Wrestling: NOT about equipment

My experience is about four years in portraiture, wedding, and on location

photography, NOT sports, least of all wrestling.

I have access to any of the equipment I need, so lenses and such are really not

a big question.

I shot a match (I'm film, mind you :) ) with a 70-200 2.8L and 85 1.8 on my Elan

II, alongside a Sunpak 622 potato masher. Most of my shots turned out fine, not

too much unplanned motion blur, good w/b, good focal lengths, etc.

But help! How in the heck do you make wrestling photos to sell to people? Can

you describe technique you use to capture that one stunning photo that you sit

back and grin at? I don't want to post a bunch of pictures of guys lying on each

other and holding hands.. I want to sell raw action and sweet wrestling. I don't

even know where to start to find the resources to get me rolling!

Thanks in advance!

It's rough. I've been looking for the money shot all season, so to speak. I keep my camera set for multiple shots and I get down on the mat whenever possible. What level are you photographing? High school, college? anticipation is hard because things change in the blink of an eye. I did a tourny last week, I think I shot over four hundred, I kept two hundred.

Here's one shot I did. No processing on it yet, so don't criticize the colors or anything, but I think the kid's face on the bottom says it all.

I don't see many wrestlers holding hands, so that image could be hard to capture.

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Knowing the sport helps for you can anticipate what is going to happen. But what you want to look for is faces.

Here are a few shots I took a week ago Saturday:

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2390/2210536974_996e543c51_o.jpg" border=1>

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2081/2210536934_3cb493fa6a_o.jpg" border=1>

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/2209744717_864ce3a08a_o.jpg" border=1>

Dave:

What speed, aperature, Iso did you shoot at? Wrestling is tough because just when you think you have a good shot, one wrestler will turn the other are you are then shooting their backs. This also makes you keep on your toes because the wrestlers can just as easily turn towards you.

Cheers,

Preston

Here is the setup for the images I posted above:

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Two Canon 580EXs on a super clamps mounted to the balcony railing triggered with a PWs. The railing on the balcony is about 15' high and 35' from the mat.

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Flash settings: 1/4 +0.3 power; 105mm zoom.

<br>Camera Settings: ISO 400; f/5.0; 1/250.

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Positioned each flash in line with the outside circle pointing slightly in and towards the back of the mat.

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Setup shot before finals. The purple mat closest to the railing was removed after consolations:

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<img src="http://www.harfordsports.com/hidden/forumImages/mmm5_setup.jpg">

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This next image was shot from the balcony onto mat. I'm standing just to the left of my speedlight. During the match, I sat and/or laid at the very edge of the mat in between the middle and left edge of the mat. Just about where that guy in the last image is starting to stand up. Right at that seam in the mat.

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<img src="http://www.harfordsports.com/hidden/forumImages/mmm5_mat.jpg">

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As a former wrestler, I very rarely am surprised by anything happening on the mat. I can see what each wrestler is doing and know when to anticipate action from either one.

Rich, I'm shooting high school wrestling.

Dave, very nice setup for lighting. I noticed other users mentioned using speedlights on the side for lighting but I haven't seen them mounted up high - that really does a lot for your lighting!

From your responses and the photos, it would seem that great images are a result of 1) Lighting from multiple off-camera points, and 2)Shooting a lot of frames.

Forgive my newb mindset - this is a complete new field to me and I admit it's a little embarrassing to ask questions like this :)

Thanks again to you both for the pictures to illustrate.