karate tournament coming up

gecko0

A friend asked if I'd like to attend a karate tournament this weekend (she has two litte ones participating). I'd love to take some action shots as a gift for her family.

The setting is a high school gym, so I imagine I'll be stuck in the seats (it's a fair sized event including adults...not just a children event). So, I'm planning on being armed with my 7D and 70-200mm 2.8L IS...but most likely no flash. I'd hate to be disruptive or messing with flash in a crowd, as well as the ceilings being too high to bounce.

Any advice for a first time karate photographer?

General settings I am guessing would be:

Av or Tv with high ISO (probably starting at 1600 and adjusting upward as needed), hanging around 2.8, and AI Servo for action shots.

I know this is a generic post, since most indoor sports (in gyms) have similar challenges. Maybe just watch out for the white uniforms and such?

Thanks for any input!

pathfinder

Sounds about right, although I would hope to shoot at f4 of f5.6, rather than f2.8, if the shutter speed and ISO offered are acceptable. F2.8 can get awful thin, DOF-wise.

Get down and shoot some from ground level too!

gecko0

Thanks for the reply...I know it's one of those "wait and see what the conditions are when you get there" type thing, but always good to have a little affirmation going in.

pathfinder

Shoot a few shots with shutter speeds way too slow - 1/15th, 1/4 th, or slower - you might like the implied movement captured by the blurred image.

theNOIZ

gecko0 wrote:

Any advice for a first time karate photographer?

I did a paid gig last month shooting a state Jui Jitsu tournament. The conditions you described were identical to what I found. I spent the day shooting in AV with my 70-200 at ISO 1000. Because the gym had big windows and the weather outside was partly overcast, I found that using a custom white balance worked best. About once an hour I took a white piece of paper out to the mat with me, shot it with the existing light, and then quickly set it to custom WB.

Good luck and have fun!

theNOIZ

And I almost forgot. Absolutely no flash. It can distract the competitors in a critical match. :beatwax

LiquidAir

I have recently been shooting quite a bit in a dojo. I use the Canon 135/2 and am typically shooting at 1/250s, f/2 and ISO 1600. White balance is tricky due to a blend of window light, overhead flourescents and reflections of bright red and blue mats. Hopefully you'll have better light than I do, but I would suggest shooting RAW so you can correct the white balance after then fact and be prepared to bump the ISO to 3200 or even higher to stop the action if you are shooting at f/2.8.