This is a long overdue closure for Flipflops series. I wanted to get this done with before I left for my KL trip, but I wasn’t in time. And, I was quite tied up last week, since my return from Kuala Lumpur, so I had no choice but to futher delay this entry.

Most of these shots came from Day 3 of the event, I spent almost the whole day at the beach, till I got ‘burnt’, really! I had sunburn on my skin, and thankfully I’ve recovered now. Anyways, here is the series of beach activities from Flipflops beach carnival. Events Horizon did a splendid job in organizing this weekend event, and hopefully it’s gonna be bigger and better next year! Also, this entry sees the first appearance by Simple Viewer plugin. I thought it’s easier for me to showcase the photos, especially when I have a collection of 20 images or more. For most of the images in this series, I shot with 70-200mm, and only a few of which was shot with an ultra wide.

The tele zoom focal length gives me extra reach, especially when it comes to watersports and those beach activities. Not to mention, the perspective that you get from a tele zoom, it’s just fantastic. You’ve just gotta love it. Even though my tele zoom is considered a budget tele zoom (EF 70-200mm f/4L, it is the cheapest among its class in Canon), I am loving every bit of it. It performs well especially under great day lighting.

Nemo in the air

Can I help you?

I guess this is some beach skateboard, I don't know what it's called. Anyone?

Skating on the beach.

Preparing hot ai balloon

Hot air balloon rises to the air.

Getting ready for the race.

Panning with Ultra Wide.

Panning with an ultra wide angle can be hazardous to the photographer! That is because with an ultra wide angle, you can go really up close to your subject. And, to get the shot above, I was just probably a metre  away from my subject! When handling shot like this, you’ve also gotta be careful with the light source. You could easily include your own shadow into the frame, and we do not want that to happen, unless it was intentional composition. I tend to make that mistake.

The halo effect from the morning sun.

Beach Volleyball.

I am thrilled with sports photography, as I often follow sports like basketball (NBA) and football or soccer (English Premier League or FIFA World Cup). I always dream of having the chance to shoot at the court side of a world class event sometime in future. Beach volleyball is something new for me. It was my first attempt in shooting that sports. The only time I encountered this sport was through Olympic Games, or Asian Games where they live broadcast on TV, and of course the photos released by International news agencies. Beach Volleyball is pretty unique, I kinda like how the players’ movement and the sand’s movement combined to show the the momentum of the sports.

A talented designer and photographer — Andy Phe

Waiting for their ride

Feeling the excitement.

For the last shot in this series above, I hesitated on wether I should hop on to the boat or not, before jumping on board to have this unique view of a banana boat ride. I almost got my gears soaked in sea water! It was just that close! But it was quite a thrilling experience. Shooting from a speeding boad is very hard, as you had to deal with the splashing waters, apart from getting the shots right. I tried a few settings whilst I was on board, tingling with Shutter Priority mode and Aperture Priority. For some shots, I fixed my setting to Manual. Aperture Priority works best in this case, as the light is constantly changing due to boat’s movement, and all you need to do is to fix the aperture size.

For the rest of the images, please refer to the Simple Viewer frame below:

[svgallery name="110417_FlipFlopsBC_Beach"]

Click on the caption for an enlarged view of the images.

I’ve also uploaded the rest of the images here in my FB page, click here for the Flipflop Beach Carnival — Beach activities album.