20. Cool, that looks great. I'm gonna try to get a little bit higher.

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Corey Rich

Corey Rich has built a life and career around his passions for travel, adventure, and telling stories with his camera. With a background in rock climbing and photojournalism, Corey’s work spans a range of genres, from iconic still imagery for leading editorial publications, to television spots and films, to directing high-production-value commercial projects for Fortune 100 companies. 

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topics covered in this class

Commercial Adventure & Sports Digital Photography Digital Photography Digital Photography

Ratings and Reviews

Zoe Heimdal

I really enjoyed this class! I am not an "action sports photographer" -- just an avid photo enthusiast, and I found this class highly informative/interesting. Corey has a very down-to-earth quality in the way he presents information... a regular guy, who knows a ton, and is sharing his wisdom. Clearly many topics/tips were off-the-cuff as he ran into situations during his shoots -- it just felt very "real" -- like I was there with him, getting a private lesson. There was quite a bit of info dealing with camera cards/photos/apps that was ubiquitous to any photographer. And then it was interesting to hear about his travel bags and what he brings to shoots (a ridiculous amount of gear, but everything with a purpose). There are hours of on-site filming for an outdoor ski and an indoor bmx shot... with Cory trying/failing/succeeding in many attempts at things -- just like a real photo shoot would happen. His advice for capturing a good/workable shot from the get-go and then spending the time on the riskier/more-creative shots, was solid -- as far as keeping your clients happy no matter what. I was genuinely surprised at how interesting/useful I found this class (being that I rarely take action shots) -- and I'd encourage any photo enthusiast, or person in the earlier stages of any professional photography career, to check out this class. My one piece of constructive criticism for Cory/CreativeLive -- try to represent women? This class only had the briefest of inclusion of females, and left me with the impression (I'm hoping incorrectly), that the world of action sports photography, is a man's world.

a Creativelive Student

If you're looking to learn from one of the greats of action photography who also happens to be an incredible instructor, look no further! Corey Rich and his fantastic team will show you every facet of being a great action photographer and they share all of their insights from A to Z. Their instruction is heartfelt and they laid it all out there for everyone's benefit. A huge thank you to Creative Live and Red Bull Photography for bringing this to the world. This is a must have class in your library!

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Scouting Location for Action Shot: Indoor BMX Park & Natural Light

Scouting Location for Action Shot: Indoor BMX Park & Natural Light

Lesson Info

33. Scouting Location for Action Shot: Indoor BMX Park & Natural Light

Lessons

Class Introduction

What Makes A Great Action Photo

Conceptualize the Shoot

Research Location / Wardrobe / Props for Action Shoot

Safety Tips for Action Photographers

What Gear Do I Need? Packing and Prep

Workflow and Asset Management

Ingesting and Organizing Files

Editing Down Your Selects

Post Processing Overview

Working with Clients to Select Finals

Retouching & Post Processing: Image 1

Retouching & Post Processing: Image 2

Retouching & Post Processing: Image 3

Final Client Delivery

Introduction to Snow Athletes

Setting up the Shot: Using Natural Light

Getting that First Action Shot: Snow Park

Scouting Location for Action Shot: Snow Park

Capturing Variation of Snow Park Action Shot

Refining the Snow Park Action Shot

Action Shot with Strobes Overview

Shoot: Action Shot with Strobes

How to Light Using Strobes

Action Shoot: Snow Park with Strobes

Refining the Snow Park Action Shoot: Using Strobes

Capturing Variation with Snow Park Athletes

Capturing Portraits: Snowboarder

Capturing Portrait: Skier

Shoot: Feature Jump Action Shot Afternoon Natural Light

Introduction to Today's Shoot

Building a Rapport with the Athlete: BMX Rider