I’ve had a Canon 60D for about 18 months and have really enjoyed using it for surf photography, nearly all the shots you’ve seen on this site up to this point have been shot using the 60D (with most water shots using the Aquatech CR-60 housing), but a couple of weeks ago I dropped and […]
It’s the time of year for 1013 best of round-ups, and Stab Mag’s is a good one to browse through if you’re after some inspiration for surf photography. http://stabmag.com/the-25-best-full-frames-of-2013/ I like this one by Laserwolf in particular because you can see another photographer in the foreground (Could be Zak Noyle?) with what looks like a […]
I’ve got a Panasonic GF-1, it’s a mirrorless camera which uses the Micro Four thirds lens mount, I’ve got an adapter which allows me to use my Canon EF lenses on the camera, I don’t get auto focus, and aperture control is handled manually by the adapter, so whilst it’s fun to use, especially with […]
You may have seen the post I did a while ago on using Magic Lantern to gain full control of your Canon DSLR even if you only have one button on your water housing, like I do with the Canon 60D in the Aquatech CR-60 housing. Well, it’s now out of date, development of Magic […]
I learnt a few good lessons shooting yesterday, I’ll no doubt get around to writing up full posts on some of these subjects at some point, but here’s the top three lessons I will be taking away from the session. Take a test shot as soon as you load the housing – I got all […]
You are probably familiar with the term Exif data – apparently it’s short for Exchangeable Image File format, for our purposes it’s basically a bunch of meta data that’s recorded into an image file when it’s captured by a digital camera. This is how applications like Lightroom can organise your photo’s, and how you can […]
There’s an interview with Morgan Maassen on surfcareers.com, it’s pretty brief but there’s a few interesting questions about how he got started in the career, he echoes Eugene Tan’s advice to Shoot every day when asked what tips he has for anyone learning surf photography: http://surfcareers.com/blog/morgan-maassen-photographer/ Do you have any advice for people wanting to […]
More on Laurent Pujol’s sick in the barrel angle, this time with a video from Surfing Magazine’s Behind The Shot article featuring the man himself, a must watch, even though it’s probably not a technique that will be on your must-try list: Behind the Photo: Laurent Pujol from SURFING Magazine on Vimeo. Read more about […]
You might have noticed me mentioning a new toy of mine, a Blade 350QX quad-copter, I’ve been fascinated with the possibilities for aerial photography (and videography) for a while, I purchased a helicopter to try and get air born but never got further than the simulator on my computer, it’s incredibly hard to fly a […]
Another epic travel based surf photography book, this time by Tim Nunn. I live in the UK and surf here year round, the water gets to about 9 degrees Celsius in the South West at the very coldest part of the year, I have surfed in the North East of the UK and Scotland which […]
Following up from the recent post featuring Eugene Tan in a Canon video, here’s an interview from a few months back on British newspaper The Telegraph’s website, the sub title is: “How to excel at surf photography” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/travel/4072/masterclass-how-to-excel-at-surf-photography.html There’s the basic stuff like equipment for shooting in the water and from land, he’s obviously not […]
If you’re buying for someone who’s into surf photography this year here’s some suggestions for all budgets that are sure to be happily received. Blade 350QX Quad Copter – £350 – it’s an awesome product and will undoubtedly be the best gift any budding surf photographer will receive. Numb – £30 -by Tim Nunn and […]
This post wont be for everyone who reads this site, but if you’re just starting out, or if you currently don’t have a water housing for your camera, a waterproof camera is worth considering, especially as a backup or travel camera that compliments your current set-up. http://www.dpreview.com/articles/3436829389/dpreview-recommends-best-waterproof-cameras?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=news-list&utm_medium=text&ref=title_0_1 The number one is, predictably, the Nikon AW1, […]
After their recent website re-launch Aquatech are rolling out the new style Delphin and Elite housings, which use their new, larger diameter port system, it’s been changed to allow the new on housing focus control system to be used on all the lenses apparently. One by product of this change is that there’s a bunch […]
I shot a bunch of photo’s on Friday last week, one of them is up on magicseaweed now, and a few more will feature in my forthcoming post about the new manual control script I used to make sure I got in focus shots from my 28mm f2.8 lens. But I also shot a whole […]
You’ve probably heard of Aquabumps, I follow on facebook and regularly see photo’s on magicseaweed, well here’s an inspirational video featuring Eugene Tan, the photographer behind Aquabumps, which focuses on his surfing and wave shooting and especially the Canon gear he uses in that process. The bit I like the most is the shot of […]
There was a post on Surfer Magazine’s photo blog by Rob Gilley a few weeks back which I bookmarked to take a look at later, it’s about speed blur shots, you might have also heard them referred to as panning shots, because usually you’re panning the camera at the same speed as the surfer and […]
Just a quick tip for GoPro Hero 3 users, if you’ve also got a copy of Adobe Lightroom 5, you can now use the Lens Corrections panel to correct the distortion from the fisheye lens, it doesn’t cover the GoPro Hero 3 + Black edition yet, but it’s got the original Hero 3 white, silver […]
UPDATE: you can now watch my review video where I compare the SPL Dome Port and housing system with the KNEKT GPLT trigger system. One of the drawbacks when using my GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition for taking still surf photo’s was the lack of a pistol grip shutter release, there are other drawbacks which […]
Whilst I hope to provide some more how-to style posts myself in the future there’s a host of stuff out there to learn from already, the resources category is the place to look for these type of posts, so if you want something more than inspiration check out the resources tab for some lessons in […]
There’s a few interesting articles on the Nikon USA website which involve surf photography, this is one of them: http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/g588ow0j/shooting-the-curl-gets-a-whole-new-meaning.html You can see a whole lot of Clarks shots in the gallery, I’d recommend scrolling down a little further and playing the video for his description of the images so you can listen whilst clicking […]
I’ve got a second hand Aquatech housing for my Canon 60D, I had been on their website before and seen a lot of out of date information and no information at all about their latest housings and ports, As I’ve mentioned before it seems like they were concentrating on their social media sites to make […]
There’s a couple of my photo’s on the Magicseaweed home page today, taken at Putsborough in North Devon, I’d only surfed there once before and it was pretty average, so it was a nice surprise to find some decent waves down there on Sunday. Check them out: http://magicseaweed.com/photoLab/viewPhoto.php?photoId=304518&browseSession=8d1503dc8a10c4239612500e786a6cc1&ourPick This one is from the beach, shot […]
Here’s an interesting one from the first round of the Rip Curl Pro 2013, a water videographer shooting the Rip Curl Pro at Supertubos in Portugal was ordered out of the water by Kelly Slater after shutting a section down on him in his round 1 heat. Thanks to the wonders of modern surf […]
I’m going to have to do a full post on my latest toy over the next couple of days, right now I’m just starting to get to grips with the new settings, hopefully I’ll have some more sample photos and footage to show you soon, so far I’ve just had one session with the camera […]
If you’ve been keeping up with the posts recently you will of seen the Kirstin Scholtz interview with surfcareers.com, which focused on her career in surf photography, well Stab Mag have just put out an interview with the ASP’s official photographer which covers a bit more ground, there’s a nice, more extensive photo gallery of […]
Fairly recently there was a bit of a merger in the print world which meant Surfer, Surfing and Transworld Surf were all owned my grind media, the news broke a couple of days ago that they would not be continuing to print Transworld surf, it will remain as a website. http://business.transworld.net/134084/features/grindmedia-to-stop-printing-transworld-surf/ It’s not that surprising […]
This isn’t really a budget option, with the professional Canon 1DX body starting at about £5,000 and the 1DC body about £10,000, they’re not in hobbyist territory. But what interests me is one of the new features on this housing, a zoom control built into the housing rather than the lens port. Information is typically […]
I was looking around for a cheap Sony NEX on Ebay, and I spotted a couple that had been converted to shoot in Infrared, I’ve seen a few photo’s from Infrared cameras before and always thought it just looked like a wacky filter, a gimmick. The Life on Mars: The Oahu Infrared Project article on […]
I’m kind of obsessed with seeing what gear pro surf photographers use, so whenever I see a photo of someone’s kit I bookmark it and make a note to check it out in detail. This photo shoes Sacha Specker with a lot of his gear laid out too, he takes some awesome photo’s and is […]
I’m a little behind on this one, Le Boogie magazine had some cool interviews with the top three photographers of the year, as voted by other photographers, I recommend reading them all but I’ve pulled out my favourite Q&A’s here: 1: Luke Shadbolt Have the last few weeks been enjoyable? I’ve been hanging in Ireland […]
Yesterday I participated in a 2 hour workshop run by Mike Searle as part of the Art8 festival in Newquay, it was good fun and highlighted a few things that I will be working on in the future. I would definitely recommend a workshop like this for anyone learning surf photography, there were eight of […]
The surf has been so consistently decent for the last few weeks that I’ve not had much time to write any posts, I’m definitely not complaining as it’s given me the opportunity to do some surfing myself and to put into practice some of the lessons I’ve learnt recently too. This post is just a […]
Any post which has Todays Lesson in the title is based on something I have learned on my most recent shoot, I am still learning a lot about photography, I even discover basic stuff that I probably should have picked up ages ago on a regular basis. Last time it was about setting the autofocus […]
Mike Searle is running a surf photography workshop in Newquay on Friday April the 12th, 10:00-12:00, it’s part of the ART8 festival, more details here: http://art8newquay.co.uk/ai1ec_event/surf-photography-workshop-2/?instance_id=979 Here’s a brief description of the event from the website: A two-hour workshop run by Carve and SurfGirl photographer Mike Searle. This is an experiential workshop and weather and […]
I recently bought a second hand Panasonic GF1 body, it’s a Compact System Camera (CSC) which uses the Micro Four Thirds (M43) lens system. The used but well looked after body, boxed with charger etc. cost me less than £100 on Ebay. I’ll go into more detail about this particular camera another time (in short […]
If you read my Surf Photography Gear – What I Want post you’ll know I was on the look out for a Canon 70-200mm F4 lens, I managed to get one for under £300 on ebay around three months ago, so it’s time I shared my thoughts on this very popular surf photographers lens. I’ve […]
IMPORTANT – please note that the latest versions of Magic Lantern do not support Pico C scripting, you can still use the scripts but you’ll have to use an old build of Magic Lantern, read more, and download the version I use, here: https://learningsurfphotography.com/manual-control-with-magic-lantern-updated/ I have a Canon 60D and an Aquatech CR-60 housing, this […]
Whether I plan on shooting photo’s or surfing I always have a GoPro camera with me when I go to the beach, I’ve posted before about which one to get and the settings I use when I shoot with mine on top of my housing. This post is about how to use it when you’re […]
This is the last part on flash photography in surf for now, I have got a new project which is coming together nicely at the moment and should allow me to get some better in-housing flash shots in the future, as soon as I’ve figured it out I’ll add another post. In Part 1 I […]
Perhaps you’ve seen my video on the basics of incorporating flash into your surf photography, if not it’s a good primer for the following discussion on the remote flash shot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kfwnNjxyHqA Just in case you haven’t read the Behind the Shot feature in issue 220 (November 2012) of Wavelength, the remote flash traditionally involves someone […]
The Flash I had been thinking about getting a flash for my DSLR for a while, when I got some Amazon vouchers for Christmas I decided to put them to good use and pick up a budget flash gun. The Yongnuo YN460 II has good reviews and comes in at around £42, it’s manual and […]
I will be going in to much more detail, including producing a video, in some future posts, but here’s a taster of the flash set-up I’ve botched together this weekend. Using some cheap radio triggers, a couple of butchered cables and a modestly priced flash gun I am now able to trigger a flash in […]
I’ve just got hold of the latest Wavelength magazine, issue 223 (February 2013), and it’s a surf photography special. I have a shot in the Your Month in Surfing section, it’s an in the barrel looking out shot taken at a North Cornwall wedge on a dreary day (the same spot as the big photo […]
I was just thinking about trying out something new and I knew I’d read about the style of shot in Tim Nunn’s Behind The Shot feature in UK surf magazine Wavelength, I’ve mentioned how much I like this feature in a previous post. So I had a hunt to find what I was looking for […]
You can buy a neoprene cover for your Dome port from Aquatech, but it costs $20 plus shipping, I decided to make my own with a spare bit of neoprene and a little spare time. Here’s how you can do the same: Materials This is what you need: Neoprene – if you don’t have any […]
Even if you’ve never edited video before it’s pretty easy to get a simple surf video up online for everyone to see, it’s something anyone learning surf photography will eventually want to do so I’ll show you how. This is my latest video, I wanted to get it on line quickly so my friends who […]
This is a quick video filmed during two sessions at Spot M, I will be publishing a full post on short video production a little bit later on. (Source: http://vimeo.com/)
A new type of water housing has been released by Essex, a respected manufacturer of custom and off the shelf housings. It’s called the Slant-X and it boasts a few unique design characteristics that will be of interest to anyone learning surf photography. You can find out a lot more about it by following the […]
My primary hard drive was playing up and making it a nightmare to use my PC so I decided it was about time I upgraded it to an SSD (Sold State Drive) for the operating system and apps, I grabbed the best value one I could find in the nearest computer shop. I ended up […]
Fisheye photography has always interested me, I got a snap on wide angle adapter for my video camera as soon as I could, at the time I was influenced by skate videos like Misled Youth and the water footage in bodyboarding videos like No Friends, I like the distortion, the extreme close-up nature of the […]
I just received the last ever issue of Movement magazine, it’s got a hard cover and has some great features. The one that will be most interesting to anyone learning surf photography will be the first part of the evolution of a revolution article. Movement Issue 41 from Movement Magazine on Vimeo. In it some […]
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was inspired by Trent Mitchell to take some longer exposure shots of empty waves, as my Aquatech housing gives me access to the top dial I usually shoot in shutter priority mode and make sure the shutter speed is at least 1/1000 of a second to get […]
Back in November I took a trip up to North Cornwall with a couple of mates, we checked a few spots before hitting a little sheltered beach somewhere with surprisingly only a couple of other people in. It was pretty small but nice and hollow so it was the perfect opportunity to get some shots […]
This video is a teaser for a possible future documentary on Russel Ord, in it he comes across as a bit of a lunatic who is not satisfied with taking average surf photo’s and wants to risk his life to take ridiculous shots in mental waves. It sounds pretty entertaining and you can donate to […]
I got up early this morning to go and take some photo’s at Bantham at sunrise, rather than rush in the morning I set up my camera in the housing the night before. The last few times I’ve used it I have been in manual focus with the wide angle lens, this time I knew […]
If you’re after some feedback on your own surf photo’s, or just some inspiration, these are my top 5 sites for trainee surf photographers. 1: Flickr I sense quite a lot of snobbery around peoples view of Flickr, it’s definitely got a lot of average photo’s on it, I pretty much use it as an […]
Chris Burkard talks about his surf photography, some good video of him shooting in the water, it definitely highlights the ability of the surfers. At some point I will be posting a top 5 Youtube videos which also features Chris Burkard. (Source: http://vimeo.com/)
After posting about my top 5 inspirational books and magazines for anyone learning surf photography I did a bit of searching for other books that might be worth a read, Jim Russi’s Flying through the clouds seemed like a popular one so I treated myself to a copy. First off – it’s not got any […]
This popped up on my Facebook feed via Aquatech, Chris Bryan with what appears to be a 7D housing strapped to his brilliantly no frills Phantom camera housing, so he can shoot stills whilst shooting ultra high frames per second footage with the Phantom. I assume this is just messing about, I doubt he’ll actually […]
Last week at work I put together a buyers guide for GoPro HD cameras, in the style of a DP review comparison table, it features the GoPro Hero 3 range and my current camera of choice, the GoPro Hero 2. Here’s the link to the full buyers guide with some more FAQ’s and links to […]
If you have checked out my recent post you will have seen the kit I currently have, if I manage to save some cash (or actually make some money from this hobby) my kit bag will eventually include this: Canon EOS 7D body, it uses the same chip but it’s faster, better and stronger than […]
I happened to be checking out Taylor Steele’s new DVD double disc special featuring Sipping Jetstreams and Castles in the Sky today at work, I’ve seen Castles in the sky and was pretty impressed with the India section, this article on Surfer Magazine’s web site has some more background to the spots they surf and […]
There’s some good information out there on which water housing to buy for surfing, I would particularly recommend Roger Sharps Blog post on the subject here: http://www.surfphoto.co/surfphoto/2011/09/surf-water-housing-buyers-guide.html But they tend to focus on what the options are for buying a new housing, which pretty much all cost over £1000, not that it’s easy to find […]
I’ve been researching and generally looking into the kind of gear that most keen amateur surf photographers use, not the pro’s who make a living out of it necessarily but people like me who have a full time job and want to pursue surf photography as a hobby and get decent results without breaking the […]
This list of surf photographers websites will be updated on a semi regular basis, whenever I mention a new surf photographer in a post I will put their website address here. They are presented in alphabetical order (by surname) so it’s easy to find a name if you’re looking for it. It’s been a couple […]
I started surfing before the internet, it was rubbish, it’s better now, but I did get used to magazines, books and videos being the only form of surf media I could consume. One night George Greenough’s Crystal Voyager was on Channel 4 and my friends dad taped it, we watched it about 20 times, The […]
I just saw a link to Trent Mitchell’s website, it’s very slick with a nice portfolio of great photo’s, it looks like it was launched on the 9th of November according to the first blog post. The second post in the blog is really interesting to me because of the images used, it shows the […]
I’m always on the lookout for some inspiration and having visited Portugal a few times for surf trips I know Vert bodyboarding magazine is a quality production with some great photo’s. They have just released a digital copy on Issuu, a web publishing platform which also has an Android (and probably Ios) App, so I’ll […]
I’ve just received an 18″x12″ print from Truprint, they often have deals on and I’d bought a print of one of my surf shots before as a present for a friend, this time I wanted to see how a photo taken on my new Canon 60D came out, it’s all well and good seeing it […]
I do like a good photo feature that is told form the photographers perspective, this series on the Surfer Magazine website features their staff photographers describing their experiences on photo trips. The first features Todd Glaser talking about Mexico: http://www.surfermag.com/features/behind-the-lens/ I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a bit more technical, I understand that […]
Think back to the first surf photo that you stared at and thought, I want to take a photo like that. That’s what myInspiring Top 5’s posts are about, finding the photographs that make you want to get out there and create your own. I will add some more top 5 lists in different categories, […]
My name is Ben Pascoe, I have been surfing for around 20 years and for about 15 years I have been documenting my hobby with a variety of cameras and camcorders, most recently I have been using GoPro cameras and Canon DSLR’s. I’ve recently got myself a decent water housing and upgraded my DSLR so […]
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I've been shooting photos and video of surfing for over 20 years.
I want to help surf photographers like me get the right gear and improve their surf photography.
Contact me: ben@learningsurfphotography.com