Rebecca Lane, "Ouch!"
You have managed to capture what was apparently a significant moment in
this event and an expressive response from the offended party, who was
apparently kicked in the stomach or thereabouts. That's a good start. As
I think you realize, the picture is a bit "soft:" It lacks sharpeness
and definition. This could be the result of an incorrectly focused lens
(whether it be manual or autofocus), camera shake, or simply a bad scan.
Without a lot of evidence to to go on, I'd say it's the lens focus in
this case. It appears that it may have been focused at a distance
shorter than the closest fighter. The electronic flash pretty much rules
out camera shake, since flash duration is short enough to overcome a bit
of the jitters. In terms of composition, the photo would have been more
effective and informative if you could have positioned yourself around
to the left, say about 90 degrees counterclockwise from where you were.
Then you would have captured the response and the impact. It would also
have framed up a bit nicer, I believe. The background may even have been
improved, since it would have been filled with the other contestants.
It's always a good idea to plan your vantage point as carefully as
possible and consider what both the subject and the background will look
like. I'm not fond of electronic flash lighting for this type of shot
both because of the way the foreground blows out and the background
lighting falls off. If you could have bounced it off a ceiling or
reflector it would have been better. You might also consider using
high-speed black and white film and available light. In typical
gymnasium lighting, you can usually shoot at 1/250 second with 3200 asa
BW film. You might even be able to achieve 1/500 with a fast lens set at
an aperture of f4 or so. You'll need some depth of field, even if the
contestants are equidistant from the lens. In summary, a good first
effort.
Paul Stenquist
(My other commentaries will be posted ASAP)
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