Short Notice shooting help!

Aloner

I just found out that i'm going to be shooting a high school wrestling match tonight. I really don't know what to do to get the best shots and was hoping maybe someone lurking tonight could give me a quick answer.

I'll be shooting from the floor in a low light gym with a Canon Rebel XT with the kit lens and a Sigma 70-300 f/4 or something close to it (don't have the equipment with me now). I don't know if i should use a flash (only have the built in one) or just boost the ISO to 1600? Would I even be able to get a bright enough shot at ISO 1600 and a 150ish shutter?

Thanks in advance

digismile

I don't expect you'll be able to get the kind of shutter speed you want by available light. The onboard flash won't do a lot, except give some unwanted shadows.

If it were me, I would use a 50mm f1.8 lens and get down low to the mat, as close as you can get. You'll have a better chance of getting the kinds of shutter speeds you want.

When I used to wrestle in High school, the school photographers were allowed to get pretty much to the edge of the mat.

Hope this helps,

Brad

StevenV

also, take a known white with you and get a shot of it at mat-level then set that as your custom white balance. funky gym lighting combined with the color of mats plays havok with auto.

Aloner

Well i just got back and I got a lot more good shots than I had expected. I was able to get pretty close but still used the Sigma 70-300 (I like close crops ) I boosted my ISO to 1600 (suprisingly good on the XT, was impressed ) and shot with built in flash. I also set the white balance, and what a difference that made, thanks digismile.

Here's an example on one of my shots. Tell me what you think.

Pic info

1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600, 238 mm

StevenV

Aloner wrote:

Here's an example on one of my shots. Tell me what you think.

darn good, and a heck of a lot better than my first wrestling pix were