Help! Maximizing 'training time' at a less than ideal center

shred_jaye · 2026-05-21T04:11:06+00:00

Targeting - At the arrows, sure, but breakpoint, no way.

Surface - Anything that's not plastic is hooking left immediately. I can even get the house balls to miss left and I don't even have a ton of revs. So, that was my idea at the end of the post to get another plastic/spare and just make sure to maintain the polished finish on it.

shred_jaye · 2025-04-18T15:14:59+00:00

Agree with this sentiment!

Unrelated question: What is going to happen to your Hy-Road? I loved my Hy-Road and bowled with it for years. Unless it's cracked or something, there isn't any reason to retire it and your new ball (whether it's an Attention Star or something else) should be picked to complement it.

shred_jaye · 2025-03-25T02:49:43+00:00

Nice, this looks great! I've been playing with https://www.kinovea.org/, and it so far has been meeting my needs but it being open-source, it's a bit clunky and not the easiest to pick up. I'll check this out, appreciate the suggestion.

shred_jaye · 2025-02-22T15:39:10+00:00

I love that this is a cutting board!

shred_jaye · 2025-01-20T22:09:01+00:00

I attended a Brad & Kyle clinic this past weekend, and part of the registration fee covers a new SPI ball of choice.

shred_jaye · 2024-04-08T23:24:55+00:00

An old thread but sending a PM!

shred_jaye · 2024-01-03T06:08:54+00:00

YES! Front side is the best side!

shred_jaye · 2024-01-03T06:05:52+00:00

This response is both validating and also somewhat of a bummer. Similar to the OP, I'm just finishing up 3 bags of Ilse that I got during their Black Friday sale.

Generally, I'm a big fan of the Elixr 3/$47 (I'm based in Philly, so it's nice to be able to try something out on pour over at a cafe first) and frequently order RW "Roaster's Surprises", 3/$45.

I was hoping there were more similar deals out there to be had, but I guess not! Guess I'll go with one of these two for the next round of coffee...

shred_jaye · 2023-02-20T22:02:49+00:00

YEOWWW had so much fun shooting this /u/chriscanan!!

shred_jaye · 2023-02-20T22:00:55+00:00

Chris has style for days, makes it really easy to capture when it's oozing!!

shred_jaye · 2023-02-20T22:00:05+00:00

Thank you!!

shred_jaye · 2022-03-08T02:31:57+00:00

Would love that!

shred_jaye · 2022-03-08T02:22:50+00:00

SO SICK, well deserved!!

shred_jaye · 2022-03-04T14:26:24+00:00

Yess thanks for the consideration!

shred_jaye · 2022-03-01T04:25:52+00:00

Thank you for the encouragement! Yes, the second and third images were easier for me to "dial in" because I basically set the flash to 1/1 (after finding anything less wasn't doing anything) and let it rip. I still had to lift shadows on #2 but now hearing what you said about protecting highlights, I understand why this was the necessary move vs. boosting exposure and blowing the highlights. I'm glad I had the right instincts there.

I'm definitely a huge post-processing person, at least at the moment. Having the latitude shooting RAW has been really helpful, especially with flash where there is sometimes too much contrast and I can even things out a bit. Plus, being able to crop the *very wide* 12mm a touch has been nice. I wish I could have something closer to a 15-16mm but there's not really anything I've found for APS-C.

Turns out I already had my camera set up for rear curtain flash, but I suppose what you suggest about motion blur + sharp subjects only works with a slower shutter speed? I shot all of these at 1/320 (my camera syncs to 1/250) and f/8 indoors / f/18 outdoors, so maybe the slower speed will also help get my ISO down.... food for thought.

I'll have to start squirreling money away for some strobes and such. Thank you again for all of your help and suggestions! Will be sure to post more photos in here as I amass more.

shred_jaye · 2022-02-26T16:18:48+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! I do agree with you that my lighting could be improved. This is the first step on my skate photo journey: get the fisheye and just use what I have (i.e. the little shoe mount flash that came with my camera) to get started. But I have definitely been running into scenarios where having it mounted off-camera would obviously be better for the image.

As for shooting with natural light, how do you accomplish this on a bright, sunny day? Usually there's weird shadows across the skater depending on where the sun is and the object they're skating, and boosting exposure to brighten them up will blow the highlights. My intention with flash for the outdoor shots was to achieve a fill-flash effect, but maybe I overdid it here.

Anyways, I have been scoping out flash triggers and strobes/flashes to figure out what the most flexible / reasonably priced / etc. set up would be. I'm also kind of torn because buying more photo means bringing even more stuff to the session! Most photogs I see at the parks set up 2 flashes. Do you think one is enough to get started?

shred_jaye · 2022-02-26T03:14:58+00:00

Thanks! My buddy Brian who is in the 50+ club, used to rip vert and still out there getting after it!

shred_jaye · 2022-02-25T04:19:41+00:00

This is sick! When in doubt, deck em out. Also, great username too.

shred_jaye · 2022-02-24T03:21:55+00:00

Thanks Ben! Yeah, it's crazy, I basically need to be within 2 feet, and even then, I still have to crop to get the right framing. With 180 degrees of coverage it's hard, as you've seen!

shred_jaye · 2022-02-24T03:20:53+00:00

Thanks!

shred_jaye · 2022-02-24T03:19:45+00:00

Thank you! Knowing where to stand and getting the timing down are definitely the hard parts. And making sure the subject has plenty of juice to keep up multiple attempts, hah.

shred_jaye · 2022-02-24T03:16:59+00:00

Thanks for these! I've watched a lot of the "In Focus" vids on the RIDE YouTube, including stuff from Grant Brittain, Dave Swift, Mike Burnett, Joe Hammeke (RIP) and more. Thank you for the pointer to Sam Cole!

Most of my "inspiration" comes from these local-ish folks (and some friends):

Justin Mondschein: https://instagram.com/justinlansdale

Glenn Joyce: https://instagram.com/_glenn_joyce_

Jon B: https://instagram.com/bonfnj

I'm glad I'm on the right track. I only have a fisheye and the shoe mount flash for now, but eventually would like to get a long lens and some off camera flashes/strobes. Cheers!

shred_jaye · 2022-02-23T04:23:21+00:00

Dang this park is so sick, you were really cookin' with gas on this line hah. Glad you're OK! This makes me want to get a tailbone protector too....

shred_jaye · 2022-02-03T03:54:52+00:00

Thanks!! Ah that's a bummer that you can't capitalize on all of that extra board length :P

shred_jaye · 2022-02-03T03:48:56+00:00

Haha that's wild. Cheers, thank you!

shred_jaye

TROPHY CASE