Getting time outside of classes to shoot the instructors and students turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. After discussing with karl some of the restraints of shooting in class I asked if it would be possible to shoot outside of class times, with him and a couple of instructors and students. He agreed that it could be done however when it came to the day of the shoot none of the other instructors had got back to us and so in the end I had to shoot during lesson time once more. This led to time constraints and limited models to shoot. Although many of the students were happy to allow me to shoot whilst training, it was far more difficult to persuade them to be photographed in front of the lights.
I began with shooting portraits. Using two bowens studio lights and umbrellas, to create an even lighting. I had the right hand light as my main light and the left slightly lower to fill in any harsh shadows.
Throughout the shoot it became somewhat difficult to keep my models from smiling as although I want to show the sociable aspects of being an academy member, I needed to show a level of professionalism.
After the first few shots we both settled into the shoot and began to get some good pictures. I'm not happy with the framing on this example, but I could crop in photoshop to get a better image.
It was very difficult to get much texture as the Uniform was so black. I was also unhappy with the creases in the sheet.
This image of Master Stevens performing a front kick into the camera lens. I wanted to experiment with depth of field and composition. I think if I were to use this shot I would need to photoshop out the dirt on his foot.
The red floor meant that getting full body shots was out of the question. Also I was unable to get the correct exposure all over the body, so after this shot I tried to stick with photographs from the torso.
Here once more you can see the difficulty I had in getting the proper exposure on the Uniform. Perhaps in retrospect I would have been better off only using one light with an Umbrella for sorting and using the other to ensure a correct exposure.
I like these images of the hook punch as it shows off his tattoos well.
I made sure to take a shot of the technique from both his left and right side.
In this image the face of the subject is completely obscured by his fist as he performs a snap punch into the lens. His eyes are just visible over the fist and you can see how straight and precise his technique is.
I asked him to punch slightly lower after the last image because I wanted to have a version with his face showing.
Although I had been trying to avoid too many images with smiles, I love this image of my former instructor. You can see how much he enjoyed the shoot and showing off his abilities.
There are many dummy weapons at the academy for both defence and training purposes. Here I photographed Master Stevens with one of his blunted samurai swords.
I prefer the stance in this photo to the previous image
He suggested bring the sword down slowly in front of the camera.
I like this image even though the position of his arms has created much shadowing on his face. The tattoos are well exposed and the image is quite atmospheric.
Here the sword comes down perfectly across the middle of in his face. I feel that the image is well composed and exposed however I will need to use photoshop to remove the creases in the image.
We then moved on to using the practice knives.
I'm pleases with this image although The focus point is on the knife and knuckled the left side of his face has come very slightly out of focus. Unfortunatley I didn't notice this at the time. In future I must remember to use the in camera zoom function to check focus whilst shooting.
This is Ben another high grade black belt. I needed to make sure I got a good variety of images so I began by directing him to do some jumping kicks. I did this to help break the ice of coming in front of the lens as he was less comfortable being photographed as Karl.
Here he demonstrates a perfect side kick. the white trousers create good shadows, however because I was in a corner of the dojo a black line runs through the image from top to bottom. I will need to edit this image before use.
As Karl had done hook punches I asked ben to perform uppercuts. I like this image, but his left arm comes out of the frame.
Here I shot the snap punch technique once more, however this time I kept the focus pint of the fist instead of the subjects face.
I wanted to have a portrait and landscape version of this image to give myself more options when it comes to layout designs.
Ridge hand. It would have been useful in this example to have another light for highlights. that way I would have had much more detail on his hair.
Posing with a staff.
motion shot whilst he spun the staff.
Action shot of karl breaking a practice board in two. A dynamic image, however again the image is to blurred for professional use.
This is called chambering the leg. This must be done in order to have speed, balance and control whilst kicking. It is a basic fundamental of Martial arts and something I noticed has been overlooked by other photographers.
the back-fist is one of the fastest techniques in sport kickboxing. Excellent in a sparring match as you can be in and out in a flash. It took me many attempts to capture the image to my liking.
shot 1/250 f.11 35mm
I then directed the two to interact. Here call is demonstrating the "goose neck", this technique is used to defend from a one armed grab. Twisting the hand releases the grip.
and applying pressure gives you control over the attacker.
I altered the composition and requested that they stop smiling, although I altered my lighting to compensate for them being at different distances from my lens I still resulted in an under-exposed image. Although I should have reshot I didn't down to nervousness on my part.
