So you just landed the sweetest kick, knocking your opponent down and winning you the championship. Congratulations! Too bad the photo your buddy took looks like this:
In my years as a professional martial arts photographer, I’ve seen a lot of painfully poor digital photos, but no practical guides on improving them. Now here’s how you (and your friends—make them read this before handing them your camera) can take stunning martial art digital photos that will be the pride of your Facebook gallery.
1 - Get in there!
Closer is Better. You probably knew this already, but don’t forget! Using your zoom lens is the path to the dark side—“zooming in” actually reduces the light your camera gets, and causes major blurriness.
Safety tip: Close is good, but stay out of the ring. Fighters move fast and your camera works so much better when it’s not embedded into your face.
Good action, if you could see it.
That’s better — can you feel the tension?
2 - Timing is everything
A quarter-second makes the difference between this photo:
and this one:
I think something exciting just happened…?
Sadly, getting exact timing with most “consumer-grade” digital cameras (typically under $1000 USD) is like trying to bat a bullet with a barbell.
The problem is called “shutter lag”—the time between hitting the button and taking the photo. With digital cameras, this can be between 1/4-second and eternity. The camera actually has a lot to do during that time, such as focusing the lens, evaluating the lighting levels, and testing the flash output.
Timing Tip #1: Do the half-press. Every digital camera has a “two-stage shutter release” (the “take picture now” button). Pressing it lightly (half-press) will ask it to auto-focus and evaluate the lighting levels. This is great because when you press it the rest of the way, the camera has less to do and will be far more responsive.
Just make sure the camera focuses on the fighters when you half-press it. Most digital cameras will show you where they’ve focused in the LCD, usually with a colored box around the chosen subject, accompanied by a gratifying beep. For other cameras you may have to point it directly at your chosen fighter first, then half-press, then re-center the image before full-pressing it.
Timing Tip #2: Avoid flash. Even when using the half-press, the delay between the second press and the photo happening can be far too long for sport photography. Try turning off the flash. True, this can cause other problems (discussed later), but at least you’ll capture the moment.
Timing Tip #3: Practice! While waiting for the big match at a tournament, practice your timing on the other matches happening. Hey, it’s a digital camera so just delete those shots. You did bring extra batteries…right?
Timing Tip #4: Anticipate. Even with a fast camera, you’ll have to fire before the kick/punch actually lands to get the best shot. So get your head in the game, and shoot when you think your fighter is just beginning their strike.
3 - Lighting and Blurry Photos
Dim lighting is the cause of blurry action photos. With less light, the camera must keep its shutter open longer to collect enough light to make the photo. Any motion while the shutter is open will come out blurred and smudged (known as “motion blur”).
Blurry Photo Tip #1: Use Flash. A camera’s flash is an extremely brief pulse of light and has the effect of freezing motion with crystal clarity. But keep these points in mind:
- Flash works best when you’re close: within about 20 feet of the subject.
- Flash will increase the shutter-lag and make timing much harder. So if timing is your trouble, turn the flash off. If blurriness is your bane, turn it on.
Warning: Camera flash is bright! Especially if you’re close, your buddy/team-mate/child may not appreciate being blinded as they’re about to land the winning blow. As a professional martial art photographer, I do everything I can to reduce my flash brightness (when I must use flash), or at least not fire it directly into athletes’ eyes.
Blurry Photo Tip #2: Use existing lighting. When you arrive at the tournament arena, and before settling down, ask yourself where the most existing ambient light is coming from. If there are bright windows, try to sit near them. Sometimes gymnasium lighting is not even; shoot from where the fighters appear brightest.
4 - Camera Tricks
You don’t need a $5000 camera to take great martial art photos. Of course, a $50 camera won’t get you far either. But simply mastering the features available on most half-decent models can take you surprisingly far.
Camera Trick #1: Boost your ISO. The camera’s ISO (sometimes called ASA) refers to its light sensitivity. If your photos are still coming out blurry (motion blur), choose the highest ISO your camera allows. This setting is likely buried in some sub-menu, but nearly every camera has it. The side-effect of a high ISO is often grainy and noisy photos, a problem that’s discussed in our follow-up article on photo editing.
Camera Trick #2: Increase your shutter speed. Still blurry? Find a way to boost your shutter speed (you may have to select “Manual mode” or “M”) to at least “1/80”. This means your shutter will be open for only 1/80th of a second, which will limit motion blur. A better setting for martial art photography is around 1/160. However, the faster your shutter speed, the darker your photos will turn out. If they’re too dark you can always lighten them afterward up on your computer (see my follow-up article).
Camera Trick #3: Maximize your aperture. If you’re now in Manual mode, you’ll be able to change your aperture, usually expressed something like “f5.6”. Making that number as small as possible makes your lens aperture bigger, and just like opening your eyes wider, will increase image brightness and reduce motion blur.
Camera Trick #4: Use Sports mode. If your camera has Sports Mode, it performs all the above Camera Tricks for you! It will likely activate the flash too.
Camera Trick #5: Don’t use red-eye reduction. When using flash, make darn sure that red-eye reduction mode is off. That mode will delay your shot by several seconds.
Camera Trick #6: Hold still! If your photos are still blurry after all this, take a shot of someone standing perfectly still. If they also turn out blurry then your hands are shaking too much, causing…“camera shake!” Lay off the coffee, and try exhaling slowly when taking the shot to steady yourself. If the problem persists, a tripod will cure it.
5 - Composition
The transition between documentary-style photography—just shooting and hoping you get something good—to artistic/professional photography is when you start making the photo happen your way. For example, this could mean making it look like your fighter is dominating the match, even when both players are just standing there. There’s a lot of depth to this topic, but here are a couple of points to ponder:
Question #1: Who is your focus? How can you make the photo instantly convey who the main focus or “star player” is? Consider composing off-center, or moving to a different position.
Question #2: What is the mood? Is it serene and controlled—such as during a kata/pattern—or is it fast and furious? Nobody said you have to keep the camera leveled; try tilting it for a dramatic effect.
Extreme camera tilt for an unbalanced, dynamic effect
Question #3: Why are you standing? The best angle for sparring photos is sometimes ground-level, meaning you should be on your knees, or lower. Not only is this a more dramatic angle, but it makes any jumps and kicks look higher, and puts the audience in background (instead of showing that dirty mat). Experiment with angles and elevations to give your photos a unique and interesting look.
Taking great pictures is a sport in itself, and requires patient concentration to capture the moment. Staring through the lens is not the best way to watch a fight, so if it’s your good friend or child who’s competing, you might want to just put down the camera or ask a friend to take some shots instead (hence why you should send these tips to your friends!).
Like anything else, practice makes perfect. However if you suspect your camera is holding you back, you’ll want to read my follow-up article: “Camera Buying Guide and Review for Martial Art Photography.” Happy shooting!
Alex Frakking has been covering national-level taekwondo, judo, and karate tournaments for over ten years, as well as producing tournament and instructional videos and performing martial art studio photography. He is currently the official photographer for FightTube and CombatCanada Magazine.
Upcoming related articles from Alex:
- “Camera Buying Guide and Review for Martial Art Photography”
- “Enhancing your Martial Art Photos using Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro”
- “Getting Paid for your Martial Art Photography”
Alex, your tips are really good. I am shooting Tae-Kwon-do for couple years and learned most of them the hard way. Iwould also add, if you have dSLR camera, get inexpensive (100$) fast,prime lenses like 50mm 1.8 D for Nikon or similar for Canon. This will allow for much bigger aperture and decrease ISO. If camera have ISO of 1600 it does not mean you should use it. Too much noise even on better dSLR like D80.
Thanks for the feedback Ed, that’s one of my favourite lenses too. This article is intended more for casual photographers without SLRs, but I’ll certainly address that issue in the next article about buying a camera.
Happy shooting
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