The gold medal match gave the crowd an exciting three sets, won eventually by the Argentines Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug ( who entered the tournament as the favourites). The Argentines won the first set 21-17 but faltered slightly in the second, losing 21-19 to Cubans Lilianna Flores and Leila Martinez. However, the third set was dominated by the blue and white, winning with a 15-7 score.
For those interested in the photographic aspects, the intermittent clouds forced one to be nimble with shutter speed settings. When the sun was out, and considering the reflective nature of the sand, shutter speeds of 1/1250 to 1/2000 seconds were used and were very useful to capture the fast-paced action. In the cloudy moments, however, shutter speed was reduced to as low as 1/600 second. ISO was 320 throughout. When photographing beach volleyball, the camera is always drawn to the action at the net, which is relatively predictable. What is much harder to capture is play away from the net, especially attempted shot retrievals. I found several interesting sunglass reflections when editing and also noted the grains of sand in some of the close-up photos. Facial expressions can be quite interesting. I was especially lucky to get all four players in the photo at match point during the gold medal game. But without a doubt, the close-up of the emotions of Melissa at the disappointment of losing is my personal (yet sad) favourite.
Peeter Põldre
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PHOTO GALLERY – Potos by Peeter Põldre (2015)
