Photographing fencing and getting a shot I REALLY wanted!
Yesterday I made the trip over to the fencing venue to get a shot that I have wanted for the last couple of years. I have photographed fencing before at the London Olympics and really enjoyed it. It is one of the few venues that is lit theatrically. But, if you read the last blog, you know that I was playing with the multiple exposure mode of the Canon camera. I knew that this would really work well here in the fencing venue.
I actually spent the first hour shooting in multiple exposure, and once I was satisfied with the results, I then shot a little bit without it. I am going to start with a handful of regular images and then go into the multi mode shots.
I shot the action at ISO 1600, which still gave me a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec. First it was women competing and then the men came on.
This is a shot of Daryl Homer, who ended up winning a silver medal last night, in his semifinal match.
The moment of victory!
He ran and jumped into his coaches arms. What a great moment.
He then did a celebration run on the mat.
Homer came in 6th place in London and progressed to bring home silver this time around. Look at the elation on his face. Priceless.
OK - now to the multiple exposure mode. In the blog post I wrote 3 weeks ago, I talked about some of the photos I wanted to capture in Rio. One of them was this shot. I love that the newer cameras can combine multiple exposures in the same frame, but it can not be used in many situations. It generally works better in dark environments, and with minimal distractions in the background. Perfect for fencing. So I have envisioned this shot for way too long. Time to get it.
The trial and error
First of all, if you are a Canon camera user, you may wonder where this feature resides. On the newer camera models (generally in the last 3 years or so), there is a menu option for multiple exposure mode. And in this mode, you can control lighting, how many shots you want in the frame (from 2-9), whether you want the individual frames and the combined one, and an option to leave the feature on for many shots or just one time.
I know that some Nikon cameras have this option as well, but I am a Canon guy, so not sure which models.
Multiple exposure mode is a tricky feature, but also takes some experimentation to get good photos with it.
This was my first shot. It is overexposed, but got me excited that this could be really cool.
I switched the camera from aperture priority to manual mode, adjusting the settings to darken the background more and keep the white outfits from blowing out. But I also needed the right moment. In this photo you can see that the action was not right.
I tried using the high speed burst mode of the Canon 1D X Mark II and also the slow burst mode. This shot shows the slow burst mode, which separated the ladies too much. The frame was too chaotic.
I then switched the camera back to the fast burst mode, but this did not give me enough separation.
But, after taking numerous frames, I started getting what I wanted. And yeah, I was loving it.
I was packing up to leave for the night when I saw that Daryl was coming out next. I figured that I needed this multiple exposure of an American athlete.
So I shot a bunch more frames to get two more that I really liked.
Now the problem is, which one of these do I like the best. Feel free to chime in and let me know your opinion. I think I need some help here.
I hope that this inspires others to try this feature in the future. Pretty cool, right???
I know that I am happy to have these in my portfolio.
I actually spent the first hour shooting in multiple exposure, and once I was satisfied with the results, I then shot a little bit without it. I am going to start with a handful of regular images and then go into the multi mode shots.
I shot the action at ISO 1600, which still gave me a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec. First it was women competing and then the men came on.
This is a shot of Daryl Homer, who ended up winning a silver medal last night, in his semifinal match.
The moment of victory!
He ran and jumped into his coaches arms. What a great moment.
He then did a celebration run on the mat.
Homer came in 6th place in London and progressed to bring home silver this time around. Look at the elation on his face. Priceless.
OK - now to the multiple exposure mode. In the blog post I wrote 3 weeks ago, I talked about some of the photos I wanted to capture in Rio. One of them was this shot. I love that the newer cameras can combine multiple exposures in the same frame, but it can not be used in many situations. It generally works better in dark environments, and with minimal distractions in the background. Perfect for fencing. So I have envisioned this shot for way too long. Time to get it.
The trial and error
First of all, if you are a Canon camera user, you may wonder where this feature resides. On the newer camera models (generally in the last 3 years or so), there is a menu option for multiple exposure mode. And in this mode, you can control lighting, how many shots you want in the frame (from 2-9), whether you want the individual frames and the combined one, and an option to leave the feature on for many shots or just one time.
I know that some Nikon cameras have this option as well, but I am a Canon guy, so not sure which models.
Multiple exposure mode is a tricky feature, but also takes some experimentation to get good photos with it.
This was my first shot. It is overexposed, but got me excited that this could be really cool.
I switched the camera from aperture priority to manual mode, adjusting the settings to darken the background more and keep the white outfits from blowing out. But I also needed the right moment. In this photo you can see that the action was not right.
I tried using the high speed burst mode of the Canon 1D X Mark II and also the slow burst mode. This shot shows the slow burst mode, which separated the ladies too much. The frame was too chaotic.
I then switched the camera back to the fast burst mode, but this did not give me enough separation.
But, after taking numerous frames, I started getting what I wanted. And yeah, I was loving it.
Using the setting to combine 4 images in the shot, I waited for this moment and got this shot. Not only did I get the action I wanted, I also had the logos lit up at the bottom of the stage area.
I was packing up to leave for the night when I saw that Daryl was coming out next. I figured that I needed this multiple exposure of an American athlete.
So I shot a bunch more frames to get two more that I really liked.
Now the problem is, which one of these do I like the best. Feel free to chime in and let me know your opinion. I think I need some help here.
I hope that this inspires others to try this feature in the future. Pretty cool, right???
I know that I am happy to have these in my portfolio.
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