# Athens World Athletics Championships



## ThornleyGroves (Jul 18, 2009)

So i recently sneaked my way in to the Olympic Stadium in Athens and got 'trackside' so i was free to roam around all the events with the athletes, and i gathered a few shots! Here are 9 of them, C&C welcome!

1.


 


2.


 


3.


 


4.


 


5.


 


6.


 


7.


 


8.


 


9.


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## Early (Jul 18, 2009)

Nice shots, dude!  They certainly don't belong in this sector.


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## Antarctican (Jul 18, 2009)

What a wonderful series of action shots! Well done!


(Any tricks of the trade you'd care to share as to how you managed to get trackside??)


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## ThornleyGroves (Jul 18, 2009)

Antarctican said:


> What a wonderful series of action shots! Well done!
> 
> 
> (Any tricks of the trade you'd care to share as to how you managed to get trackside??)



Just extreme amounts of confidence pretending your meant to be there, also i know the Olympic Stadium inside out from football matched so i know lots of secret passages and when stopped by the greek police i just spoke english saying i am meant to be here 

works all the time!

Thanks for the comments these are probably my best shots yet, all taken with my D90 and the standard 18-105mm 3.5 lens... my 70-200mm sigma f2.8 lens hasn't arrived yet!!


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## fast1 (Jul 18, 2009)

my only question is," how did you manage to get so close?!" good job!


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## ThornleyGroves (Jul 18, 2009)

fast1 said:


> my only question is," how did you manage to get so close?!" good job!



just try and try and persist and persist


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## ThornleyGroves (Jul 18, 2009)

Early said:


> Nice shots, dude!  They certainly don't belong in this sector.



Thanks, ill move them to the general gallery then i think...!


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## Photog (Jul 19, 2009)

These are great, it's a shame your lens doesn't open any wider, because you could do with a little less DOF on most of them.
Did you try any panning for the sprinters? I've seen a few shots where it looks great. You could also try some shots with a slightly slower shutter speed and try to capture the movement. Keep posting if you manage to blag your way in again!


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## ThornleyGroves (Jul 19, 2009)

Photog said:


> These are great, it's a shame your lens doesn't open any wider, because you could do with a little less DOF on most of them.
> Did you try any panning for the sprinters? I've seen a few shots where it looks great. You could also try some shots with a slightly slower shutter speed and try to capture the movement. Keep posting if you manage to blag your way in again!



Thanks! to change my DoF i play around with the f values, yes? Nope no panning for the sprinters, but how do i do panning for the sprinters? Next time i have a go ill try a slightly slower shutter speed and try to capture the movement!


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## Photog (Jul 19, 2009)

Yes, for a shallower DOF, the most effective way here would be to use a smaller f-stop (wider aperture), but unfortunately the EXIF data says you were shooting at f/4 and this is the widest your lens goes at that focal length.

I'm not sure of the kind of shutter speed you'd need for panning, possibly around 1/30s. To keep the runner and blur the background, just follow him with your camera at the same speed he's running and release the shutter whilst still turning the camera.


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## ThornleyGroves (Jul 19, 2009)

Photog said:


> Yes, for a shallower DOF, the most effective way here would be to use a smaller f-stop (wider aperture), but unfortunately the EXIF data says you were shooting at f/4 and this is the widest your lens goes at that focal length.
> 
> I'm not sure of the kind of shutter speed you'd need for panning, possibly around 1/30s. To keep the runner and blur the background, just follow him with your camera at the same speed he's running and release the shutter whilst still turning the camera.



Okay great ill give it a go! the EXIF might say that because i was on sports mode, and i know the 18-105 f3.5 - 5.6 goes biggerrr! But ill give the panning ago!


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## Dylan-Fishman (Jul 19, 2009)

#2 scares me!

Brilliant shots


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## Baaaark (Jul 19, 2009)

The only one I'm not a fan of is #5, because of the other camera guy.

Other than that...wow.


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## c.cloudwalker (Jul 19, 2009)

ThornleyGroves said:


> Just extreme amounts of confidence pretending your meant to be there, also i know the Olympic Stadium inside out from football matched so i know lots of secret passages and when stopped by the greek police i just spoke english saying i am meant to be here
> 
> works all the time!



:thumbup:

And you're only 17? I predict a bright future for you. People used to ask me all the time how I had gotten into such and such a place or such and such an event and my answer was the same as yours today. Act as if you belong there and rarely will anyone question your being there.


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## ThornleyGroves (Jul 19, 2009)

Dylan-Fishman said:


> #2 scares me!
> 
> Brilliant shots



Haha, he scared me too, staring right at me! thats why i like this image!



Baaaark said:


> The only one I'm not a fan of is #5, because of the other camera guy.
> 
> Other than that...wow.



thanks alot! yeah it was pretty tricky not to get the camera men into the photos!



c.cloudwalker said:


> ThornleyGroves said:
> 
> 
> > Just extreme amounts of confidence pretending your meant to be there, also i know the Olympic Stadium inside out from football matched so i know lots of secret passages and when stopped by the greek police i just spoke english saying i am meant to be here
> ...



indeed! thanks alot, really like to hear things like that, yeahhh i pretty much blag my way into ALL events! haha


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## Misfitlimp (Jul 20, 2009)

i like the one with the long jump. Looks like theres a little noise in the sky in the background


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## Photog (Jul 20, 2009)

ThornleyGroves said:


> Okay great ill give it a go! the EXIF might say that because i was on sports mode, and i know the 18-105 f3.5 - 5.6 goes biggerrr! But ill give the panning ago!



Yes, it opens wider at 18mm, but by the time you reach around 25-30mm, the max aperture drops to around f/4 - just as at 105mm, the max aperture is f/5.6.


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## ThornleyGroves (Jul 20, 2009)

Misfitlimp said:


> i like the one with the long jump. Looks like theres a little noise in the sky in the background



Yeah i think its just the smaller picture as to why it looks like that! also the fact its on a night sky with the floodlights on!


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## ThornleyGroves (Aug 31, 2009)

these were the pre belgium championship trials


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## LaFoto (Aug 31, 2009)

Well, I moved your thread to the Photojournalism & Sports Gallery, as that's where they belong, more so since you apparently pretended to BE a sports journalist when you found your way into the stadium ;-).


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## Jaszek (Aug 31, 2009)

did you pay for the tickets to get in? lol. I must try that one day. Isn't the US Open going on now in NY? lol BTW great shots.


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## gsgary (Sep 1, 2009)

The running shots you should have shot landscape so we could see the corner and the other runners trying to catch the leader, most look a bit soft but not bad if it is your first attempt


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