In the boxing gym

N

ncaleffi

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This is a first attempt to shoot some guys training for boxing in a local gym. Hopefully, I will be able to take some shoots of the boxers fighting in the next few days. Any comment is welcomed!

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You've definitely picked an interesting subject matter. The only problem I see is there are a lot of horizontal and vertical lines as well as other distracting elements in each of the 5 shots. I think it would be better to shoot either using DOF creatively to eliminate these distractions, or frame "closely" enough to avoid their inclusion. When I do this type of thing in B&W I prefer a little more contrast and grain (this irritates people, it can be OVER done) that's just a preference, of course, but I feel like it would serve this well.

What is your relationship to the fighters? Perhaps your photos will improve organically as a product of getting to know the people you're shooting as the project progresses.

Where is this gym? I'd be really interested to see more of your work, especially shots of an actual match.

All the best,
James
 
You need to make them more interesting. If your going to do a series or a photo essay, your on the right path. Along with MC JC86 said, try catching them actually working out, facial expressions are key, include more in the frame so the viewer knows what their doing, (one looks like he's just staring at a wall). The detail shot is nice, but get closer and fill the frame. Vary your lenses, wide, 35 or below for enviro portraits, 50 + for detail. Mix it up. Some actual sparing/fights will be good. Don't forget detail shots during the fight, i.e. bell ringer, round girl, audience facial reactions, between round pep talks, exhaustion/intensity. Maybe focus on one fighter and follow from training to the final bell. Good luck
 
I would say shoot as you want, be who you are.
If you are only using or own one lens, thats fine, but I'd probably bring a wider lens in addition to whatever you are using (50)
 
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions, they have been very helpful (I hope so).

I've spent a second day in the gym, with the guys actually training with boxing gloves and helmet. First thing I have to say is that it has been a very funny and interesting experience, which, I hope, I will be able to preserve in the future. I don't have any particular techincal skill so I hope that this, among other things, will help me grow in taking pictures.

The gym is located in a suburbian part of my town - somehow, it is a safe place in what the media calls a degraded neighbourhood. I really liked the "real" nature of the people there, and also the fact that they appreciated my presence there - I tried to be unobtrusive and let the guys act naturally.

Now on to the pics. The main difficult, using a manual focus camera, was getting shots of people in motion. Indeed, I saved 25% of the shots I took. I also tried to get different point of views, even entering the ring myself, laying down and shooting the guys from the bottom.

As I said, i actually saved a small part of the work; some pics taken with the boxeurs moving and training, plus some portraits and poses. I will post here just a sequence, if anyone wants to see the full set here it is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicola...6268169255/in/set-72157627949601650/lightbox/

And here is the sequence:

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1, 3 & 7 are my fave, great!

You've picked a tough project! The moving boxing dude, bright strip lights in every shot, manual focus, lots of distracting background objects in view & darker indoors.

Would be interesting to see some shots of the lens wide open to push background objects out of focus more. Also trying to find angles that exclude the strip lights. And, I'd love to see the B&W a bit more "gritty", perhaps by pushing the contrast up a touch or playing with the levels.

Just ideas, I'm an amateur :)

Lovely collection, makes me want to do a project too.
 
Nice work Tobin, I love the way the picture looks after your editing - it is much more lively. Have you used the leveling in Photoshop? By the way, if I remember well, the pictures were taken all wide open, at F2 or 2.8, in aperture mode. And by the way, I'm an amateur too, still a lot of things to learn.
 
ncaleffi said:
Nice work Tobin, I love the way the picture looks after your editing - it is much more lively. Have you used the leveling in Photoshop? By the way, if I remember well, the pictures were taken all wide open, at F2 or 2.8, in aperture mode. And by the way, I'm an amateur too, still a lot of things to learn.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm glad that didn't cause offence!

I used levels in Aperture to tweak the luminance of certain shades. It's a bit like a graphic equaliser for brightness!

Basically I made the mid-tones brighter, and the dark tones a tiny bit darker. I often try to adjust the tones so that it helps make the subject(s) pop out a bit (in this case, the face).

Ace piccies, looking forward to seeing more.
 
You might try using a slower shutter speed in some shots, trying to capture (not freeze) the motion out of the images. Only a few will come out, but it is worth a try. One you get them sparring, then it's truly "decisive moment" time, lining up your shot and waiting for the punch to land to click the camera. Boxing is a very fun subject to shoot. Once when ringside I got splattered with blood. That doesn't usually happen to me!
 
Also, you might ask them to take off their helmets for portraits. They kind of make them look like centurions with swollen heads, or who got to helmet distribution too late and had to take the small ones!
 
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