My friend the MMA fighter C&C

ShaneF · Aug 30, 2013

So i had a friend of mine ask me to do some photos for him so he could post them around and impress the ladies

Im am still a newb but i think they turned out pretty good. The lighting where he trained was not the greatest so i ended up shooting at iso 8oo so there is a fair amount of noise if you start pixel whoring in on the images.

The majority of these were shot with my t4i and 50mm 1.8 kit lens and my 430EXII flash.

Let me know what you think all C&C welcome

1

Misuraca's by shutter_shocked1, on Flickr

2

Misuraca's by shutter_shocked1, on Flickr

3

Misuraca's by shutter_shocked1, on Flickr

4

Misuraca's by shutter_shocked1, on Flickr

5

Misuraca's by shutter_shocked1, on Flickr

6

Misuraca's by shutter_shocked1, on Flickr

7

Misuraca's by shutter_shocked1, on Flickr

jaomul · Aug 30, 2013

I'd say it looks like a calender shoot which I think is a complement. Your buddy should be happy

tirediron · Aug 30, 2013

Nicely done, but watch the hand/fist positioning (#s 1 & 3) as you're blocking part of his face.

Geaux · Aug 30, 2013

#2 is a winner, nice job

ShaneF · Aug 30, 2013

Thanks for the comments, yeah he kept covering his face the whole time. Just natural for him to do that. I tried to be good about it and keep on him but sometimes i was to worried about what i was doing and forget to re position him. I guess that will come with more and more experience as i become more comfortable with my end of things.

Derrel · Aug 30, 2013

Just have him print up and hand out/e-mail/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram the living daylights out of shot #2.

"Done".

Buckster · Aug 31, 2013

I couldn't resist playing with it:

Frequency · Aug 31, 2013

Well done shots....

ShaneF · Aug 31, 2013

thanks guys, i know im still a newb but i can see a big difference in these photos compared to the ones i was taking a few months ago. Its a great feeling to see your own progression and know you are improving.

ronlane · Sep 1, 2013

Not bad at all. #2 is nicely done. Can't believe the ladies haven't commented on this one yet.

Mach0 · Sep 1, 2013

Buckster said:
I couldn't resist playing with it:

i like the edit

ShaneF · Sep 1, 2013

I tried to get a look like yours buckster but this is as close as i could come to it.

cynicaster · Sep 2, 2013

Yeah, #2 is the keeper here, no question. I think it works because you caught a good relaxed pose and the distance to the background allowed for some blur to de-emphasize clutter.

Aside from the "blocking the face" thing already mentioned, I'd also watch out for unsightly shadows (see the shadow of the glove in #7, and the full body shadow in #3). That's going to happen with camera-mounted flash and no diffusion. Shadows like that can make an otherwise decent photo look like it came from a point-and-shoot camera with pop up flash. I'm also not a fan of dead-center catch-lights, personally--those are also a result of camera-mounted flash.

It sounds like you were using only one speedlight, so the fact that you were able to get a keeper of the caliber of #2 makes it overall a success, I think.

Maybe next time ask him to stand somewhere that has a neutral-colored reflective ceiling, and bounce the flash. This will make the apparent light source overhead, and will help cast downward shadows to accentuate the definition of his physique (not that this guy really needs help in that regard).