In one way it was surprising that Michael Clark didn't have any surfing photos. He is, after all, a prize-winning adventure sports photographer known for his editorial, commercial and advertising images of elite athletes in artful action under often extreme conditions. He'd photographed climbers, mountain bikers, kayakers, mountaineers—but about a year ago when he was working on his new book, Adventure Photography: Capturing the World of Outdoor Sports, he realized he had no surfers.

"Well, I live in New Mexico," he says, with a laugh. "There's not a lot of surfing going on." So he headed to Hawaii to fill the gap, and when we talked to him recently we wondered how he'd approached what was for him an entirely new area of sports activity. His answer made us realize that no matter what our photo interests, there's something to be learned from the techniques and methods of the extreme sports shooter.

Essentially Michael went after surfing images the same way he approaches everything: with preparation and planning.

"I wanted good light, so I wanted to be there early and late," he says. "There" was the north shore of Oahu, where he could count on great surf, great surfers and great light.

He brought along essential equipment—his D700, an assortment of lenses (including some big glass—an AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR and an AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED) and a sturdy tripod.

Which is not to say that the unexpected didn't show up, too. "What surprised me was how fast it happens, and how you have to really concentrate and pay attention." Michael says. "If you're talking to the guy next to you for a few seconds, you might miss the best wave of the day and somebody doing something crazy on it. You've got to be alert every single moment."

And he had to adjust his use of autofocus. "The surfers are first coming right at you and then turning and going across the frame, so I had to understand how to set up my AF for that situation. Because the D700 has 51-point AF, I could pick pretty much where I wanted to put the person in the frame, and then as I moved the lens I kept that AF point right on the person."

So preparation is first on the list of what we can learn from an action-adventure-extreme sports photographer. "For a professional, preparation is a huge part of any shoot," Michael says. "I don't think most people understand just how much preparation goes into a shoot to assure that we can get amazing images."

At the very least, preparation gives the pro as much control of a situation as possible. "You check the weather," Michael says, "and if you don't have a good day coming, you move the shoot to the next day if you can. I look for long-range weather forecasts online, for two, three or four days ahead."

And if you're caught in bad weather? "Plan B is pull out the Speedlights and put on warming filters. Or change the white balance to warm things up."

If it's an overcast day, he might go with a speed blur at a slow shutter speed to call attention to his subject, or use flash to freeze the subject and blur the background.

"If you're going to be photographing an event, talk to the event organizers and be sure you know what's happening and when and where it's going to happen." In short, no surprises.

Many of Michael's photos call for him to get ahead of the action, and that's number two on the what-we-can-learn list. Michael knows where the climbers, bikers, kayakers and surfers are going to end up, so he can set up and wait for them. Even though you might not be shooting rock climbers, you can borrow the idea and apply it to family outings, events vacations—and certainly kids' sports.

"If I can anticipate where the action's going to be," he says, "I get to the spot ahead of time not just to be ready for the athletes, but also to take a couple of frames of the area before they get there. I check the histogram and get the exposure dialed in. If I know the light won't change, I just wait for the athletes—it can be anyone, a skier, a swimmer, a cyclist, surfer—and I know the exposure is dead on."

Number three on the list is know your gear. "A lot of what I do is about knowing how to use what my camera offers." First, Michael shoots everything in RAW format, which gives him an unaltered, unprocessed image data file, one that captures all the scene's information and offers him greater options for image adjustment in post-processing. Then, most of his images are taken with the camera set for continuous AF at the highest framing rate the camera provides.

While he carries a number of lenses, he says that for most photo enthusiasts two will do. He suggests moderate wide-angle to medium telephotos like the AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED or the AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED as good choices for one of the lenses; for a longer reach, he likes the AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED.

"If you're going to be moving around a lot and you expect quick-changing situations, it's a good idea to go as light as you can; carrying fewer lenses is not a disadvantage."

Finally, what we can learn from Michael is that although action is the main thing, it's not the only thing. Look for details, portrait opportunities and lifestyle shots, too. "With the surfers there were always shots of them carrying the boards on their heads, relaxing on the beach and hanging out. Just like with other sports—there's a lot more going on that's worth shooting."

At Michael's website you can view a selection of his action sports photographs, find out more about his book, Adventure Photography: Capturing the World of Outdoor Sports, and sign up to receive his online newsletter.