Martial Arts Photos - Tell me What you Think

[camz]

So I had the oppurtunity to shoot for fun today. A friend wanted some photos placed in their website for promotion so they asked for a favor. They just opened a Martial Arts School called LA Boxing in Brentwood California. I really wanted to go natural light on these but the shutter was just dragging..oh well delt with it by putting the flash on and didn't get as many shots as I wanted too. I'm no Sports Photographer but tell me whatcha think of these. No need to CC all of them, just your opinions on the spread as a whole or maybe your favourite(s).


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

 

[camz]

BTW I went wide on the framing for some of these just in case they wanted to place their logo or text on the shot.

 

[RancerDS]

For natural lighting: shots 3, 5, 8 and last look really good. #5 really needs the left of the frame cropped out for the "glare". And judging from the shadows your friend is going to have to invest in some window-shades if that is the evening sun starting to shine directly into the studio/gym.

The action looks great!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Martial arts shots can be difficult indoors. Your flash made (predictably) harsh shadows. Effect is dramatic and stark but not really desirable, IMHO.
Multi-flash set up seems necessary.
I think, in this gym setting you will always have difficulty.
In some places, like high school or college gyms, the overhead lighting is almost sufficient for good shots. In those cases, a filtered, on camera flash will be all you need.
Outdoors can be great. Take the guys to a park. The guy in your shots has well defined muscles and some great moves, he should make a terrific subject with right setting and lighting. Do more and post again. This was a beginning try.

 

[bijdez...]

These pictures are really good. the lighting in the pictures make every picture come out clean and sharp. I really like pic #6 & #8. I like #6 because of POV and DOF and the angle of the camera make the perfect picture. I also like #8 because of the definition of the boxers physic and it gives you a good view from a boxer perspective.

 

[camz]

Martial arts shots can be difficult indoors. Your flash made (predictably) harsh shadows. Effect is dramatic and stark but not really desirable, IMHO.
Multi-flash set up seems necessary.
I think, in this gym setting you will always have difficulty.
In some places, like high school or college gyms, the overhead lighting is almost sufficient for good shots. In those cases, a filtered, on camera flash will be all you need.
Outdoors can be great. Take the guys to a park. The guy in your shots has well defined muscles and some great moves, he should make a terrific subject with right setting and lighting. Do more and post again. This was a beginning try.

Yeah I had a really hard time shooting this especially with flash but that's ok I had fun trying something new. I was kicking myself for not bringing any light modifiers especially the softbox. My issue was that I didn't know they were going to do b/c they were so fast - so positioning the flash correctly to where there was no shadow casting was challenging. So I may just lessen the eposure on these to reduce some of the harshess like so...

Original Exposure:

Lower exposure:

 

[Tighearnach]

I like them. One thing tho is they seem a bit cluttered or busy. For the shots with the heavy bags, i would ask them to remove all the other ones or at least the ones close to the subject to give it more space.

Some shots have limbs chopped off too. Intentional or not im not sure all of these are pleasing.

Maybe print some shots of your best and bring to the gym and show the guys the moves you want them to do and that will give you a better opportunity to compose as you please if you know whats coming....

 

[Eventer]

I really like Number 3, the best i think

 

[Dominantly]

I think they are all awesome. I like the shadows and the use of the flash.
I like #3 and #5 the best.
It also makes me feel the need to go to the gym.

 

[camz]

Great inputs everyone...that's why I think this place is so resourceful!

Ok so I finally hit the CS4 part of editing these. The pictures above have all gone through ACR and this is the first one I did a full edit done and closed. Sorry for the watermark as this is the final product...

 

[IgsEMT]

awesome

 

[camz]

Thanks IgsEMT!

 

[camz]

Ok gone done with these so here's the final sample. You can pretty much see the RAW from ACR posted as #4

 

[jerimiyah]

All the shots are great. It would be nice also if you have taken a shot with a few or one bag to see what it would look like. All in all they are really good and i like the lighting. my fave would be I like one and three the best.

 

[camz]

jerimiya good point! :thumbup: