I got to go shoot some amateur and pro boxing with BrendanPK last Saturday night in Baltimore MD. I've been waiting for Brendan to post first but since he has more of a life than I do . . .

Anyway, I've never shot boxing before and never really paid much attention to it. But being right there ringside for it is an amazing experience. And I only got nailed by the ropes one time. So now I know the reason you shoot it with short lenses. There was another photographer there who is a professional sports shooter and is widely published in the major boxing magazines. He was very helpful and gave me some great advice for shooting.

Overall a fun time. These men are amazing athletes. I have a new respect for the sport and the type of conditioning they commit themselves too. I wasn't going to post any but Mike bullied me into it (jk mike). So here's a few.











This last one, as he was stepping into the ring, the photographers were told to get a lot of shots of the first round. We weren't sure if that was due to lots of confidence in the fighter or lack of confidence. Well this fighter won his bout by a knockout in 50 seconds (it's the guy lying on the mat above).

[mel]

Thanks guys. And yeah Dylan I guess I'd better throw away my cameras and all the sports shots I've ever taken lol.

Gus - that dpreview challenge states specifically to make sure your subject is razor sharp. Although I will say the action rocks, I don't think they have the sharpness for THAT particular thread. Sharpness seems to be the main concern for that challenge. But I may go ahead and submit one anyway. So you think number 4 would be best? I have more on my flickr page. Right now they're at the front of my photostream.

[Jimbo]

Mel, if you had to submit one I think #1 would be a great one. JIM

Mel, I agree with Jimbo... 1 or 4 either one could be entered. The flying sweat in 1 gives a serious sense of action to me. I have not looked at the challenge thread since the first day so I will go back and re-read it and look at the photos already posted.

It certainly is not a sharp focus issue with your photos. More an Iso detail issue at full size?

Because at the forum size, the flying punch sweat looks pretty darn sharp.

[juanraortiz]

Incredible!! Fantastic series. They could be published in a newspaper.

[MRRiley]

Mel,

You simply have to enter #4! Its way good enough and I just about guarantee that unless Brendan submits something, it'll be the only boxing shot.

I need to get off my butt and decide what to submit myself since we are going out of town tomorrow for a week and I won't have reliable internet.

Mike

[mel]

well crumb. Now we're at a deadlock. One solid vote for 4, one solid vote for 1, and a vote for either 1 or 4. And I'm not good at making a judgement on my own work. I usually love it all or hate it all lol.

Okay so I'll submit one. Maybe I'll disregard all of you and submit 3? Kidding. But now I'm torn. I need to go back and look at the previous page. I think there were some mentions of that there.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

[MRRiley]

#1 is very good too, but it has a flaw in that the hit is taking place out of view. Thats why I picked #4. Just my opinion though...

Mike

Great action shots Mel but #2 is a standout for me. I think I'm going through a B&W phase.

[OrenMc]

You got my attention! Is that Canikon on the floor in #5? I would be hard pressed to make a decision between 1 & 4 for fast action.
I agree with Gary as #2 being a standout. Excellent B&W! I would crop just a little off the left though, but I hate saying that. I would be happy if I could come close to that.

Awesome seeing something different and done so well.

[RoxnDox]

well crumb. Now we're at a deadlock. One solid vote for 4, one solid vote for 1, and a vote for either 1 or 4. And I'm not good at making a judgement on my own work. I usually love it all or hate it all lol.

Okay so I'll submit one. Maybe I'll disregard all of you and submit 3? Kidding. But now I'm torn. I need to go back and look at the previous page. I think there were some mentions of that there.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I like #4 a bit more than #1. The lighting on the guy's body seems to accentuate his muscles more, and you can see the hit...

Jim

[CWyatt]

These are great, you can really feel the intensity of the fight.

Now that I realize my 1 or 4 answer is not helping...

Number 4... It is a classic boxing shot of 'the punch' that is the one you should enter!

That is the shot!

Is that far enough off of the fence for you


Good luck with it

[mel]

Okay catching up here. Thanks everyone for the feedback. Number 2 is out for the challenge because it doesn't show action but yeah I like that one too. I already cropped a lot off the left as he wasn't exactly centered perfectly in the image to begin with. He wasn't just holding still for me. lol. So it looks like number 4 is going to be the one entered into the challege then. And yes Gus that's far enough off the fence

I did a few bw conversions of these. They're cool, very moody since it was rather dark anyway. I guess I'd better get myself over to that other forum and figure it out huh. Thanks again all!

[timbo13]

Mel, these are great and something different! I love the sense of being right there almost in
the ring!

[mel]

Mel, these are great and something different! I love the sense of being right there almost in
the ring!

Thanks. We were almost right in the ring lol. We were right at ringside, in FRONT of the ringside table, half the time practically laying on the portion of the ring outside the ropes in order to shoot under the ropes. It was amazingly close. When the fighters were on our side of the ring they were literally right on top of us. Ya gotta trust those ropes!! I really hope I get a chance to do this again.