Maurice Ping Leung  

Dragon Boat racing in Hong Kong by Maurice Ping Leung

June 2025 - Dragon Boat racing in Hong Kong

June 2025 - Maurice Ping Leung

Original

About the Image(s)

The Dragon boat racing (local) took place at the last weekend of May and the international racing on the first weekend of June, 2025. I managed to attend only the local race in Aberdeen, a small fishing port on the south side of Hong Kong Island.The international race has more than 16 different countries participating, including Australia, United Kingdom, China , Philippines and others.
The international federation has put very strict criteria on standardisation of the equipment and require detailed submission of the dimensions for the boat and paddles before permission is granted to enter the international race.
There are many aspects of the dragon boat race to attract the viewers attention-indeed too many and one tends to be distracted by the diversification. There is the dragon head , the drummer, the paddlers with the splashing water and facial expressions . I have found it difficult to show the many aspects of the race. (Original). The present submitted picture (main) only concentrated on the drummer and using the paddlers as supporting roles for the speed of the races.

equipment
( for main ) Sony alpha one 100-400mmm at 100mm f5.6 at 1/60s iso auto
(for supporting) Sony alpha one 24-70mm at 70mm f5.6at 1/60s
iso auto
Post processing-- mainly for cropping , minimal color adjustment

4 comments posted

Ardeth Carlson   Ardeth Carlson
This is such a vivid image, with a great sense of movementand a feeling of the intensity of the race. I find the camera settings very interesting, with the aperture at 5>6 and a fairly slow shutter speed for this action, but it really has resulted in satisfactory sharpness of the boat in the foreground and nice movement blur in the background. I prefer the main photo because the inclusion of the three jerseys colors makes the photo pop more.   Posted: 06/10/2025 11:15:56
Subhash Sapru   Subhash Sapru
To me your main image scores high because of its high visual impact, journalistic as well as pictorial qualities. The slow shutter speed has captured the prevailing situation nicely as that keeps me looking at the image where the man with drum in foreground stands out very well. I can see and feel the force of the participants. In the original image my eyes move from one boat to the other as these are distinct, as compared to it in the main image its all compact and only different colours of dress differentiate the teams, but that reflects the force and high spirit of participants collectively and its worth keeping the viewer glued to the image.
All said and done, I still feel the drummer should have a bit more sharpness and that could be achieved by panning the camera properly. Hope you will agree with me that panning shots need practice and repeated attempts, but in this given situation or events like this one does not get enough time and opportunity to experiment and achieve desired result in one attempt. And sharpness depends on many factors. Still you did well.
I would have kept the shutter speed lower than what you had but moved the camera along the boats a bit faster to retain more sharpness.   Posted: 06/10/2025 19:03:43
Karen Leonard   Karen Leonard
There are Dragon Boat races on a local lake every year. Companies sponsor boats. Their employees man the oars. It is always fun with the drumming and the races. There is always a good crowd.
These are both fun pictures. I do prefer the main photo, for the drummer point of interest. If the drummer were sharper, that would make the picture.
Lots of fun, both photos.   Posted: 06/12/2025 20:38:09
Leslie Larson   Leslie Larson
great motion and color. Quite an eye-catching photo.   Posted: 06/19/2025 17:57:09

 

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