Boxing: Mario "Ponce Prince" Santiago defeats Sal Garcia

I shot a boxing card at the Chumash Casino Resort on Friday night. It was produced by Gary Shaw Productions and the two main events were televised by ShoBox: The New Generation. A number of these images are available via FightWireImages a wire service run by Ed Mulholland et alia, a POTN member.

This was a pretty good fight although Mario "Ponce Prince" Santiago (16-0/11) seemed to control it most of the bout. It was scheduled to be 10 rounds, featherweight, but Sal Garcia (14-3-2/7) was getting overwhelmed by the seventh round and his corner threw in the towel.

#1 It was not more than a few rounds before you could see that Sal Garcia was getting beaten down and was looking worried and tired in his corner.

Razor sharp and just beautiful!

Photodawg1 wrote in post #2348657
Razor sharp and just beautiful!

Thanks, Linda! I believe I have finally found my "zone" on settings for the ShowTime event lighting .... EXIF in all images. This was the first time I felt totally "in the zone", too, and went home and to bed without having to download and look at the images before I could go to sleep.

I didn't catch as many of those head jarring, sweat/vaseline/blood flying everywhere shots that are so popular, but several of the matches ended very quickly before things had heated up: two ended in technical draws due to accidental head butts that caused excessive bleeding and then there were the usual TKOs. My next card will be in early February.

DwightMcCann wrote in post #2348691
Thanks, Linda! I believe I have finally found my "zone" on settings for the ShowTime event lighting .... EXIF in all images. This was the first time I felt totally "in the zone", too, and went home and to bed without having to download and look at the images before I could go to sleep.

I didn't catch as many of those head jarring, sweat/vaseline/blook flying everywhere shots that are so popular, but several of the matches ended very quickly before things had heated up: two ended in technical draws due to accidental head butts that caused excessive bleeding and then there were the usual TKOs. My next card will be in early February.

Yes. Definitely see improvement and they now resonnate with the "DM" finesse!

The 'zone' is a mighty fine place to be... these are wonderful.

---- Gavin

gmen wrote in post #2348714
The 'zone' is a mighty fine place to be... these are wonderful.

---- Gavin

Yes, and it only took me nine cards spread over two years plus several very compassionate tutors to find my butt and the zone ... which may be in the same place!

Wow, these are excellent. It would have been nice to have those blood and sweat flying shots, but I dont think this series needs it. Very strong series even without them.

Very nice, very sharp Dwight.

What noise reduction are you using? I also noticed the metering was "pattern", being lazy I'm not going to look that up, can you expand what "pattern" is?

hey mate, i've got a boxing event this saturday, what lenses did you use and what focus points do you find the best to use?

Ecellent,Did you use a flash when taking these pictures.
I shoot alot of martial arts and MMA cage fights with my 20D and 24-70 lens,I shoot at 3200ISO and 2.8 with out a flash and because of the surounding lighting I can not get my pictures this sharp.Could you please tell me how you do it.
Thanks

Nice shots Dwight, then again I think I've seen them before...hehe...

Scott, Flash is never permitted ringside, this being a showtime televised event, the lighting would have been pretty good. Chumash also has a low ceiling which keeps it brighter, but opens up the opportunity for alot of lens flare. These would have been shot in the iso 1250, 1/500th, f2.8 range...

Ed

Chris, no noise reduction. The pattern is irrelevent as I was shooting manual exposure.

GladiatOR, I shoot the action with 24-70mm f/2.8L and 300mm f/2.8L IS for the corner shots and sportraits. I move the focus point all over the map depending on the positioning of the fighters so that the one most facing me is the focus point ... sometimes I adjust the wrong thing and get shutter speeds of 1/4000th ... that really stops the action but makes the image a tad dark!

Scott, Ed is teasing a bit ... he is my primary mentor and strings me along by putting a few of my images up on his wire service (which is where he has seen these images before) and has shot my venue (the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California) with me in the past. In return, I took him on a wine tour of 'SIDEWAYS COUNTRY' (of movie fame) in which I live. He gets better shots than I do with the identical equipment (we have been known to switch lenses without realizing it) while giving advice and counsel to three or four other togs, coordinating with his assistant and keeping track of all the ring girls. You should note that every image has EXIF data ... if you don't know about EXIF and how to see it from your browser, please speak up.

I am the contract photographer for the Chumash Casino Resort and shoot all their events. My reputation is for concerts but with Ed using the stick-and-carrot method I have managed to get a few decent boxing shots. I heard Friday night that the casino is considering bringing in MMA in the distant future ... I would not expect before early 2008 and I am very excited to try it.

great job there

Mike Reynolds wrote in post #2349517
great job there

Thanks! As you can see from the above, it took me a while.

Great shots, you've certainly improved alot with your boxing work.