Mixed martial arts at R-grip in Amsterdam
Last week I had the opportunity to shoot some mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes at the R-Grip gym in Amsterdam. R-Grip is owned by MMA champion Marloes Coenen and Roemer Trompert, who generously helped me set up the shoot on their premises.
It was a cold and windy day, making the trip up from Noord Brabant a little less pleasant for me and my assistant, particularly because we arrived forty minutes early and had to stand around outside for most of that time, hoping to get warm as the sky threatened rain. Roemer drove up about ten minutes from the scheduled start time and we were allowed into the gym. Inside, it was warm but it was also dark--very dark. I knew that the gym was dim, but had counted on more sunlight coming in through their back window. Because of the weather, it contributed little to the scene. This presented a real problem because I wanted to shoot action poses with a lot of motion. If I relied on my strobes to light the scene, I could get the fast action but would likely sacrifice any potential for a natural light quality.
To balance the natural light with the strobes, I used a high ISO for most shots (400-800) and a wide aperture. I had wanted to shoot at 7.1, but in the light I had, used 3.5-4 for most shots.
The athletes, Roeslaan, Leroy, Samir, and Roemer, were all great to work with. While I set up and tested the lights, they started sparring with each other to warm up. By the time I was ready for them, they had already worked up a sweat. I shot Roeslaan and Leroy first, then switched to Samir and Roemer. Roeslaan and Leroy performed grappling moves, then Samir and Roemer did throws and clinches as well as a few punches. I had wanted to get some straight portraits at the end of the shoot but I'd run out of time to do what I had in mind: a separate portrait in different parts of the studio for each athlete. Instead, I shot them all in the same place with the same lighting. For the last group I used the modelling lights on my strobes so that I could set up the lights faster by removing the need for test shots to see what the lighting looked like.
It was a cold and windy day, making the trip up from Noord Brabant a little less pleasant for me and my assistant, particularly because we arrived forty minutes early and had to stand around outside for most of that time, hoping to get warm as the sky threatened rain. Roemer drove up about ten minutes from the scheduled start time and we were allowed into the gym. Inside, it was warm but it was also dark--very dark. I knew that the gym was dim, but had counted on more sunlight coming in through their back window. Because of the weather, it contributed little to the scene. This presented a real problem because I wanted to shoot action poses with a lot of motion. If I relied on my strobes to light the scene, I could get the fast action but would likely sacrifice any potential for a natural light quality.
To balance the natural light with the strobes, I used a high ISO for most shots (400-800) and a wide aperture. I had wanted to shoot at 7.1, but in the light I had, used 3.5-4 for most shots.
The athletes, Roeslaan, Leroy, Samir, and Roemer, were all great to work with. While I set up and tested the lights, they started sparring with each other to warm up. By the time I was ready for them, they had already worked up a sweat. I shot Roeslaan and Leroy first, then switched to Samir and Roemer. Roeslaan and Leroy performed grappling moves, then Samir and Roemer did throws and clinches as well as a few punches. I had wanted to get some straight portraits at the end of the shoot but I'd run out of time to do what I had in mind: a separate portrait in different parts of the studio for each athlete. Instead, I shot them all in the same place with the same lighting. For the last group I used the modelling lights on my strobes so that I could set up the lights faster by removing the need for test shots to see what the lighting looked like.
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