First Karate Tourney, CC please?

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

11/09/2005 07:19:19 PM · #1

I got a new lense, the Sigma 24-70 f2.8 for events like this. The lighting was so bad I could hardly believe it. The 2.8 barely made it @ iso 1600 and a shutter speed of 160. Shot all in RAW, custom white balance, some PS editing and Noise Ninja. Any advise on these pics is greatly appreciated, this was my first shoot of this type. These are the 4-5 year old Gold Belt class.

parrothead

Canon EOS-40D

11/09/2005 07:29:53 PM · #2

I think they turned out well for your first attempt. The lighting to me is a bit cold, but some good expressions. I, personally dont like the noise reduction, and think they would have looked more natural with a little grain or noise, but thats just a personal preference. Also, a longer lens would have made all the difference. It would have thrown that background out of focus a bit more and made the kids pop. The parents will love these. BTW way I am from your neck of the woods until lately. Small world.

pawdrix

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

11/09/2005 07:34:35 PM · #3

Gimme a week to get in shape. I'll take'em all on...

11/09/2005 07:39:47 PM · #4

What was tough was the color cast and noise. Here is one "mid stream" in the edit process. I did not think the color popped at all. And the noise was a bit much. I am not a big fan of noise reduction either but I think it helps here. Maybe a little heavy on the noise reduc and color.

11/09/2005 09:07:07 PM · #5

Congrats on shooting your first Karate tourney. :) I love shooting martial arts tournaments, although my digital camera isn't fast enough to get the shots. Waaay too much delay between the time I press the shutter and the shot being taken. So I use my film camera instead (Canon Elan II, with 100mm 2.0 or 50mm 1.4). For lighting like you had (all of the tournaments seem to have that awful flourescent lighting), I use 400 film.

You got some really great shots, especially for your first time. I appreciate how difficult these things can be to shoot. Unless you know what's going to happen next (like in a Karate kata) or you're really good at predicting things or have a really well trained eye and trigger finger(for sparring) it's hard to get good shots.

I am surprised that with your F2.8, you had to use an ISO of 1600. It looks like you had plently of light, even if it wasn't all that pleasant. Did you try taking any with ISO 400 or 800? If you have, I'd like to see the difference in those.

Since you do have some noise in your pictures, I'd go with the suggestion made by someone else and let the grain work for you. Somehow, action shots like these often lend themselves well to grain. You might want to play around with adding more and accentuating it rather than trying to take it away. Converting them to B&W or a quadtone might help, too.

You might want to take a look at the jiujitsu picture in my portfolio for an example of what I'm suggesting. It's not a great shot, and was taken with an old camera a few years ago, but I think the quadtone + added grain treatment looks better than the original.

Just some thoughts. Happy shooting, and keep up the good work! :)

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

11/09/2005 09:40:11 PM · #6

Thanks and great suggestions. I tried at ISO 800 using shutter priority so I could attempt to stop some of the action. Most of the time 2.8 was giving me grief. I will try some in B&W and work with the grain. If I set my shutter speed below 125 / 100 ISO 800 would work but I was wanting to get sharp focus on the facial features more than anything. A little motion blur was what I was going for but the blur on a kids face tends to be looked upon as poor focus. I could have used my 50mm 1.8 and shot @ 800 ISO. Most of the full on shots are at 45mm so the 50 would have worked well. The half body shots are all at 70mm. I shot in Raw with small jpg. Here is one of the small jpg with B&W and auto contrast only. I like your idea very much. I can do much wiht this I think.

bobdaveant

Canon EOS-60D

11/09/2005 09:40:25 PM · #7

I was heavily into the martial arts for about six years, took fours years to get my black belt in Taekwondo, at that time, I didn't know much about cameras and only dabbled in with the point and shoot camera that I had. Other family responsibilities took me away from Martial arts and I found a new passion in photography. Hopefully one day I'll get back to the Martial arts, I'd recommend it to anyone. Your shots are nice, got some great expressions on the kids faces. Good Luck at shooting future comepetitions.

Bob

11/09/2005 10:03:34 PM · #8

Originally posted by barndog:

Yes - now I see your dilemma. It's quite difficult to shoot at a lower ISO and still get sharp focus on the facial features, and that is so important when shooting kids. I think you made the right choice!

I've played around with your image a little, and did a quadtone of it. Also fiddled with the levels a tad. Here it is:

I tried adding a little grain, too, but decided this looked better. Somehow, these bright, energetic kids don't mix well with image grain! If you're wondering how to do the quadtone, there's a nice tutorial on it under "Learn". It's a lot of fun to play around with, and quite easy, too.

11/09/2005 10:14:24 PM · #9

Originally posted by bobdaveant:

Great shot, Bob! I love the intense expression on your face, and the B&W just makes everything pop.

I hope you do have time to get back into Martial Arts someday. I started with T'ai Chi, and added on some (informal) jiujitsu and karate. I call it informal because my significant other who has fifth degree black belts in both has been teaching me and a few friends of ours on and off for about a year. At this rate, it will take me about 10 years to make black belt, but that's OK. I'm just thrilled I can do it at all, being the "coordinationally challenged" person that I am! :) (I'm sure that's not a word, but it does fit!)

Osu! :) All the best.

11/09/2005 10:27:16 PM · #10

Originally posted by GentleSoul:

Originally posted by barndog:
Thanks and great suggestions. I tried at ISO 800 using shutter priority so I could attempt to stop some of the action. Most of the time 2.8 was giving me grief. I will try some in B&W and work with the grain. If I set my shutter speed below 125 / 100 ISO 800 would work but I was wanting to get sharp focus on the facial features more than anything. A little motion blur was what I was going for but the blur on a kids face tends to be looked upon as poor focus. I could have used my 50mm 1.8 and shot @ 800 ISO. Most of the full on shots are at 45mm so the 50 would have worked well. The half body shots are all at 70mm. I shot in Raw with small jpg. Here is one of the small jpg with B&W and auto contrast only. I like your idea very much. I can do much wiht this I think.

Yes - now I see your dilemma. It's quite difficult to shoot at a lower ISO and still get sharp focus on the facial features, and that is so important when shooting kids. I think you made the right choice!

I've played around with your image a little, and did a quadtone of it. Also fiddled with the levels a tad. Here it is:

I tried adding a little grain, too, but decided this looked better. Somehow, these bright, energetic kids don't mix well with image grain! If you're wondering how to do the quadtone, there's a nice tutorial on it under "Learn". It's a lot of fun to play around with, and quite easy, too.

I have not done a quadtone but you can bet I will now. That looks great!

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

11/09/2005 10:49:16 PM · #11

Thanks, Bob - I had a lot of fun playing around with it. :)

faidoi

Pentax K10D

11/09/2005 10:52:28 PM · #12

In the case of Barndog's shots would a +1 EV help to keep the Gi's from overexposing?