My First Boxing Attempt (Check it Muls)

I shot my first boxing match last night - and got to meet the great Ed Mulholland
We even ended up with the same pic LINK to Ed's pics

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I am going to shoot a local "fight night" that a buddy of mine puts on every few months. This time I dont have to go as the "dentist" and worry about having to work, but rather as the "shooter" and GET to work...

What tips would you give given my poor talent level and my equipment list?

same exact tips I got :

use your 50 1.4 - more than likely the lighting will suck (see my examples above lol)
don't sit on the shutter - 'watch' what's going on... even if thru your viewfinder
realize that it's 25% skill, 10% equipment and 65% luck - seriously.
and my 'favorite' came from my husband (since I know absolutely NOTHING about boxing and 'anticipating a shot') "when the crowd starts screaming .. start shooting, cuz something is about to happen"

GREAT tips...thanks...I would probably NOT have used my 50mm 1.4 and tried something else lke my 85 or even my 70-200 since I like it so much...

BUT I will use my 50mm 1.4 now....

I think 2500 to 3000 frames is about what I get for a night of boxing ... I am hoping that by following Muls dictum, "Shoot Tight", that I will reduce the number and improve the quality. I have seen about fifteen different boxing togs at the mat but only one woman who worked for a newspaper ... here there are at least two. Not bad for the first time. If the lighting is consistent you might want to do Custom White Balance before the bouts start.

I think the lighting will be consistant. I have never noticed it changing at the other fight nights I have been to...I have yet to do a CWB, need to put that tool to use!

Raquel,

Nice job, 1-3 are very good, and with any kind of lighting would have been much better, the ones with the ropes in them are ones to avoid...

Dwight you would never imagine the lighting Raquel dealt with, it was an off-tv show, which thankfully you are usually dealing with Showtime or HBO, this was lit by a couple of large chandeliers hanging in a ballroom, and some high hat lights...no lighting truss at all...I shot at 2.8 1/400th and iso 3200...

Dwight - thanks for your comments AND suggestions.. the lighting was inconsistent (at best) and ALL OVER THE FREAKING place, to be honest.

Ed - Thanks ! Yeah .. I *know* about the ropes LOL.. but I was SOOOO concerned with not getting 'splashed' with bodily fluids that I'm not sure "sports photography" is for me LOL.. at least not boxing.

I was really trying to do a good "job" .. but I'm much more comfortable with THESE types of pics than actual "action" shots (isn't everybody lol) :

(he was SOOO mad at the fight getting "called")

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Raquel, Those are great!

Thanks Photodawg ! and as an added bonus, I didn't get a drop of blood/spit on me

Mrs Smarty Pants wrote:
Thanks Photodawg ! and as an added bonus, I didn't get a drop of blood/spit on me

Kool!

Do you guys use flashes as well? They would seem distrackting to me....

NOOO !! no flash is allowed - which is why you need your fastest lens

Whoa! I knew I was spoiled for the Live Entertainment but I didn't realize it was that bad for the boxing. BTW, Damien wants me to email one of my Lennox Lewis headshots ... that was a magnificent tip to shoot those "extras". It will take me three or four fights to implement all your suggestions and by then I hope you are back out here. I do think ShoBox did better lighting at Chumash.

Oh, Raquel, about "fluids" ... the first fight I shot I wasn't expecting anything ... I got sprayed a few times with sweat/vaseline and just wiped it off. Then I got a good dunking with blood. I went right to the boxing commissioners to ask what I should do. They said in California that the testing was stringent and I should just wash it off when I got a chance. They were quick to say if I shot anywhere else, particularly in the Southeast that I should be very careful ... maybe shoot from the gallery! I no longer worry about it. Also, when Ed took me to the weigh-in when he was here I got a chance to see that the California Commission is very particular about all medical paperwork and blood testing. It did seem that the only thing that got consistently sweaty this time was my lens. At the last fight I shot before the one with Muls I was well and truly spattered with blood on face and head ... one person thought I was cut!

Dwight.. FYI .. I would have passed out. Ask Ed, every time the fighters came to 'fight' near me .. I'd back up.. the whole "aids" thing didn't even register.. just the fact that I'd be splattered with blood would have been enough to lay me out cold.

It's so funny - here I am saying that "boxing photography" isn't for me and the promoter just emailed me and asked me to "join" his team - it's no HBO or Showtime .. but it's not bad for a first timer LOL..