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| MMA event photos.; Check them out. | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 18 2011, 01:48 PM (268 Views) | |
| DafWales | Dec 18 2011, 01:48 PM Post #1 |
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July this year, after discussions about actually doing anything with my photography. One of my good mates introduced me to a personal trainer who he works with, who was just starting up his own MMA fight night series. This guy asked me to come along to his first event and photograph it with another guy who he knew. He'd throw me a press pass and full access to do what I want, pretty sweet deal even if its just for watching. First night went down amazingly and my photos were okay, by no means my best and I did struggle as it was my first indoor sporting event I'd tried to photograph, experience if nothing and gave all the photos to the fighters. Last Saturday was second fight night which he contacted me to cover again, same gig but this time I was prepared and got a lot better shots. Decided im not giving these photos away in full res so stuck a price tag along with them, mainly for people to see Im taking it seriously more than anything. Actually got myself a bit of funding to start myself a small media production company, covering small sporting events from MMA to motorsports for now, which Im gonna start off in the new year. Aim is to offer Photographs, Film (The likes of Stephen Brooks type of film) and a little bit of Graphic work. See how it goes. Getting back onto topic I'll post a link to facebook for them for now as I havnt had time to upload them to flickr yet but will do soon. Updated link. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafyddjohn/ Edited by DafWales, Feb 4 2012, 04:24 PM.
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| Sir Kieran | Dec 18 2011, 06:39 PM Post #2 |
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It's hard to concentrate on the photos with that watermark, but I did find some issues. The main one would be the processing, I don't know if you've done some sort of ton mapping or what but it doesn't suit it, makes it look like some dark and grungy event out of Fight Club happening in some basement somewhere. Have a look at some professional shots and you'll see they're just "normal" and most of the time look like they're straight out of the camera. The second thing isn't an issue if you're just selling to the fighters but is if they're going to anyone else, you're far too tight. Get a wider lens so you can see more of the action because a lot of the shots it just looks like a guy on the floor and it's hard to tell he's fighting someone else. Lastly there are a few out of focus shots, I wouldn't even waste the time putting a watermark on them never mind sticking them on Facebook, it just lowers your standards. All that said they're not bad, just not brilliant and that's to be expected when first starting out. What's you're setup for the moment? Ideally you'd want something around the 18-50mm range and f/2.8 constant for better AF and ease of metering in Manual, a couple flashes on some Gorillapod ripoffs attached to something like some rafters high up. |
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| J_HUI | Dec 19 2011, 11:29 AM Post #3 |
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I do a bit of mag editing work for Ufc magazine, so I see alot of photos day to day and from seeing those this is what I think, they are similar to Kierans. -Try to keep the shot/ horizon straight, alot of the photos have tilt. -Alot of the photos look overly contrasted, and really yellow/ red, have a play with the white balance or photoshop to get the skin colors more neutral. -Make the photos abit brigher, make it pop out and appealing, like Above guy mentioned, it looks like a pub held underground fight club  -Shoot a bit wider so the fighters are not cropped, allow some room incase they ever want to use your photos for a mag/ news paper article, or just shot several (one zoomed in, one zoomed out) -Fair enough you dont want your photos taken/ stolen, but im not a fan of the water mark either draws a bit too much attention. Anyways, cool gig man. Keep it up, I hope to see more pics soon 
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| DafWales | Dec 20 2011, 03:30 PM Post #4 |
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I know what you mean guys, the lighting is really poor in this venue, only two flood lights and about four dirty old spots chucking some very orange light, so I had to leave the photos tinted and with alot of contrast so the images do not become all pixelated with white dots from brightening in post editing. I choose to shoot tighter for two reasons, One being so I did not capture the fencing of the cage in the shot, I think it looks terrible when people do this, it ruins DOF and looks as if your shooting with a Nikon coolpix lol. Secondly I wasn't able to shoot from above the cage walls as they were very high and no platform to stand on, made the best of the situation really. I have asked for some ladders at corners to be fitted so I can shoot wider next time. I did realise some of them are not in focus, but that's fine for now. I don't think the Sony a200 is really up for this kind of photography :/ really struggles as it doesn't shoot fast enough after you press the button, it stutters and then finally takes the shot, so I've had alot of trouble with missing good action shots. It also doesn't like my external flash some time it syncs and sometime it doesn't, but it works fine on other cameras Ive tried it on, it is an older flash though. I really should get some portable flash guns, but have been a bit weary on which to get because in college they bought cheaper ones and they were terrible... Not going off in sync. Anyone had actual use of any ? And advise on what they have used. Unfortunately won't be able to buy any in time for the next event but I'll have the 5d then so I'll see how that fairs up, should blow the a200 out the water. As for the watermark I made it really striking because last time people were just using them for profile photos so atleast now they're plastered with watermarks ha. Not as if anyone cares about copyright on Facebook, it's not DA lol. Edited by DafWales, Dec 20 2011, 03:33 PM.
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| Sir Kieran | Dec 20 2011, 04:46 PM Post #5 |
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Concerning lighting I've had no problems with my Neewer trigger I got off Ebay and they're really cheap. Yongnuo stuff is also pretty good including their flashes, they're all manual except for one that does TTL on Canon's, but that's not a problem for what you're trying to do. You'll want to do some research on how fast they can fire though, if it's not fast enough something like the 420EZ from Canon that I have and is pretty cheap will do 5fps at something like 1/16 so will keep up with a 5D easily. |
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| DafWales | Dec 21 2011, 12:36 PM Post #6 |
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I'll look into it, I was gunning for the 5D because it had the highest recommendation for a HD recording SLR with a big ass sensor and reasonable price tag for spec. |
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| J_HUI | Dec 21 2011, 12:56 PM Post #7 |
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Chopper/ Spammer/ Moderator
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Above posts are too long, didn't read But if you want a flash gun dont get the china one's because they are cheap, The recycle rate of them are usually terrible and in fights each second is crucial, China brands are only good for car shoots using as strobes After a bit of research I got a metz 58 af-2 and Metz 48 af-1, they've been making flash long before canon and are German made, quality is pretty sweet and so far working so good for me! If all fails.. tell them to buy more flood lights, so you dont even need to buy a flash to begin with lol |
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| Sir Kieran | Dec 21 2011, 05:38 PM Post #8 |
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Oh, I thought you were on about a 5D classic. Tbh I wouldn't bother with a 5DII unless I was something like a landscape or studio shooter, otherwise for that money I'd get a 7D, 1D, or 40/50D. For you the only advantage the 5DII would have is ISO performance but you'll be wanting to use flash so that doesn't matter, where as any of those other cameras will get you better AF, faster shooting, and save you quite a bit of money. Also because you're moving to Canon you'll need to put some money aside for lenses, you could even go for something like a 550D which'll give you a ton left over for lenses whilst shooting just as fast as the 5DII. |
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| DafWales | Dec 21 2011, 08:23 PM Post #9 |
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What fitment do canon use because I've got a huge collection of good lenses here. My dad and grandad have collected loads over the years and not even used them. I'm trying to sway the lad to get two more floods but I don't think he's having any of it. I'll look into those flashes and see what I can spare. I wanted to get a set anyway for car shoots but as said they don't have to be top of the range then. Anyone on here shoot films with an SLR ? Something I've always wanted to try and being able to change the DOF on a video camera is really intriguing, as I've only ever been able to do that on a proper studio tv/film camera. Been looking into rigs for SLR's and if I'm honest some don't look hard wearing at all... |
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| Sir Kieran | Dec 21 2011, 08:53 PM Post #10 |
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Canon's use EF lenses, and the 1.6x crop ones will take EF-S lenses. I've shot some video on my NEX-3 which is basically what you'd get with a DSLR, it's nice to have more control and to be able to change lenses compared to a cheap camcorder that just has a shitty zoom lens and is stuck on auto. I don't do much though as I don't have much interesting to record, if I went to car shows and shit like that I'd use it a lot more. What sort of rigs have you been looking at? |
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2:19 AM May 22