A Blow to the Head

wxwax

Otherwise known as boxing. :evil

I took my camera to a boxing event a week ago Friday. Our seats were pretty darn good - elevated, and about 20 yards from the ring, I guess, maybe less, I'm bad with distances.

I used the 70-200 f2.8 IS. There appeared to be OK light, although it was uneven. I fiddled with my settings quite a bit, got the best results with Aperature Priority, ISO 1600, f2.8, Exposure Compensation -1/3. At times, that gave me adequate shutter speed. The camera still seemed to struggle with autofocus a bit, quite a few out-of-focus images.

I yearned to be at ringside, shooting under the ropes. That may yet happen at some point in the future, sure hope so.

I found it difficult to shoot tight. These guys and women move around a bit, they lunge a lot, so it's very difficult to keep a tight frame and still get the good bits. So I usually framed it kinda loose, expecting to crop heavily.

I did not do a custom white balance. Because I shoot in RAW, I reckon I was able to correct the images to a more or less acceptable degree. I'm slowly edging towards buying a white balance card and doing custom white balances.

Anyway, not many good images came out of this. I'm not too discouraged, sort of what I was expecting, for a noob. In the future I hope I get a chance to get by the canvas with a 16-36, or maybe a 35 f1.4 - that would be sweet.

EXIF in image.

wxwax

On the Ropes.

This guy was toast. Went down more than once. The ump called the fight. Very entertaining to watch guys in their first fights - they seem to be all-out brawls, not a lot of finesse. This dude could stand to lose a little gut, too. Unlike me.

EXIF in photo

4labs

Where are the women Sid? Well you know you got at least one great shot..Thnxs for sharing.

gus

Good catch waxedfruit. I imagine they would be quite fast but you got 'em.

We had a bush boxing troop come to town last week ...dont know if you get them but they line up & you pick which one you fight & get about $10/min if you last. I really wish i had a camera for that.

Lot of drunks from the crowd with mashed noses

gus

wxwax wrote:

On the Ropes.

This guy was toast. Went down more than once. The ump called the fight. Very entertaining to watch guys in their first fights - they seem to be all-out brawls, not a lot of finesse. This dude could stand to lose a little gut, too. Unlike me.

EXIF in photo

Great shot !! You did well mate

wxwax

Same dude, earlier in the fight. The other guy kept really low the whole time, didn't really get tagged. Our friend ws rocked many a time, eventually his lack of form was his downfall.

EXIF in photo.

wxwax

4labs wrote:

Where are the women Sid? Well you know you got at least one great shot..Thnxs for sharing.

I got one that's barly usable, it's soft. I'm going to try the Extreme Sharpen method to see if I can salvage the shot.

wxwax

Thanks, mungus. I reckon the trick is to anticipate as much as possible, so you're in rhythm with the boxers, and aren't too surprised when stuff happens. That amateur stuff you saw would be fun - but rotten light, I reckon.

fish

Interesting shots, waxy. Where's the "blow to the head" tho? :confused

Charlie Brown

wxwax wrote:

I got one that's barly usable, it's soft. snip

????roflroflroflroflroflroflD:D:Dhuhrolleyescrycrycry:cryscratchscratchroflroflrofl



bwaaaaaahhhhahahahahahaaaaaahhhhaaaaaaaaaaa

gus

fish wrote:

Interesting shots, waxy. Where's the "blow to the head" tho? :confused

Next to my 2 stroke 4 valve yamaha you you you... pedantic person you !

Andy

good work, sid! i don't believe i've seen boxing on dgrin before

wxwax

Here's your blow to the head, fishfoodie. I believe this is the one that sent red to the canvas for good. This was a grudge rematch, red won the first one, lost this one on a decisive KO. She could barely walk to her corner. As I said, the shot's soft, this is the most sharpening I'll do without a ton of noise showing up.

EXIF in image.

Andy

wxwax wrote:

Here's your blow to the head, fishfoodie. I believe this is the one that sent red to the canvas for good. This was a grudge rematch, red won the first one, lost this one on a decisive KO. She could barely walk to her corner. As I said, the shot's soft, this is the most sharpening I'll do without a ton of noise showing up.

EXIF in image.

i think this is how my dw got so she can kick my butt, even tho she's 5-2 and 104lbs

super shot, waxonwaxoff!

Charlie Brown

i think fish wants card girls.

nice shots though man...

fish

wxwax wrote:

Here's your blow to the head, fishfoodie.

:nah that's after the blow to the head. You need to turn on your continuous drive and shoot through the punch, that way you'll get one with glove on face. It's just like shooting the batter in baseball...you want the shot of the bat connecting with the ball.

Like this:









extra credit: name the boxers.

wxwax

Well, duh! I know that. Tried it too. As I said, they tend to move rather quickly. If it was easy to predict when a punch was going to hit a head, do you think many fights would end in a knockout? Hence the phrase "fast hands."

I got the barrel of my Gatling smoking hot, but if you pull the trigger too late, or the focus is soft, or if the actual moment of contact is between frames (even in Gatling mode) then you don't have a shot.

I know and admire great boxing shots. Would love to get the spray of sweat someday (Friday's fights didn't go long enough for the boxers to get that sweaty.)

Alright, let's name the boxers. I can't get them all. In the first, I think Ernie Shavers, don't know the chunkier dude. In the second, I'm going with George Foreman and Ken Norton. In the third, it's Dreadful Dad against the Abominable Snowman.

Steve Cavigliano

These are good Sid I like the girl boxer pic the best....lol It looks plenty sharp to me too.


I bet Andy is correct about your's being the first boxing pics posted here. WTG!!

Thanks for sharing them,
Steve


The middle pic is Foreman vs Norton (damn they look old), the last one is Harry B saying goodbye to NY and Mrs Snowman....lol and the top pic is 2 really overweight stiffs. So do I win the Dgrin T-shirt?

wxwax

Uh, I meant to say Toney-Holyfield, of course.

And the famous Foreman-Foreman bout of '97.... or was it '93?

And I'd recognize a Joe Louis right hand anywhere. I mean, who wouldn't?

wxwax

Other famous shots of George Foreman.

Seamus

Humungus wrote:

Good catch waxedfruit. I imagine they would be quite fast but you got 'em.

We had a bush boxing troop come to town last week ...dont know if you get them but they line up & you pick which one you fight & get about $10/min if you last. I really wish i had a camera for that.

Lot of drunks from the crowd with mashed noses

Great shots Sid

I saw a documentary on a bush boxing troop. They were hard men. They took some punishment from the locals even though they were rarely beaten. It's a pity your camera is broken. You would have got some great shots.

Shay

ian408

Waxy,

These are nice. Over on FM, the comments tend towards the darkness of the
ring and that fact no strobe/flash allowed. All making for difficult shooting.
I agree with fish about bursting but knowing when to pull the trigger is a bit
of a problem.

I am surprised they let you in with the 70-200 and a 1dmkII

Regardless, thanks for showing us it can be done and congratulations on
the first boxing shots

Ian

gus

shay wrote:

Great shots Sid

I saw a documentary on a bush boxing troop. They were hard men. They took some punishment from the locals even though they were rarely beaten. It's a pity your camera is broken. You would have got some great shots.

Shay

I tried my luck in one many years back & they will lure you in thinking you can win & then they get a signal to turn your lights off as there are more punters lined up to fight with $ in their hand

Most of the troop are aboriginal ringers (stockmen) from way out west & are pretty hard blokes. They are skinny feather weights but faster than lightning.

One of Freds men got a bit of a hiding from one of our local fellas here last week & old fred (boss) walked up to him & asked him if he got a nose like that 'picking tomatoes'...the young fella was a national title holder.

gus

ian408 wrote:

Waxy,


I am surprised they let you in with the 70-200 and a 1dmkII


Ian

I was also....you did exceptionally well waxedlegs.

fish

wxwax wrote:

Well, duh! I know that.

Well. Harumph. That was a pretty rude response. From now on, I will refer to you as "flip." As in : flip ... as in


jerk. :bluduh



you'd better wear your cup to yosemite. :beatwax

fish

ian408 wrote:

I agree with fish about bursting but knowing when to pull the trigger is a bit
of a problem.

That's exactly it. You need to know at least a little about boxing to know when to shoot. Put down the bud lite and watch the fight through your zoom on the WA. When it starts to get into a flurry, you zoom in tight and let 'er rip. I guess I'm going to have to go to a local brawl to show how it's done.

wxwax

fish wrote:

Well. Harumph. That was a pretty rude response. From now on, I will refer to you as "flip." As in : flip ... as in


jerk. :bluduh



you'd better wear your cup to yosemite. :beatwax

wxwax

fish wrote:

That's exactly it. You need to know at least a little about boxing to know when to shoot. Put down the bud lite and watch the fight through your zoom on the WA. When it starts to get into a flurry, you zoom in tight and let 'er rip. I guess I'm going to have to go to a local brawl to show how it's done.

Bring it on!

I think you'll find that in the time you identify a flurry, zoom in and squeeze the trigger, said flurry will be over. No time for zooming in etc. You must keep camera to eye at all times, track the fighters with steady hands, and calmly keep them in the frame and squeeze the button when they suddenly jump around and throw punches. Then hope the autofocus got it right.

As I said, if it was easy to figure when someone was going to be hit in the head, not many people would be hit in the head!

Shoot, why am I giving you tips?

wxwax

Humungus wrote:

I was also....you did exceptionally well waxedlegs.

Thanks, nice to hear.

I too was surprised they let me in with the camera and lens. When I called ahead, they didn't know. And I didn't ask when I got there. Just pulled it out and started shooting. No-one cared.

gus

wxwax wrote:

Thanks, nice to hear.

I too was surprised they let me in with the camera and lens. When I called ahead, they didn't know. And I didn't ask when I got there. Just pulled it out and started shooting. No-one cared.

What ever works.

I was sitting behind 3 teenage american girls in a Cirque du Soleil a while back when one of them took a flash shot (different i know) Hell it looked like Desert Storm closing in again....last i saw them outside they were crying pleading for their camera back & that it was her fathers. I mean they only had 4 warnings & its written everywhere.

I always ask & most often they realise that you are a hobyiest ..hobbit...rabbit...amature.




.

wxwax

Ooh, a flash! Big no-no. I never use one.

I've had good luck at sporting events - they seem to realize folks will take pictures and they're cool with it.