Another Wrestling Thread

[GadgetRick]

Ok, I'm also working on shooting wrestling (and other sports). My son just happens to be wrestling.

Anyway, I was practicing shooting the travel team last week. Came up with these shots. I know I need faster glass. I just don't have the funds at the moment. Shot this with my Nikon D50 Sigma 18-200mm f3.5 with SB-600 flash (they don't mind) at 800 ISO. I did run it through Noise Ninja but there really wasn't much noise.

This is my favorite out of the bunch:


You can find the whole set here.

Thanks for looking!

[Hartzler]

A nice set of shots. I'm not pro as you know from the other thread, so take my comments with a grain of salt. Given that you have ready flash, you don't need faster glass, though, it's always nice. It's a nice tight crop on the faces. I'd be tempted to go a bit wider if you can, but that's your call.

As for Noise Ninja, if there isn't much noise, I wouldn't bother to get rid of what little noise there is. It steals away detail when you do and you lose the skin texture and things like hairs on the arm that give the shot more of a real look. Right now, in my opinion, the skin is too smooth. Sometimes, you have to make that trade off if the noise is real bad, but it sounds like your shots would look fine with some noise/texture left in.

Just my two bits. Very nice set of shots. Shooting wrestling is a lot of fun, great bunch of hard working kids.

[GadgetRick]

Thanks. Hadn't thought about some of what you mentioned. All good points.

I actually want to get opinions on the cropping as, at some point, I hope to shoot sports and make a few bucks to support my habit and I know some people will want to print them. I need to be mindful of how I crop and how people will print them.

Great point on noise reduction software. Honestly, I was more trying out noise reduction on these shots as I bumped my ISO to 800 for these shots and noticed some noise (although others mentioned it wasn't bad at all).

As far as faster glass goes, I'm worried about when/if I can't use the flash and when my subject(s) is/are too far away. But I tend to agree, I can get away with what I have as long as I can use the flash and I'm close enough.

Thanks a bunch! I'll be more mindful of these things!

[wamplers]

Originally Posted by GadgetRick

I actually want to get opinions on the cropping as, at some point, I hope to shoot sports and make a few bucks to support my habit and I know some people will want to print them. I need to be mindful of how I crop and how people will print them.

For the purpose you stated, I would crop a little looser. A looser crop will allow 5x7 and 8x10 prints without losing parts of the subject. Here's one I shot today...the empty space at the sides would be cropped off for 5x7 / 8x10 sizes.

[GadgetRick]

Originally Posted by wamplers

For the purpose you stated, I would crop a little looser. A looser crop will allow 5x7 and 8x10 prints without losing parts of the subject. Here's one I shot today...the empty space at the sides would be cropped off for 5x7 / 8x10 sizes.

So I should be more concerned about the sides than the top/bottom? I have a bad habit of cropping closely I need to get out of that habit.

[wamplers]

Originally Posted by GadgetRick

So I should be more concerned about the sides than the top/bottom? I have a bad habit of cropping closely I need to get out of that habit.

Well, if you shoot in landscape orientation, then the sides will get cropped for 5x7 and 8x10 aspect ratios. If you shoot in portrait orientation, then the top and/or bottom will get cropped for 5x7 and 8x10 aspect ratios.

I generally shoot tight too...

[GadgetRick]

Originally Posted by wamplers

Well, if you shoot in landscape orientation, then the sides will get cropped for 5x7 and 8x10 aspect ratios. If you shoot in portrait orientation, then the top and/or bottom will get cropped for 5x7 and 8x10 aspect ratios.

I generally shoot tight too...

Got it. I usually shoot landscape for wrestling.