{"id":2647,"date":"2018-08-07T19:56:16","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T19:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/?p=2647"},"modified":"2018-08-09T05:37:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T05:37:26","slug":"shooting-artistic-gymnastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/photo-journalism\/shooting-artistic-gymnastics\/","title":{"rendered":"Shooting artistic gymnastics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not only had I never shot gymnastics before, but I’d never been inside The SSE Hydro. It’s a huge amphitheatre-like building (right), within the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), which also includes the original SEC Centre, and the SEC Armadillo (left).<\/p>\n

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I’ve taken many photos of its exterior over the past few years, usually at night, when it glows in different colours, depending on days and events.<\/p>\n

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On Sunday afternoon, I arrived at the media entrance to the venue, which was through the SEC Centre. I showed security my accreditation, and they took a look at my bags.<\/p>\n

I walked through the concourse to the Venue Media Centre (VMC), where I’d be storing any gear that I wouldn’t be using to shoot. Other than the volunteer staff and security<\/span>, there were only a few other journalists around. I guess everyone was already over at The SSE Hydro!<\/p>\n

I wasn’t quite sure how to access the arena to photograph, so I asked one of the volunteers. She very kindly offered to walk me over. There was a specific fenced-off route to take, which involved walking back out of the SEC Centre, under the overpass, and into The SSE Hydro through a door accessed via its secure car park. This route avoided us having to be searched each time we went between the VMC and arena.\u00a0And what an impressive space this venue is.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had only just entered the photo position, when a sharp-eyed member of staff spotted that I wasn’t wearing my grey photo bib. Oops! We’re not allowed to photograph without one. So, I had to trek back to the VMC to grab it, and then return to the arena. At least I knew where I was going this time!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I began by shooting the uneven bars from across the floor. Most of the other photographers were at the other side, but I wanted to practise getting wider shots, before moving in closer to the action.<\/p>\n

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This image is a composition of two photos made in Photoshop. I wanted to highlight the movement of the gymnast.<\/p>\n

I had started out with an aperture of f\/2.8, shutter speed at 1\/500, and ISO 3200. But I soon upped the shutter speed to 1\/800, because I was noticing some unwanted motion blur. This certainly helped.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, the action soon moved closer to me, when the beam competition started.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I quickly learned that the secret to taking good photos of gymnasts is to anticipate the action. The same is true of any sport, really. This wasn’t easy, though, as they leaped and spun and flipped!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not only had I never shot gymnastics before, but I’d never been inside The SSE Hydro. It’s a huge amphitheatre-like building (right), within the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), which also includes the original SEC Centre, and the SEC Armadillo (left). I’ve taken many photos of its exterior over the past few years, usually at night, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[57,53,56],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9xuMx-GH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2456,"url":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/photo-journalism\/countdown-to-glasgow-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":2647,"position":0},"title":"Countdown to Glasgow 2018!","date":"30\/07\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Glasgow, Scotland, and Berlin, Germany, are jointly hosting the inaugural multi-sport European Championships from 02-12 August 2018. Berlin will stage the athletics, and my home city of Glasgow will host the aquatics, cycling, golf, gymnastics, rowing, and triathlon. This will be my first major sporting event as a photographer. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Glasgow 2018"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/glasgow_2018_cmh-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2493,"url":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/photo-journalism\/picking-up-my-accreditation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2647,"position":1},"title":"Picking up my accreditation","date":"01\/08\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday afternoon, I went into Glasgow city centre and picked up my accreditation from the Championships Media Hub. It's based in the City Chambers complex. Upon arrival, there was court-style security, but I was pleased that my bag and I were whisked through in no time at all, and ushered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Glasgow 2018"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_9450-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2526,"url":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/photo-journalism\/the-great-big-opening-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":2647,"position":2},"title":"The Great Big Opening Party","date":"02\/08\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Wednesday, the 1st, was the day of The Great Big Opening Party. Preparations had been taking place for weeks beforehand, to build the Festival 2018 outdoor event space at George Square, which includes a stage and big screens, a bar area, and a merchandise store. First, though, I had to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Glasgow 2018"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_9537-576x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2588,"url":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/photo-journalism\/shooting-track-cycling\/","url_meta":{"origin":2647,"position":3},"title":"Shooting track cycling","date":"04\/08\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Covering the track cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome has been great! The speed at which the competitors ride past the crowd and photo positions is quite something. You can really feel the wind on your face, especially when the cyclists are up close to the edge of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Glasgow 2018"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_3246-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2621,"url":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/photo-journalism\/motion-panning-cyclists\/","url_meta":{"origin":2647,"position":4},"title":"Motion-panning cyclists","date":"06\/08\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Shots like the couple below are nice enough, but are what I would consider 'safe' shots. They're the ones I take of general views, as well as closer shots of specific individuals or teams, and their key moments. They'll typically be the photos used editorially most often. With a sport\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Glasgow 2018"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_0266-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2647"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2660,"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647\/revisions\/2660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.creativezealotsgroup.ltd.uk\/iain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}