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Gymnastics

It was a simple question, “What makes a good gymnastics photo?” ¶ And for Louisiana State University student photographer Crystal LoGiudice, the answer was equally simple. ¶ “A good gymnastics photo captures the grace and the beauty of the sport.” 8 STORY BY BRADLEY WILSON SUMMER 2007

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To the ancient Greeks, physical fitness was paramount, and all Greek cities had a gymnasia, a courtyard for The first women’s Olympic competition was held at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam. The first person to

7 She elaborated.

“This includes, emotion, movement, good composition, good exposure, clean background and overall good quality.”

KNOW THE SPORT Of course, like photographing most sports, photographing gymnastics is not as simple as pointing and clicking. It involves mastery of the technical aspects of photography and composition and more than a basic knowledge of the sport itself.

Matt Stamey, a photographer with the Houma Courier in Louisiana, said, “Get to know the different aspects of the sport and how each is performed and scored. Just like all sports, a better understanding of the game will help you know what to look for when shooting.”

Grace Chiu, herself a competitive artistic and trampoline gymnast and Canadian-gymnastics judge, said as a photographer, just as a gymnast, it is important to practice and to be prepared.

“Show up to practice on the days before competition begins when the athletes are practicing on the competition equipment,” she said.

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WATCH THE BACKGROUND Photographers experienced with shooting gymnastics recommend paying attention to one of the biggest challenges: finding a camera angle that provides a viewable angle of the gymnast’s face and a clean background.

“If you don’t position yourself correctly, your background can distract from the photograph. A peak action shot is great, but if your background is too complex, the gymnast can get lost in the photograph,” said Crystal LoGiudice, a student photographer for The Daily Reveille newspaper and The Gumbo yearbook at Louisiana State University.

She defined a good gymnastics photo as one that includes emotion, movement, good composition, good exposure and a clean background.

“It is important to be able to see the face of the gymnast,” she said. “A bad photo would be an image with … little attention to composition and background.”

Tom Theobald, a California photographer who specializes in artistic sports, said he tries to avoid cluttered backgrounds by getting up high or getting down low.

“There is a certain three-dimensional dynamic that is created with elevation options (high or low position). Sometimes moving continued on page 14 12 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY

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jumping, running and wrestling. Men’s gymnastics was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. o win a perfect 10 in gymnastics was Nadia Comaneci, a Romanian gymnast, now living in Oklahoma.

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RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS involves the performance of five separate routines with the use of five apparatus — ball, ribbon, hoop, clubs, rope — on a fl continued from page 12

just a few meters in one direction or another can create a more pleasing line,” Theobald said.

“Sometimes the only option to clean up a background is to go up in the spectator seats and use the carpet as a clean background.”

Christopher Gannon, a photographer in Sioux Falls, S.D., said he tries to use lowangle shots. From ground level, he uses a wide angle. When it comes right down to it, however, he thinks the best choice is to “try to find the cleanest angle and shoot tight and long.”

Citing another concern, Stamey stressed the importance of watching the background for clutter.

“The gym is filled with wires and ropes and bars and all sorts of things,” he said. “Position yourself so you have a clean background.

Some gyms have a balcony level where parents can watch their children perform. That view can help clean things up a bit.”

TAKE ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT To help solve the problem of the dirty background, photographers recommend using a long lens, which inherently has a lower depth of field than shorter lenses. Longer lenses also help solve the problem of lack of access, often an issue at gymnastics events.

LoGiudice said she usually carries a 300mm, a 70-200mm lens and a wide-angle lens like a 17-35mm.

“A 400mm lens can also be useful if you have access to one,” she said. “If you don’t have a telephoto lens, get as close as you can, be creative and remember all of the photograph’s compositional elements.”

Regardless of the focal length, photographers said that a lens with a wide maximum aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider, allows faster shutter speeds, which, in turn, stop the fast action. One photographer suggested an 85mm f/1.8 lens or 135mm f/2.0 lens for working in low-light situations.

“Ideally, you want 1/500th of a second shutter speed or faster,” Theobald said. He explained that many arenas require using a high ISO, such as 800, at exposures of 1/500 at f/2.8. Images shot at higher ISOs, however, will be of lower image quality with more grain and more digital noise.

“Even at extremely low shutter speeds, time your trigger button for the ultimate acme of the gymnast’s movement. Often there will be a brief still moment at that point,” he said.

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loor area, with emphasis on the aesthetic rather than the acrobatic. Routines are scored out of 20 points. The music can contain vocals but not words.

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MY THOUGHTS

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• I try to put the brightest light source behind me. It’s usually the first thing I think about when entering a new sport hall. Where is the light coming from and how bright is that light? The next step is to spot meter a skintone that is the average for that light source.

• I determine a line of perspective between my position, the subject and the background. It’s kind of like a dance for me. A certain line forms in your work that has dimension. When the image is flat and has no dynamic perspective or dimension. Sometimes after moving just a short distance, the dynamic becomes more three-dimensional, jumps out at you and says yes.

You are the composer of this.

• I try to make the image as simple as possible. Small arenas often mean cluttered backgrounds.

• Sometimes it is the jubilation moment after the action and during the victory celebration. Medal ceremonies have many of these peak moments of ­emotion, and you have to be ever ready for them. A saying I remember: “Prepare for luck.”

• It’s about preparing before finding the “magic moment,” putting yourself in the best position beforehand and ­having the right lens and gear ready.

In addition to the above factors, work with light and pay attention to the line of fire, framing and the background.

The certain moment (of any kind) will be self-evident only to you.

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• My press photography tutor taught me on the first day that people want to see a face. “Show the expression,” he emphasized. He followed quickly with “Tell a story with the picture.” It’s easy actually. Crank in close with a big lens and go for the expression. Sometimes gymnasts with backs turned tell a dynamic story of artistic impression, but that is rare. You have to realize it at the time and p ­ urposely go for that stunning ­silhouette.

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ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS is usually divided into men’s and women’s gymnastics, each group doing different events. Men compete on flo Though routines performed on each event may be short, they are physically exhaustin continued from page 14

Christopher Trim, a photographer in Elk Grove, Calif., said that the goal is to capture the peak moment when the action effectively stops.

“The more you take gymnastics, it almost seems like the gymnast is ‘floating,’ waiting for you to take the photo,” Trim said.

Stew Milne in Providence, R.I., said, “A gymnast looks stupid coming down from a split leap, but If you catch her at the moment where she is ‘weightless,’ then you get a nice shot.”

AVOID BAD PHOTOS As quick as the photographers are to designate what makes a good gymnastics photo, they are equally quick to delineate what makes a bad photo.

Poor exposure. Little attention to composition and the background. Unnecessarily blurry.

“The kinds of shots that I might erase would be something completely out-of-focus, the peak action was missed, some parts of the body are truncated, there’s no face, or attention is drawn to the gymnast’s crotch,” Chiu said. “I would ask myself, ‘Would the gymnast’s parents want to see this shot?’ ” Adequate light is critical for shooting quality gymnastics images.

“Light is everything to good images,” Theobald said. And it is in short supply at gymnastics meets, is distracting or is coming from the wrong direction. “I try to put the brightest light source behind me. It’s usually the first thing I think about when entering a new sport hall. Where is the light coming from and how bright is that light?”

As Theobald said, despite preparation, practice, the right equipment and decent light, “many, many times you have to fly by the seat of your pants and make a little plan in the moment.”

Then he quoted photojournalist David Burnett: “The satisfaction comes from working next to 500 photographers and coming away with something different.”

It is that something different that ultimately makes a good gymnastics photo. n

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Terminology WOMEN’S EVENTS Balance Beam The gymnast performs a choreographed routine 70 to 90 seconds in length and consisting of leaps, acrobatic skills, turns and dance elements on a padded sprung beam that is 4 feet high (120 centimeters), 16 feet long (5 meters) and 4 inches wide (10 cemtimeters). The event requires, in particular, balance, flexibility and strength.

Floor Exercise Gymnasts perform a choreographed exercise 70 to 90 seconds long. The music must be instrumental and without vocals. The routines consist of tumbling passes, series of jumps, dance elements, acrobatic skills and turns. Gymnasts perform their routines on a carpeted spring floor, 12 meters by 12 meters.

Uneven Bars On the uneven bars, the gymnast navigates two horizontal bars set at different heights. The height is fixed (with special exceptions), but the width may be adjusted. Gymnasts perform swinging, circling, transitional and release moves as well as handstands.

Vault Gymnasts sprint down a 25-meter runway, jump onto a springboard and onto the vault in a straight body position that includes touching the vault with their hands and blocking off it. Beginners will often be upright while advanced gymnasts will block off from a handstand position and spring to their feet. The dismount may include one or multiple saltos and twists.

In 2001, a new vault, sometimes known as a tongue or table, replaced the traditional vault. The new apparatus, approximately 1 meter long and 1 meter wide, is more stable and safer so it gives gymnasts a larger blocking surface.

MEN’S EVENTS Floor Exercise The floor event occurs on a carpeted 12-by-12-meter square, usually consisting of hard foam over a layer of plywood supported by springs or foam blocks. Gymnasts perform a series of tumbling passes to demonstrate flexibility, strength and balance tests. The gymnast must also show non-acrobatic skills, including circles, scales and presses.

Men’s floor routines usually have four passes that will total between 50 to 70 seconds performed without music. Gymnasts must touch each corner of the floor at least once during their routine.

High Bar Gymnasts hold on to a 2.4-centimeter-thick steel bar raised 2.5 meters above the landing area as they perform giants (revolutions around the bar), release skills, twists and changes of direction. By using all of the momentum from giants and then releasing at the proper point, gymnasts can achieve enough height for spectacular dismounts, such as a triple-back somie.

[TOP] Photo by Jessica Crabaugh, Shawnee Mission Northwest High School (Shawnee, Kan.; Susan Massy, adviser) [MIDDLE] Victoria Normand performs on the floor exercise routine during the Saturday night rotation of the Battle on the Bayou 2006 JAG Invitational. Normand scored a 95.00 on her routine. Photo by Matt Stamey, Houma (La.) Courier [BOTTOM] Photo by Crystal LoGiudice, Louisiana State University Daily Reveille

Parallel Bars Men hold themselves on two bars slightly farther than a shoulder’s width apart and usually 1.75 meters high while performing a series of swings and balances that require great strength and coordination.

Pommel Horse The ultimate balancing act, gymnasts must perform continuous circular movements around the horse while allowing only their hands to actually touch it. This is considered one of the most difficult of the men’s events.

Still Rings Gymnasts consider still rings, arguably the most physically demanding event, to be the epitome of male gymnastic strength. The rings are suspended 2.5 meters off the ground. Gymnasts must demonstrate extreme strength and stamina to swing themselves on these rings while preventing the rings themselves from swinging. At least one static strength move is required in a routine, but some gymnasts may include two or three.

Vault Gymnasts sprint down a runway, which is a maximum of 25 meters in length, before hurdling onto a springboard. The body position is maintained while “punching” (blocking using only a shoulder movement) the vaulting platform. The gymnast then rotates to a standing position. In advanced gymnastics, multiple twists and somersaults may be added before landing.

Successful vaults depend on the speed of the run, the length of the hurdle, the power and strength the gymnast has in the legs and arms and shoulder girdle, the kinesthetic awareness in the air and the speed of rotation in the case of more difficult and complex vaults.

SOURCES • USA Gymnastics (http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/) and Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnastics)

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