Wrestling Pictures

I have been reading this forum concerning indoor sports pictures and

have tried to follow the suggestions. I have a Canon 20D and

purchased a Canon 85mm, 1.8 lense. I have tried using both the

Aperture-Priority and Shutter-Priority settings with pretty much the

same results. The ISO is set to 1600. I use no flash and have used

a incandescent bulb filter which has eliminated the yellow hue I was

experiencing. The one problem I have not been able to overcome is

that my pictures almost always have a small area out of focus. In

some it is because the body is still and the foot or arm is moving

quickly causing it to be out of focus. In other cases half the

photo is in focus while areas next to it are out of focus. I am

using the auto focus which may not be quick enough to move with the

action. Should I be using manual focus? Should I try using a

monopod? What settings should I use? Any help would be

appreciated.

<p>You've got multiple issues going on, as far as I can tell.

<ul>

<li>motion blur -- a hand, foot, or head (in the case of the example you posted) is soft --

<em>but within DOF so as to be in focus</em> -- because it is moving too quickly for

your chosen shutter speed. Solution: choose a higher shutter speed.</li>

<li>general lack of sharpness -- e.g. whole image seems soft. Solution: apply sharpening

in Photoshop or your favorite RAW converter. Caveat: Sharpening can produce artifacts.

Caveat 2: sharpening images shot at high ISO values tends to exacerbate noise issues.

Solution to caveats: shoot only in well-lit areas, use strobes, or otherwise improve the

light you have to work with (as far as sports go, you're not going to get much faster than

an 85/1.8)(.</li>

</ul>

 

<p>The problem, of course, is that it's hard to pick a faster shutter speed when you're

already at the low end of the desired exposure. There are a couple of work arounds;

assuming that you can't use flash (I don't know if it's normally allowed or not in wrestling),

I'd suggest shooting in RAW at a higher shutter and without the yellow filter. Adjust for

light color temperature and exposure in the RAW conversion process, although you'll be

limited in how far you can push a RAW capture when it's a higher ISO.</P>

<p>You may also want to drop by the <a href="http://

www.fredmiranda.com/">fm.com</a> sports board, which gets a bit more traffic and has

recently had more than a few conversations about shooting in poorly-lit gymnasiums.</

p>

I agree, get rid of the yellow filter...it's only robbing you of precious light. Set a custom white balance and/or shoot in RAW.

 

You may have to make a choice between a fast enough shutter speed and a DOF deep enough to get your whole subjects in focus. It's up to you which is more important for each shot. Personally, I usually like a faster shutter speed to freeze the action and get the focus on the eyes/face...letting the feet etc. go slightly out of focus.

 

Or use flash.

Thank you for your answers. I have also been using a lense hood. Should I also take that off to let in more light?

The lens hood will not be good or bad: no effect on light hitting the sensor in your camera.

 

 

 

You might try holding up a bit in taking the image: wrestlers 'rest' for a bit before trying to break out. (On a digital body, the 50mm lens might be as good, but the 85mm should work fine, too.)

The lighting indoors will not change. Shoot a gray card for white balance, and then use the gray card to get a light reading and shoot manual.

Mostly good advice here. As noted by others, your real problem is motion blur as opposed to focus. You didn't list the EXIF data for the shot you posted above, but I'd guess you shot it around 1/60 and wide open.

 

If you want to freeze the action, use a high enough ISO so that you can get at least 1/160 or 1/200 shutter speed. Also, a monopod is cheap and will definitely help you avoid blur, even when shooting a short focal length lens like an 85mm.

 

As far as your exposures go, when shooting sports, if you use an auto exposure mode, you're going to get varying results as your subject moves around. For example, if you had shot the above photo from a lower vantage point, you might have gotten windows in the background, or a larger portion of the crowd. Depending on the lighting, this can confuse your meter and cause over- or under-exposures.

 

When you're shooting sports, get there early enough to take some sample meter readings or test photos in the area where the action will be. Shoot players warming up or coming out onto the mat. When you get the exposure where you want it, put your camera in manual and leave it there. There's no reason to worry about it again unless the lighting changes (not very likely at an indoor event).

 

If the lighting is really bad and you have to shoot wide open, you're going to get areas that are out of focus. You'll then need to decide what the critical area you're shooting is that you want to be in focus (usually a face) and concentrate on that.

 

As for the filter, lose it - it's just eating up light that you'll need. One of the great things about shooting digital is that all of that can be done in Photoshop.

 

Good luck.

To further add to that above I agree lose the filter, if you really want to get rid of colour casts the best tip I can give you is in Photoshop go to match colour click neutralize and alter the luminance and fade slightly - colour cast gone.

 

Oh and set your camera to Av 1.8 watch the speed setting stays as high as poss by altering the ISO ( you need to keep it to at least 1/250 although for most sport 1/500 is the ideal. Your auto focus should keep up on a 20D provided its set to Al Servo ?

Nigel, good catch on the focus mode - I hadn't thought of that.

 

Bob, I'm not familiar with the Canon terminology, but in Nikon you have two basic choices on how your camera will auto-focus. Single-servo focusing requires the camera to attain focus before it will allow the shutter to fire. Once that focus is attained, if your subject is moving, he may move out of focus but the camera will still fire.

 

With continuous-servo focusing, the camera continually tries to attain focus, even if the subject is moving. Unless you have a higher-end body (with various esoteric focusing options), the shutter will fire with or without the subject in focus. The advantage in using continuous-servo (or the Canon equivalent) for sports is that you're rarely shooting a stationary subject. You want your camera to continually attempt to adjust for this movement.

 

Not sure how you're using the AF on your 20D, but you'll want to try the continuous option if you haven't yet.

Since you're shooting at or near maximum ISO you'll need a little extra help during post processing. Besides noise reduction, which will help minimize the multicolored speckles, there are at least a few programs that now include very effective tweaks for digging out shadow detail while still keeping noise down as much as possible. Even Photoshop Elements 3 does a very good job at this.

 

I won't say that these tricks will enable you to underexpose digital captures recklessly, but they can help maximize the quality of photos taken in difficult circumstances.

Oh, and no one has mentioned timing, at the peak of the action, a leap upward or similar there is a short period when everthing stops and a super high shutter speed is not always nessesary to capture the moment. This does take practice and a visualisation of what is going to happen so you actually shoot as the climatic moment is being reached (photgraphically speaking, of course:)to make allowance for reflexes of yourself and camera mechanicals. If you actually see the moment that you wish to capture through the veiwfinder you have missed on recording it.

 

Plenty of bursts with a motor is a random method of capture and wears things out quicker. I can get a couple of publishable pics from about 20 consecutive images using the above method and single frame advance.

 

Auto focus is o.k. but its only a tool. Another method is to prefocus in an area that has a good background, or where there will be plenty of action and this takes one problem out of the equation, and can allow a little more attention to be freed for compostion or other things that may improve your image.

 

You have the 20D and a good lens, experiment and find things that work for your style.

 

Depth of field could also be a cause of the out of focus areas of hands and feet etc if you are using that lens wide open

With ISO-1600 and f1.8, even at 85mm you should be able to capture some nice, crisp images. Knowing the exposure setting of this capture would shed lots of light in nailing down the problem. Like many had mentioned, judging from image alone, looks like you didn't have enough shutter speed to stop motion. I wonder if you've taken the full advantage of the fast aperture f1.8.

These are the details for the picture posted above. From what I have read my Shutter speed was not correct. To get the Apeture and Shutter to the settings discussed would I need to shoot in the Manual Exposure setting? Would a 3200 ISO Speed be better then 1600?

 

I will be going to my son's wrestling match tomorrow so I will be trying out all your suggestions. Thank you to everyone who has responded.

 

Shooting Mode

Aperture-Priority AE

Tv( Shutter Speed )

1/50

Av( Aperture Value )

1.8

Metering Mode

Evaluative Metering

Exposure Compensation

0

ISO Speed

1600

Lens

85.0 mm

Focal Length

85.0 mm

Image Size

3504x2336

Image Quality

Fine

Flash

Off

White Balance Mode

Auto

AF Mode

AI Servo AF

"Another method is to prefocus in an area that has a good background, or where there will be plenty of action and this takes one problem out of the equation"

 

You haven't photographed much wrestling, have you?

Guilty as charged... My son just started wrestling this year. His other sports have all been outside during the day. Thanks for the focusing suggestion.

I didn't post above to be as smart ass... (it just comes naturally)

In reality go to http://www.sportshots.org and take a look at the wrestling photos there. Flash is accepted in the sport. One reason is the trend towards one big spot or flood from above lighting the mat which kills all the shadows almost completely, even on a white mat.

With on camera flash you can easily see faces. The Canon 550EX or the newer 580EX would be just the ticket. It would allow you to shoot completely across the mat from the edge area with an f4/5.6 zoom with no trouble at a film speed equivalent of 800 and the shutter speed set for flash sync. I think with the 20D that is 1/250. It will stop most action and provide the light needed.

 

Set the camera to manual with the shutter speed for flash & f/stop matching the lens widest at its longest zoom setting. That should make it easy for you to concentrate on the wrestling and not the camera.

Bob, I read this with amusement and empathy. My son(s) has wrestled for years and I've struggled thru many cameras and am on my second digital now. I also have the 20d (about 2 months now).

 

First, I'm not a pro and I'm not an expert. There aren't many in amatuer wrestling. And again, I'm not one either. But... I've spent my share of money and time, so I'll give you my two cents.

 

1) catalog your pics well now, they pile up. Make sure you can get back to them later. Date, time, place, oponent, name of tournament, what ever makes sense to you.

 

2) I think the 1.8 is really hard for us at our level. The darn 20d has a mind of its own on choosing what to focus on. I have tons of shots like the one you displayed. They get deleted.

 

3) take lots of pictures. gigs and gigs are fun and you get better and better all the time. Don't be afraid to delete bad shots, in the end you will have plenty.

 

4) I'd love to talk to you about wrestling and compare notes, since we have the same camera and seem to be at the same level of expertise. My youngest son now wrestling in college, so you can see I've been at this a while.

 

I stumbled across this thread searching via google for how to photograph indoor wresting sports photography. I'm new to this forum, signed up just to send you encouragement.

 

Later, Karl

Bob, Karl & all,

 

I too have started the world of trying to photograph wrestling. Would you suggest the 85 mm lense or a 50 mm lense. Either w/ F1.8?

 

Thanks,

 

Keith

Any relation to Minnesota Golden Gophers head wrestling coach J Robinson? or just same name.

 

Thanks,

 

Keith