Mixed Martial Arts Training Session Photos

So as some of you have read I had a photo shoot at a local MMA gym where I was to be taking shots of a friend of mine that is a fighter there. After spending 2 days there at the gym shooting I've walked a way with a lot of photos and valuable experience. I've yet to get to all of them but thought I would give you guys here at Nikonites a sampling since a good number of you contributed to giving me some advice going into this shoot.


Todd wraps 01 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Abdula warps 01 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Coaches watch 01 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


High five by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Ring sparing 03 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Sparing Todd/Jason 01 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Todd sparing 01 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Boxing speedbag 01 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Sparing Todd/Jason 03 by Zins Designs, on Flickr

More up on my Flickr page! Cheers!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zins_designs/sets/72157625634289135/

Zin, these are really good shots. If this is the first try then you should have no problem getting pictures the fighters will be delighted with. The white balance, focus, depth of field, exposure setting, and especially the action are very good. So ok don't keep it a secret what's the EXIF data you used? ISO? Shutter speed? Lens? The works, please, please? The overhead florescent lighting is giving you down cast shadows. This will probably be even more of a problem at a match shoot with the lighting concentrated directly overhead. My suggestion to try would be to add about a + 1/3 EV to the exposure then adjust the exposure, and shadows in post processing. These look to be all natural light. Did you do any flash work?

Nice shots, ZiN! I shoot MMA action too and you've done some great work here. I usually don't like off-kilter shots, but they work very well in this kind of setting. Kudos for using some creativity!

Mr. Bautsch is right. You need an external flash. The lighting in these gyms and at MMA events sucks. It can be difficult because you don't want to blast a fighter in the face with a dose of flash just as he's about to be punched in the face. The last thing he needs is to be blinded. I've talked with several fighters, and they want those types of shots. The advice they gave me was don't shoot when their eyes are looking right at your lens, otherwise it's fine.

Don't be afraid to get right in the action, these guys love it. The trick with MMA photography is that you have to make the viewer feel what's going on in your photo. Get the faces, show the emotion and pain. Also, I'd like to know if you have Photoshop...there's a technique for grunging up your photos a bit that gives them a hard-edged look. Check these out from a Sambo training class I did:

Smashing shots feels like one is right with the guys, i love the black and white one of the guys with backs to the camera, my fav is Black and White well done you have captured some great shots.

I mean, I am a teacher of Chinese Kung Fu (Hung Gar). Sorry typing to fast again...lol.

Zin, I echo what everyone else said. Would like to know if you used an external flash?

Super job!

Zin, something I just thought of. If any of these photos are going to be used commercially, for any publications, or advertising then it would be a good idea to obtain a photo or models release from each of the fighters or trainers that appear in the shots. I would also put a copyright symbol on each. Even if at first you do some shooting gratis and give some of them to the fighters to promote your own work. You don't want your work appearing commercially without your permission and without a release.

Hey all, thanks for all the responses. I haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and formulate a proper response but I did want you all to know I am reading when I can and I appreciate all the feedback. Just been working a hell of a lot as of late, hopefully tonight I’ll get a chance to sit down and properly answer.

But to sum up a few quick things that come to mind. Yes I did use a flash, eventually. First half I didn’t use it, then I did hook it up and never looked back. The flash made all the difference in the end with these kinds of shots.

Also quick thing for you Robert, I didn’t go through the motions of getting any of that documentation made up but will for sure look into it when they are getting serious about it being used for advert. Yet in the meantime you’ll notice my watermark is on everything, I don’t want anyone making like these photos aren’t mine.

Anyhoo, back to work for me. :s

Ok, so to go a bit more in detail if I can into the main photo day for you all. It was basically touch and go there for the first bit. At first I thought I had enough light because the gym did have quite a bit of light from the overhead, yet it wasn't giving me exactly what I was looking for. So I started using the flash and things just started to take on a whole new perspective.

As for distracting the fighters, thankfully these guys were right in their element. Knew I'd be there but would be paying attention that they could do their thing without me getting in their way even though I was getting pretty close at times. As for the flash, thankfully the direction I had the flash facing was away from the fighters. So they weren't at risk of getting a face full of it. It was turned at a "4 o'clock" angle so I bounced the light for a more natural lighting effect.

Anthony, I love to take risks with my shooting. I'm not normally a fan of the "classic" style of shooting upright images. The closest I get is black and white since I have a soft spot for it since the days of film and processing. As you can see, it pays off to go for the angles.

Now for the good stuff, here is the EXIF data you asked for. Hope it helps, cheers!

You might want to try and get the shutter speed up from 1/200. Look at the fighter on the punching bag. His punching fist is blurred. That is the speed at which the fighters will be punching at a match. You may want to try shooting at ISO 1000. The D90 does a good job with grain at that level and it should get your shutter speed closer to 1/500 and improved stop action at punching speed. Another thought you might try using the flash at about half power. Also experiment with using a diffuser. At 50%, or some reduced level, it will fill in the shadows and still take advantage of the available light. The fighters may not find the half power flash to be objectionable even when directed right at them. Something to try and see what the fighters think.

Definitely, I need more experience with flash in order to be more efficient with it. As for the shutter speed, since I am still new with the D90 I was unsure how to get the shutter speed up past 200 with the flash attached to the body. It was not allowing me to put it any higher with whatever settings I had active. (I was in Manual) If there is a way to bypass that, I'd be very much interested in knowing how.

I should've posted this earlier. Been kinda busy lately (working on an MMA fight poster actually!). You need to get one of these:

Westcott Micro Apollo

A very good investment! This is a mini softbox that velcro mounts directly onto your flash. It's small enough to remain portable and doesn't add weight or get in your way while shooting. I use this at all my MMA events!

Almost forgot...regarding the blur:

I mentioned before that lighting is going to be your worst enemy. You're going to have to experiment with settings to figure out what works. ALWAYS arrive early to take test shots in your MMA environment so that you don't waste bad shots while the real action is going on. The quickest way I've found is to take several shots in Auto mode first. Look at your histogram and make a note of settings...this is a good jumping-off point.

Some motion blur in action shots is desirable. It shows, well, action! Sometimes you might not want to freeze everything in midair.

Good tips Anthony, I will look into that flash attachment when I finally save up enough to get my SB-900. I'd for sure arrive early for events but I do need to figure out why my d90 caps my shutter speed at 200 when I use a flash, might be a setting I overlooked with the flash itself telling my d90 this is all you're allowed to give.

Oh and in case you missed the ones couple I added last night, you were talking about capturing the pain. I've got some with the joys and pains of MMA in these ones.


Sparing Todd/Jason 06 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Sparing Todd/Jason 07 by Zins Designs, on Flickr

If I'm not mistaken a shutter speed of 1/200 is about max for flash. Flash tends to be it's own stop motion with a speed of 1/1000. At a match flash may not be possible, or impracticable because of the distance and it just may not be allowed. It's something you need to check on. The higher ISO is to get the shutter speed up is for ambient light, no flash, at a match.

Anthony is right on. The advice and tips being given here may or may not work. All things to try and experiment with. The mini softbox is a good idea and should work well.

Do you have Photoshop? Same photo w/ some enhanced and gritty details. Sorry for the low quality of this one...the halos usually don't appear unless altering a jpeg image.

I do have photoshop, that almost has a bit of an HDR effect going on there. Neat, is there a Tut online anywhere that explains the process?

Nope. It's my own process.

Start with duplicating your main image into a new layer (Ctrl+J). Filter > Custom > High Pass (Radius 4px). Change the Layer blending mode to Hard Light and adjust transparency. That's a good place to start.

Figured I'd update you with a couple photos I obviously edited with your effect process, I've applied it to a couple others but it's been more of a slight tweak. I've noticed it acts also as a nice grainy/sharpen also.


Sparing Todd/Jason 22 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Sparing Todd/Jason 23 by Zins Designs, on Flickr


Sparing Todd/Jason 17 by Zins Designs, on Flickr