High school wrestling

[FWW56]

Something a bit slower paced than what I usually do. With two boys on the local high school wrestling team I have another excuse to get the camera out.

Keep in mind that I have only been involved in this hobby for a few years and find myself in all sorts of situations with regards to lighting. The learning curve has been steep but I am fairly pleased with my progress.And I also try to stay out of the limelight and not call too much attention to myself (even with a long lens and the "small" Metz),

These images were taken from the bleachers a pretty good distance from the mat. The best results I was able to get were with my Sigma 70-300 (the cheap one), around f5-f6.3, 160sec at ISO 3200. Some were shot RAW and converted but considering the time involved with processing I am leaning toward JPEG's to save a bit of time for my "real world" commitments. These were cleaned up with a basic older version of ACDsee mostly de-speckled.

By the way, my sons' team did win the Pittsburgh City League Championships this night.















My daughter is on the swim team with their big meet at the end of this month. I guess that means my second trip to University of Pgh Trees Hall will be here soon.

FRANK
Pentax k100d, Sigma 70-300, Metz CL-45

[hfllaser]

Hi Frank,
Just a few quick comments from a "newbie"...I started taking pics of my son's middle school wrestling last year (this year starts next week)...because of other kid's indoor sports, I only had a 50 f1.8 and 85 f1.8 lenses which are good for indoor lighting but short so when my son wrestled, I went up to the edge of the mat to take pictures...I figured I needed to get close and if I didn't, then I would'nt get any pictures. Did I make call attention to myself? I don't know but I have some decent pictures that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise...keep on shooting but go ahead and try some different angles/distances.
Hans