The seconds part of the gymnastics the rhythmic gym tool place this week at London’s Excel Centre, following on from the traditional artistic gymnastics. This sport is the exclusive domain of the girls consisting the four discipllnes of ball, hoop, ribbon and clubs. some of the world’s top athletes took part in the latest of the London Prepares series.
Runa YAMAGUCHI (JPN) competes in the ribbon, The London Prepares Visa International Gymnastics, Olympic Test Event, North Greenwich Arena, London, England January 13, 2012.
Nikon D3s, AF-S NIKKOR 70 – 200mm f/2.8 ED lens, 1/1000 @ f2.8 ISO 1600
Unfortunately due to work commitments I was only able to get a single days shooting so had to be content with just the ribbons and clubs.
Francesca JONES (GBR) competes in the clubs, The London Prepares Visa International Gymnastics, Olympic Test Event, North Greenwich Arena, London, England January 13, 2012.
Nikon D3s, AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR lens, 1/1000 @ f2.8 ISO 1600, set manually after shooting test shots and checking histogram
To freeze the action of the various pieces of apparatus used in the rhythmic disciplines a shutter speed of at least 1/1000th second is necessary. As the the light was very consistent across the floor I simply took a few test shots and checked the histogram until I was able to lock the exposure I wanted manually.
Kseniya MOUSTAFAEVA (FRA) competes in the ribbon, The London Prepares Visa International Gymnastics, Olympic Test Event, North Greenwich Arena, London, England January 13, 2012.
Nikon D3s, AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR lens, 1/1000 @ f2.8 ISO 1600,
set manually and shot from an elevated position in the stands.
Although the rhythmic gymnastics will not take place at The North Greenwich Arena, but actually at Wembley, every effort was made to replicate the same photo positions to be used at the Games, and I made sure to shoot images from both the field of play positions on the corners of the mat and the elevated positions in the seating stands. For this sport I found that the elevated positions were probably the best for showing the apparatus in action, especially the ribbon.
Victoria VEINBERG FILANOVSKY(ISR) competes in the ribbon, The London Prepares Visa International Gymnastics, Olympic Test Event, North Greenwich Arena, London, England January 13, 2012.
Nikon D3s, AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR lens, 1/1000 @ f2.8 ISO 1600
In shooting this sport it’s necessary to keep a sharp eye open for the amazing shapes made by the athletes and apparatus. One thing that’s for certain, these girls are very ‘bendy’
Nikon D3s, AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR lens, 1/1000 @ f2.8 ISO 1600
For a further selection of rhythmic gymnastics images enter rhythmic in the keywords box on the search page.
