Mma photos

[Erikerodri]

Hello I have been taking pictures at mma events for a few friends (for free) and would like some feedback and tips to improve. I have mainly been shooting cage side and I am always shooting at caged events. My camera bodies are not ideal but I am trying my best to work with what I have. I have a 6d and t3i and mainly use my tamron 24-70 2.8 and my sigma 70-200 2.8. I have been getting as close to the cage as possible and all but the lighting is so awful in the events it makes it hard to get great pics and I cannot use flash. All my equipment is I'm my signature Thanks for any info and feedback

 

[Erikerodri]

A few more

 

[Northstar]

What are your settings? I'm guessing u need to be close to 1/500, ISO 3200 to 4000, and 2.8 ?

I shoot all kinds of sports, so I understand bad lighting and fast action....it's tough, sometimes it's just too dark and there's not much you can do but accept that the image quality won't be great.

The key is to get the right exposure, one trick I use (and I know a lot of low light shooters use, is to "shoot to the right" in manual, which basically means you've overexposed the shot by 1/4 or 1/3. It's much better to have a shot slightly overexposed compared to underexposed when shooting in low light conditions.

Another thing you can do is improve your editing workflow. (Master Lightroom or Aperture) For me, with every image I feel is worth editing, I take it through this workflow:

1. Straighten the image
2. Crop image to make it more interesting
3. Work on white balance and exposure
4. Check the colors
5. Sharpen and then reduce noise if necessary.

examples (I edited these with a free App on my iPad, you could get better results with Lightroom)...original and then the edit, the second one is a great shot by the way...nice reaction and you see the downed fighter's hand indicating he is out...nice job.

So two pieces of advice, shoot to the right and work on your editing...good luck.

 

[Erikerodri]

Thanks for the reply and advice. I unfortunately have only been able to achieve about 1/125 at the most due to the settings but I am going to experiment by upping the ISO next time. I have always judged based on the histogram rather than light meter and it is something I have been using a lot more (meter that is). I'll be sure to try over exposing. Thanks for the editing tips as well. Quick question that I am unsure of. I've been using an aperture of 4.0-5.6. Do you think I should raise or lower it? I figured it would be best to have it higher to have more in focus. Thanks again

 

[Northstar]

Thanks for the reply and advice. I unfortunately have only been able to achieve about 1/125 at the most due to the settings but I am going to experiment by upping the ISO next time. I have always judged based on the histogram rather than light meter and it is something I have been using a lot more (meter that is). I'll be sure to try over exposing. Thanks for the editing tips as well. Quick question that I am unsure of. I've been using an aperture of 4.0-5.6. Do you think I should raise or lower it? I figured it would be best to have it higher to have more in focus. Thanks again

more light is more important than dept of field...if you have the tamron/sigma 2.8...i would shoot at 2.8 if the tamron is sharp at 2.8, if not...3.5 at the most.

1/250th is a bare minimum for sports if you want sharpness...IMO.

it sounds like you're still learning about depth of field....if so, you will find this link helpful. note how the dof increases and decreases with distance to subject, aperture, and focal length. if you're worried about dof, shooting at 24 or 35 will help to increase it as you desire. (sorry if you know this already)

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

 

[Erikerodri]

thanks for the reply again. I do know about depth of field I just thought I should raise the aperture to have more in focus. I have been using 2.8-4.0 usually. About the images, I get the idea and I thank you. I have a fight coming up November 15th so I will post a few from those when I am done with them.

 

[Northstar]

thanks for the reply again. I do know about depth of field I just thought I should raise the aperture to have more in focus. I have been using 2.8-4.0 usually. About the images, I get the idea and I thank you. I have a fight coming up November 15th so I will post a few from those when I am done with them.

Erik,

Good luck on the next fight.

Regarding the DOF...my point is that you can get more in focus (larger dof) by using a shorter focal length, the shorter focal length has a larger impact on dof than increasing the aperture to f4. At 70mm and 2.8 on a 6d from 10 feet, the dof is 1 foot. by using 50mm at 2.8 and 10 feet, the dof doubles to 2 feet....at 70mm, raising the aperture from f2.8 to f4 only increases the dof to 1.5 feet.

With 20mp's, you should have enough pixels to shoot wider and crop it more....especially if the images are just going to be used for online or small / med print use. The other benefit to a shorter focal length besides the larger dof, is you have much more flexibility with cropping and straightening. Two of the images above would have benefited a bunch from shooting wider....image 1 and 6.... take image 6, shooting wider would've kept you from cutting off the top of the top fighter's head AND he probably would've been in focus. (Within the larger dof).

I'm probably telling you stuff you know...but it's an important point so I thought I would "over communicate" as my wife says I like to do. :

Looking forward to your next set of pics! I'm jealous, I've never shot mma, it looks like fun.

 

[Erikerodri]

I appreciate it^
Does nobody else shoot mma? You guys should try it out it's pretty fun for the experience. I am still learning about photography and everything and I am getting better every day!
Here are a few more

 

[Erikerodri]

Had another fight this weekend for some friends. I got a few more that I liked. Used my t3i for a lot of the photos as well as my 6d with a tamron 24-70 vc and a sigma 70-200os Commend are welcome. Enjoy!

 

[Erikerodri]

Few more

 

[Northstar]

Erik...

You are improving! Really nice job on some of these. I especially like some of the black and white close ups, like the two guys laying on the ground with the on guy obviously "sucking air" and showing his exhaustion.

I might have to try some MMa myself! It looks fun to shoot. (Except for the cage being in the way)