How do ringside pro photographers do their thing?

June 14, 2009 12:08 PM

How do ringside (boxing, MMA, etc.) photographers work?

Are there any pro or serious amateur photogs at MeFi who could satisfy my curiosity about ringside photography? Specifically:

* Given how fast action can occur, do they plan shots or just take a ton of them and filter out later?

* I notice they use two cameras, presumably for close up vs. far off shots. Do they pre-focus at the two distances so they don't have to think about it? Or do they still do some adjustment on the fly?

* Analog or digital? I'd assume digital would favor the approach of taking loads of shots and culling later. But I think a lot of pros still use film.

* How do they decide which shots to use? Or is it their newspaper/website/etc. editor that does that for them? I assume shots with punches landing, people dropping from knockouts, etc. would be favored over all other shots?

Thanks!

posted by wastelands to media & arts (10 comments total)

I did a little of this waaay back in the day.

>> Given how fast action can occur, do they plan shots or just take a ton of them and filter out later?

A little of both. You can plant yourself in positions to increase your odds. For example, about two-thirds down the side from one of the fighter's corners will give you a) the opposite fighter's corner, for shots in-between rounds, b) the near corner, c) the near-fighter's corner, but from a different angle. You're concerned about the fighter's corners, because you can get shots of the cornermen, and smart fighters will steer their opponents to their own corners, to keep them far from their coaches.

>> I notice they use two cameras, presumably for close up vs. far off shots. Do they pre-focus at the two distances so they don't have to think about it? Or do they still do some adjustment on the fly?

You never pre-focus, because things change so rapidly, you'd burn time trying to return to the pre-focused state. You make all your adjustments on the fly.

>> Analog or digital? I'd assume digital would favor the approach of taking loads of shots and culling later. But I think a lot of pros still use film.

Analog when I did it, but it's all digital now. The only analog that is still used today is (I think) slide film for portraits.

>> How do they decide which shots to use? Or is it their newspaper/website/etc. editor that does that for them? I assume shots with punches landing, people dropping from knockouts, etc. would be favored over all other shots?

It pretty much still is that the photogs choose a set of what they thought was good, and then the editors could choose from there.

As a photog, you're trying to tell the story of the entire event, so you want story-telling shots from before the fight (e.g. warm-ups, stare downs), good action during the fight (and you better get a spread of action, because either fighter can win at any moment, so you don't want you're only shots being the eventual winner taking a punch), and after-the-fight shots (the winner celebrating, the loser looking despondent, etc).

You don't have to shoot the literal action to get great shots. Some of the best ever have been after the punches have been thrown.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:26 PM on June 14 [4 favorites]

I'm not a boxing/mma photographer, but based on shooting other sports I can answer some questions for you:
* You learn to recognize when something's going to happen. When shooting soccer you don't shoot guys standing around, you shoot guys who have the ball when defenders are around or when they're close to the goal. But, at the end of the day, for each soccer goal there's 5-10 shots-on-goal that nobody cares about.

* You do both, but it really depends on how much light you have. You need enough DoF to capture the action at a high shutter speed, so you focus to the general area and - depending on how well you know your system - auto or manual focus to get the perfect shot.

* Unless they're shooting fine art, sports photographers are strictly digital. You'll find people using films for stuff like an in-depth report into a certain boxer, a certain sport, etc. Pics that document the event (95% of them) need to be up on that website TODAY.

* The photo editor of a publication decides what runs. Most photogs shooting for agencies will seed out obviously weak technical shots, then have an editor at the agency do a selection that will go into the agencies photo bank for others to buy.
posted by jedrek at 12:26 PM on June 14

I haven't really shot any sports stuff, but I have friends who do and a lot of these big arenas have strobes in the rafters. Each photographer gets a separate area that is triggered via wireless radio (Pocket Wizards). That helps freeze action shots.

Almost no one shoots analog anymore unless it's integral to their aesthetic - which for action sports stuff it's not. Some editorial and studio guys still do, but they aren't shooting small format like 35mm anyways. Sports and journalist photographers were some of the first to make the switch to digital back in the day and haven't looked back.
posted by bradbane at 12:39 PM on June 14

The two cameras thing is used for speedy lens changes, if you don't have a variable focal length lens. Besides, everyone is of the same general opinion that prime lenses give a very noticeable upgrade in image quality from vfl

So, you pop your $5,000 f2 or f1.8 zoom lens on one camera, and your cheapy 50mm prime on the other, and now you can shoot with either camera depending where the action is

And it's also to cover your butt if one camera wonks out during UFC 100's title fight...

I would also suggest that professionals have a vested interest in the sport (i.e., a sibling or something is involved, or they are old fighters, or whatever) so they can see the signs of an approaching op and fire away. So in that way they kind of plan their shots like CoolPapa and jedrek have suggested above. But CoolPapa's advice is probably the best: you're there to capture the entire "event", not only the fight but the little things that you normally wouldn't care about...a punch is a symbol of "power" but a staredown can tell a better story
posted by Khazk at 1:02 PM on June 14

this video answers your question.
posted by krautland at 1:55 PM on June 14

The SportsShooter message board is fascinating reading if you're into this kind of thing. Working professionals only.
posted by smackfu at 7:25 PM on June 14

Just for the record, if a "$5000 f2 or f1.8 zoom lens" actually existed for DSLR cameras, I'd have one in my bag. So would a lot of other working photographers I know.
posted by imjustsaying at 3:28 AM on June 15

I found a Nikon 200mm f2.0 at adorama for ~5g. They are probably cheaper now but I doubt any professional sports shooter considers 200mm to be close enough for them. Portrait and stock, I call it zoom. Bad habit :)

"a $5000 f2.0 Telephoto prime" ftfmyself
posted by Khazk at 6:39 PM on June 16

I just shot an MMA event ringside. You want a 85mm f/1.4 to get through the cage in a MMA fight. I didn't have my 85mm f/1.4 with me, but my 80-200 f/2.8 sufficed. You need a very fast DSLR that can shoot 7 or 8 frames a second, and a CF card in the slot with a fast write speed.

Other than that you begin to recognize what is happening the more you watch/attend/shoot. If you are with the production company you get to stand on little stools and shoot from above the cage. Otherwise you work the floor surrounding the cage, and stay out of the way of the card women that walk between rounds.

You also have to stay out of the way of the judges. If you block their view they will kick you out regardless of your press-pass. I had to wipe blood off of my lens and camera body after the fights.

I haven't shot boxing yet, but I suppose it is similar, with the exception of not having to keep the cage out of the depth of field.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 1:14 AM on July 24

How do they decide which shots to use?

Usually you choose your best 5 to 8 shots from an event, work them in photoshop for color correction (AND NOTHING ELSE, this is journalism, yo). You add your captions and who shot it and for what newspaper in the EXIF data, and you submit them to the editor. If you are really cool, you put together an online gallery for the photo editor.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 1:17 AM on July 24