Indie Wrestling shoot

[vidar42]

I'm once again going to be photographing an Indie Wrestling event. It's not a big production, and they don't have huge lighting displays like the pros do. It's in a banquet hall type of room with pretty crappy fluorescent lighting. I want to get some good action shots as well as some "entrance" type of things. I have full access to the ring area, so that's not an issue. I did a shoot during their last event and while they were happy with what I did for photos, I was not completely happy. I had the on-camera flash for part of it, and an SB-400 for another part (until those batteries cooked after about 250 shots). Recycle time on the flash hurts me for consecutive shots.

Any suggestions on settings? I know I need a wide open aperture with a fast shutter to capture action, but in the lower lighting, it's just not as good.

I'm brainstorming as I write this. If I crank up the ISO on the camera, and shoot in RAW mode, I should be able to recover some of the shots. I can kick back the noise a bit with the RAW format, correct?

Oh, and to clarify, I'm shooting with a Nikon D3000. I have several lenses, the kit lens, a 70-200mm lens, and a 55mm fixed f2.8. I have an SB-400 flash as well as a cheaper off-camera flash. I wonder if I can utilize some of the slave lights that I purchased on ebay a while back. I'll have to give that a go too...hmmm...

[zona5101]

cranking up the iso is probably a good play but be sure to not underexpose much because the combination of high iso and underexposure will be brutal when you try to recover in post. I say more light! If you had several strobe you can sync then that maybe your best best short of new gear.