Youtube Ride Channel, How to Skate Vids - Composition with Michael Burnnet, Part Two

In yesterday's released part two of the 'In Focus' series by Ride, Michael Burnett explains composition with more detail and specifics on skate photography.

He explains giving enough room in photos, and not cropping subjects to the minimum, which makes obstacles larger and adds more drama to the trick and rider.
Burnett also talks about using a shallow depth of field for portraits and other still shots, by using a large aperture like f2.8, which will have the subject in focus and the background out of focus. A large aperture is definitely used in various way and reasons in all photography, good element to experiment and play with.
Depending on available context, surrounding and what story you want to tell with your photos, he also explains that you should only fit what you need in your photos by filling up the frame, by getting close up to the skater, but if there is from to work with like spectators you may want to be farther away from the skate to include that as context to the photo.
Fish eye lenses are the most distinctly popular used with skate and other action sport photography for their distorted effects that can easily emphasize scale while still remaining close up to the skater and subjects.
Alternatively, Burnett shows how a longer lens can compress distances and also be effective.
He talks about something I've used before, but never thinking how much more effective it can be when applied to skate photography and similar motive objects, panning with mixed lighting. This is when you shoot with a secondary light source and have a slow shutter speed which results in a focused subject by your the flash and while you pan the background blurs.

What is great and absolutely helpful about these In Focus videos  is that Michael talks about these tips and shows past photos where they were applied, but then also at the end he does some live shooting with some of the pointers.
At the end of this video he is also encouraging to all photographers, even reaching out to beginners.

Youtube Ride Channel, How to Skate Vids - Composition with Michael Burnnet

I just came across this video from the Ride's Youtube Skate Channel.

In this part 1 video from a series of 2 called "In Focus" Thrasher Magazine's Michael Burnett explains composition for skateboard photography.

He points out several tips, from above and below angles, plain backgrounds, and geometric shapes and patterns.
Some of these elements can also be applied to street photography and inspire ideas for any other kind of photography.