Comfortably Close
I can focus with my fisheye up to about 4 inches away from my camera and I find my self closer then that some times. Once the top surfers trust you in the water the rest try to get used to the comfort of having a camera in their face. I don’t discriminate, if you can rip I will pull the trigger and take the shot. Today on top of getting used to being inches away from a surfer on a wave, I tried to take some shot that other surf photographers uses as illusion shot. By tilting your fisheye lens you can make a surfer look deeper in a wave or a wave look bigger then it really is. Check it out and if you have any questions I’ll be happy to answer.
to get this shot I was literally underneath his board 
Got this shot by sticking my arm thru the wave as he raced by, I would say he was about a foot away
If you watched the Van World cup of surfing you will know the name Olamana Eleogram the only perfect ten of the competition, He was really comfortable with me up in his grill
The Next two are trick shots, the first I turned the lens sideways and gave the wave a circular shape (I over did it here) and the second shot is the tilt down making the wave bigger then it really was
thesurfingphotog.com 
It looks fantastic! Do you have photos where you didn’t do the tricks so it’s possible to compare the waves – the way they really were and the way they appear in your photos?
Where are you when you are taking the photos? Are you swimming on a board too?
December 4, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Hi Alexandra,
It’s hard to drastically change angles of the camera mid wave(plus on this day the light was bad so I would get blurry images) so I really don’t have pictures to compare of the same wave but I can send you different images from that day to show you size if you send my a email (danielwilliamfryer@gmail.com).
Also I try categorize each post on the left hand column (if you are viewing the web page not sure if you see it on mobile) of the location. 90% of my post are pictures from the North Shore Of Oahu, HI. Most popular spots are Rocky Point, Pipeline, Off the Wall (OTW) or Sunset Beach. Any other location I will say in the post.(If thats what you meant by “Where I am” when I’m talking these photos)
Other Photographers like to swim out on a Body board (boogie board) at some locations that are further off shore, I personally do not. A lot of the waves I swim out to are not for average swimmers. I can dive deep under a wave and miss some of the impact of the wave crashing, with a board you can get as deep.
Here is a clip from the final day of Vans World Cup of surfing a few days ago, I was in the line up taking pictures (to show size)(http://vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com/vansworldcupofsurfing2011/videos_view/final_day_highlights_vwcs)
December 4, 2011 at 6:13 pm
Hi! I’m sorry it took me so long to answer to your comment here. Thank you for so much information!
When I was asking about “where you were” I meant at the time of the shooting. I thought you also used a Body board. You’ve got the most exciting job ever!
As for the photos of those waves, I don’t want to bother you, really. I was just curious about how much the wave can be visually changed with a technique like that.
December 13, 2011 at 10:50 pm