HS Wrestling...1st try
brandofamily
Registered Users Posts: 2,013 Major grins
He's my 1st attempt at HS wrestling...
I ended up using the on-camera flash (SB-800). I could not get 1/500 even @f/2.8 and ISO 3200... (It was suggested on the FM board that I need to get 1/500 shutter to be safe.)
Here's an example and a link to the rest if anyone cares to look and/or comment
Gallery:
http://www.brandolinoimaging.com/gallery/6815791_NrfQE
I ended up using the on-camera flash (SB-800). I could not get 1/500 even @f/2.8 and ISO 3200... (It was suggested on the FM board that I need to get 1/500 shutter to be safe.)
Here's an example and a link to the rest if anyone cares to look and/or comment
Gallery:
http://www.brandolinoimaging.com/gallery/6815791_NrfQE
0
Comments
They're not bad. You have a few nice ones in the group.
Here are a few thoughts.... I think you need to work on your post a bit. There's just something missing. They're a bit underexposed and they lack "pop". Hope you don't mind, but here's a quick tweak for comparison:
I also think the composition in a lot of the shots could be improved. The captures are crisp, but most of them are not really compelling. You don't really feel the action.
Not sure what your positioning options are, but I'd try for a cleaner background. At 2.8 the people in the background on some of the shots do detract from the image. If changing position isn't possible, depending on the lenses you have available, you could try stopping down to f2 to soften the DOF enough that it wouldn't matter as much.
Hope this helps.
www.bellafaccie.com
You don't even need a flash with that camera. Your ISO 6400 shots will still be gorgeous. I shot a dog agility show with a D700 in a horse barn (equivalent lighting to a gym, if not worse) and was able to shoot at 1/1000th, f2.8, ISO6400. Without a flash though white balance will become more of an issue, since gym lights tend to cycle their color.
I've seen a few wrestling matches in Iowa
You might me able to get away with a bit slower speed as well. Wrestling isn't quite as fast paced as some other sports.
As for composition I was sitting on the corner of the mat shooting 2 matches at once... this stuff is for yearbook use... as for the action... not too much in the upper body type action... most was on the mat and slow...
What would you suggest for a change in composition?
f/2.8 is the best I can do and still have enough reach...
Yes I shot w/ my D3... I will give the ultra hi ISO a try next time.
As for surroundings, they aren't much to see... typical HS gym... boring... not a big event like in Iowa.
<o:p></o:p>
I rarely shoot over 2000 ISO with my D3 and I shoot in dungeons most of the time. I personally find that the loss of detail with ISO set higher than that is too great a problem if you every need to make large prints. However, that's just my opinion.... If you don’t ever need to go larger, then it doesn’t matter.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
You're only a touch under-exposed. I bumped a 1/2 stop, added a bit of contrast, some saturation and warmth. Take a look at the histogram on the one I played with and compare it to the original. That'll give you some ideas. This is something that is easily corrected in post and is not so far from correct that you lose anything. I mention that just to be clear that you can shoot with your current settings and get the right outcome. You only need to change if you want to experiment.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
If your subjects are pretty slow, you can also try slowing your shutter speed down a bit as Shane mentioned. So long as you're really working to keep tight focus on a face, the motion blur that the extremities might get might actually help you imply motion and action. It'll probably take a little while to get your technique down, and your keeper rate will be lower, but the outcome of the good shots will probably be worth the effort.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
There are problems come with such a limited location; you may have a hard time overcoming them. Shooting down will probably give you too many back and butt shots. Getting on your belly and shooting up will get you a dirtier audience background (however, you may be able to frame in closer to minimize that while getting better facial expressions...might be worth a try). Not knowing for sure what the other side of the gym looks like I can only take a guess that it might have a clean wall. If that's the case, and you can shoot from the other side of the mat, you might do better that way. Sometimes you have no choice but to work with the dirty background though; it kind of comes with the territory when shooting school sports.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
As far as composition goes, the action in many of the shots is not where I would want it in the frame. Take this shot as an example: http://www.brandolinoimaging.com/gallery/6815791_NrfQE#435651015_Pb94w.<o:p></o:p>
I would try to get the bodies left and up in the frame. By doing that, your subjects fill the frame properly and you minimize the dirty background substantially. Taking it a step further, if you were a foot or so closer to the ground, you'd be shooting more into the controlling athlete's face. Make sure your focus point is properly positioned to give you a higher percentage of properly framed shots. If you have your focus point in the center, that's the first thing I'd change. I move my focus point around as I shoot activities like this. Using the shot in the link above as an example again, if you had your focus point two clicks over and one up, you'd have the shot framed correctly and you'd have the controlling athlete as the primary focal point. Alternately, because you are very close to the action with a good body, you can probably move back a little bit and correct with some light cropping until you get a better feel for what looks best in post. Then start moving back in toward the action to tighten up the framing in camera again.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
www.bellafaccie.com