HS Wrestling

donek

Wrestling isn't really my thing, but I got the assignment from the paper. They had 4 mats running, so strobing wasn't an option. I opted to place a flash off to the side and shoot about 6 feet away from it. Let me know what you think.

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johng

Some nice action and sharp. But too much flash burn - it's a bit too stark. I'd recommend toning down the flash so you get more natural flesh tones.

donek

I agree. They came out a bit hot and the shadows were pretty harsh. Not sure if I should turn it down or add a diffuser.

sportsshooter06

donek wrote:

I agree. They came out a bit hot and the shadows were pretty harsh. Not sure if I should turn it down or add a diffuser.

nice shots, a bit tight.

the lighting is very distracting, can't you just use some fill or -ev on your flash, just to open the lowlights a bit.

The photos would look great if more natural looking.

donek

sportsshooter06 wrote:

nice shots, a bit tight.

the lighting is very distracting, can't you just use some fill or -ev on your flash, just to open the lowlights a bit.

The photos would look great if more natural looking.

Was firing remotely with a radio trigger. The flash was set at 1/4 35mm. I could have turned it down, but would have lost some stopping power. Next time I'll try something a bit different.

I tried bouncing off the ceiling, but that left their faces in shadow. I suppose next time I could leave the flash on camera with a diffuser and set my exposure closer to ambient. Then let the flash fire in ttl to open the shadows. I think I'd be hard pressed to get the f4 I used and a ss capable of stopping the action.

Any other advise?

cornerketch

nice ..
Nice shots, flash is a little hot but you are working on that..

The key is you see the action. and the emotion.. strength.. and you didn't publish any butt shots..

I shot HS wrestling for 4 years while my son wrestled, I hope you make sure the wrestlers see these pics.. For some of the guys this is the only record that they ever wrestled, they never make states, never make a school record, but they wrestled..

As you can see I appreciate wrestlers..

Shootin1st

Great shots of the action, blood and all!

crockett

The shots are good but the light here is the problem as already mentioned.

I believe the harsh lightning is coming from so much fall-off. Was the flash quite close to the action?

The closer the light source is to the subject the quicker it will fall off and create that mismatch between the light on the subjects and the light on the background.

Let say the flash was typically 10' from the wrestlers. I would try putting it 15' set 1/2 power (I believe this would yield the same exposure) and it should give you a lot less fall off.

You could try opening up your aperature but I'm guessing you were already wide open? If you weren't wide open, then open up your aperature and this will raise the ambient and you'll be able to use less flash.

I would be tempted to try 3/4 to full power at a longer distance with a bit of diffusion.