The Winner!

This photo represents the best I managed to get at Wrestlemania 23

this year.

 

I really want to improve my technique, so any pointers or criticisms

would be very welcome.

Very well done sport photo. erfect light and dof. Congratulations.

Well for such a pose, i would suggest that you get some part of the environment to gether in the picture. Then it probably would work better. This would mean that the bokeh of the picture would need to be reduce (use a smaller aperture..)

 

 

I see that the camera moved some during the exposure, creating the blurred lights in the background. The subject is also a little blurry. I suggest using something to keep the camera from moving while shooting. You might be able to use a monopod in this setting. That would help a lot. You didn't mention the ISO, but by going to a higher ISO you can have a briefer exposure and cut down on the chances for blurring. Having the capacity to zoom in and out is really useful when YOU can't move closer to and further away from the stage, so I recommend getting a zoom lens. If you get a different lens, you might consider buying one with a stablizing system.

Thanks for the critiques/comments so far guys - Just to address a point or two:

 

Mohamad - You make a good point about increasing the depth of field - I will try to include more of the surroundings in future attempts.

 

Chuck - I actually own a few zoom lenses, but I had to be extremely discreet at this event, as 'professional looking' cameras are not normally permitted in. I was lucky to get in with the camera and lens I had - A zoom lens may have drawn too much attention to me.

 

I was using ISO 800 with the 85mm f/1.8 lens wide open all night - The lighting was never the same for more than a minute or two, with various colour washes, spots, strobes, pyrotechnics and smoke all over the place. Metering was a waste of time, since the second you got a reading, the lighting changed!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Darren and Danielle Jones