Advice for Karate School shoot

[tomservo51]

Originally Posted by Daisho

As a former Athlete in a wide range of Martial Arts and a Photographer, here are some hints.
1) Try to get an Idea of what you want to shoot before i.e. moves/poses typical for the style of Karate they are doing.
2) Try to figure out what they expect from you in terms of pictures, there are some nice ideas for group shots possible with MA and the dojo and maybe the want more action, more family atmosphere, what ever.
If it is for promo purposes get some trainers/good guys and ignore the shitty rest. If it is for something else, get group shots as much as possible, so everybody can say "look here I am".
3) test shoot a bit before, maybe 2 3 times so you get a grip on the stuff, especially if you are, as it looks, not yet familiar with the light equip as well as getting a feel for the sport.

Oh and max out your flash sync speed, if you want to freez movement or slow it down to get more motion into the stuff, 2sync flash etc.

Definitely, I'm trying to get samples of what was done in the past, what worked and what didn't. I have an insider in the class so she should be able to give me a lot of this information. Thanks for the sync tip! I have until fall to prepare so I'll do some practice runs!