Maroochy Jet-Ski, a photo from Queensland, East

Photographer's Note

Good Friday, Maroochy River

This afternoon was spent lazing around a small bay near the mouth of the Maroochy River, fishing, swimming and of course taking photos of the landscape and passing watercraft. This guy was taking his children for turns on the jet-ski. Every weekend many jet-skis can be seen maneuvering through the river, jumping over waves at the river mouth, or heading out to sea. You can hire them if you want to also, per hour.

Although probably not best suited to the normally quiet waters of the river, the jet-skis are certainly fun to watch. They travel very quickly, up to 80km/h I would guess on flat water. It has been amazing seeing the evolution of such PWC’s (personal water crafts), from the original stand up varieties, to the more recent multi-seaters. Along many Australian beaches they are used by surf lifesavers to rescue endangered swimmers or by surfers as a tow-ride out to large waves.

I chose to convert to black and white here because of the washed out appearance of the original, and felt the patterning of the water would look stronger in grayscale.

Matt

Floydian, trekks, carper, bakes888, mvdisco, angela926, Tue, chpp, ChrisJ, MLINES has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

trekks (14348) 2008-03-28 23:15

hi Matt

Nice panning as the blur BG gives a good sense of speed and your shutter of 1/250 still giving a sharp image of the subject. B&W works fine here.

tfs, bill

bakes888 (18499) 2008-03-29 0:37

Hi Matt. Always good for a bit of fun. Nice action shot. Subtle blur on the BG helps separate it from the jet-ski. Well composed and thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

carper (96) 2008-03-29 1:01

yes I like the speed shot here, Matthew,
the black and white is doing well here, the composition is well choosen, it's a moment and you took a good photo from it, good photojob, I like it, good weekend to you.
gr. jaap

kschanna (6) 2008-03-29 5:16

Hello Matthew,

Looks like you were busy in Maroochydore, a very impressive rendition in B&W, you have captured the motion beautifully.

Thanks for sharing
Kamran

Floydian (30970) 2008-03-29 5:33

Hi Matthew,
Choosing b&w when the light is not good enough seems a wise decision because the main subject is excellent converted, The speed is cleary visible and the splashing water adds nice motion blur to it.
the black framing suits the picture well, just as your crop and framing.
Have a nice weekend, Henk

mvdisco (17798) 2008-03-29 9:05

Hi Matt.
Very well taken picture in Black & White, Excellent sharpness and contrast , good action picture and light very clair, Très jolie photo ;)
Mes compliments
Amicalement
Michel

PJE (20758) 2008-03-29 13:02

Hello Matthew. Although I have always considered that having the jet skis either entering the frame to be the best composition I feel that you got this one right dead on in the right place because the water wake brings compositional balance to the jet ski leaving the frame. I thus conclude that you achieved excellent results in this format, along with the complementary dark frame top and bottom. Nice pleasant results very well seen.

Keep up the good work!

angela926 (1884) 2008-03-29 15:35

Hello matthew,
I like the B&W, very good composition and point of view, excellent sharpness and I like the shallow depth of field, very nice light, great timing and lovely presentation.
Angela

Tue (93374) 2008-03-29 15:58

Hi Matt,
Great capture of the jet-ski. There is a lot of movement in the photo, thanks to the splashing water and also the slightly blurry background adds to this feeling. I think you made a good choice for this B&W version. The light is enhancing too. Very well done and thanks for sharing!
Regards,
Lars

chpp (4283) 2008-03-29 18:12

Hi MAtt
very nice shot, good focus ont he subject and nice effect on the water. I like the choice of B&W for this one. The light seems to be perfect just to see enough details on the persons
very nice job
cheers
C

ChrisJ (172408) 2008-03-29 21:05

Hi Matthew

A superb tonal range, with good sharpness & lighting contrasts, in this b&w image. Good panning, to retain sharpness on the moving jet ski, with excellent motion blur of the bg. Tfs!

MLINES (12516) 2008-03-29 22:16

Hi Matt, Good B&W action sports shot. Well panned to have the jetski clear and the background blurred. It is good to see the water spraying up at the back. Very good note. It is possible to have some more free water ahead of the craft to indicate where it will be in another second. Good work. Murray.

skippy007 (12510) 2008-03-29 23:09

Hello Matt,
Beautifully captured BW scene, good timing. Very well presented.
Thanks
Santo

batalay (41261) 2008-04-01 4:31

Hello Matthew,

Excellent action shot of presumably father and son on a the jet ski. The traditional life saving boats in Australia no doubt are strongly augmented by such boats that can make it out to swimmers in danger in fraction of the time it takes to get the large boats out there. Over the years, however, I've seen film of those spectacular competitions between life boats, and they are very impressive. The photograph works well in b&w.

Warm regards,

Bulent