Wednesday 30 September 2009

Nationals Male Sparring - Pick of the Pix #2



Tim Couling gets a face massage.

And here's the rest of my male sparring picks of the pix images...

Tuesday 29 September 2009

Nationals Male Sparring - Pick of the Pix


Canon 40D, 85.0mm, 1/200s, f/2.2, ISO: 1000

Clint King and Jeremy Hanna in the mens middleweight final. Jeremy took the gold leaving Clint with silver.





Hayden Stevens and Sam Soper. Hayden won gold in Mens Dan Hyperweight.

[Hey Doug, The mystery black belt that Hayden Steven's is sparring is Sam Soper from the SI (I'm fairly certain!) Cheers Ange (Angela Barltrop) - Thanks Ange]





Bruce Harrison coming down on Luke Thompson in Mens Dan Hyperweight Plus. Luke won gold leaving silver for Bruce. It was a tough match with plenty of power.



No doubt about this head punch connecting!



Richard Iotua on the receiving end in Veteran Mens Dan Heavyweight



More mean male sparring action....



















More coming tomorrow...

Nationals Specialty - Pick of the Pix


Canon 30D, 44.0mm, 1/250s, f/3.2, ISO: 800, flash. Similar camera settings for all of the specialty photos

Shane Black getting great hight during the male team specialty event which CD won.



Not my best work in terms of timing this shot of Carl Van Roon in the team specialty. He and Shane Black played off going higher and higher until Carl missed one leaving gold for Midlands.

[For the record - Carl and Shane started at 2.4, then 2.7 and finally maxed out at 2.8m, after 3 attempts!!! Duncan] - thanks Duncan, Doug

[Hey Doug, Although we all wish Shane was from CD hes actually from Midlands so they won male team specialty and not CD :( Estee] - Thanks, now corrected, Doug




Shane goes higher again. Compare this with the first image and notice how consistent his technique is. I think Shane will go a long way in the upcoming World Champs and in future years.



Kara Timmer showing good form. I'm always impressed how well she does in specialty considering her smaller size. She's another to watch for.





Chris Broughton



Richard Lavin

Sunday 27 September 2009

Images of Nationals Sunday Action

Now back home in Auckland and it's after 11pm. I've quickly selected the keepers from todays action.

Morning action (171 images)...



Afternoon action (167 images)...



I've kept about 40 of the best from today also to optimise and feature over the coming days.

G'night!
Cheers
Doug

Saturday 26 September 2009

Images of Nationals Saturday Action

It's 12.20am now that daylight saving has kicked in and I've run through the 2500 odd images shot today and selected out the keepers which you can checkout here. I'll tidy them up and sort them out a bit better over the next few days. I've kept 40 of the best aside which I'll optimise and share with you over the coming week or so.

Morning action (299 images)...



Afternoon action (326 images)...



It was very challenging photographically due to the relatively low light in the arena and I tried a few different techniques with and without flash but was pretty disappointed with the results overall. However, I have a small number of gems which I'll publish over the next few days.

G'night!
Doug

Friday 25 September 2009

Haka

In addition to coming in the top four in the country stakes at recent World Champs, us Kiwis are renowned for our Haka. And the international audience at these events love it too. We're usually asked to perform it at opening ceremonies and the other time you'll see it is on some rare occasions when a senior is about to compete in a sparring final.

I've experienced a Kiwi Taekwon-Do Haka three times now and words fail to convey the feeling of pride and awe experienced. I've trawled through my image libraries and retrieved a few Haka images to share with you...


Lens: 235mm, 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO: 1600

The image above is from the opening ceremony of the 2007 World Champs in Quebec.


Lens: 200mm, 1/200s, f/5.0, ISO: 1250

If you check my blog regularly you may recall this image from Mark Trotter's Sparring Match at the 2007 World Champs.

Here are some more images from the 2007 opening ceremony...


And here are some images from the 2006 Junior World Champs...


Lens: 18mm, 1/60s, f/4.5, ISO: 1600

Above the team are practicing the Haka in a hotel meeting room. Woke the establishment up!


Lens: 50mm, 1/200s, f/2.8, ISO: 800

And the performance at the 2006 opening ceremony. (It's the only half decent shot that I got of them performing the Haka in 2006.)

Thursday 24 September 2009

Highlights from 2006 and 2007 Nationals

On the eve of the 2009 Nationals I thought it would be nice to check out highlights from the 2006 and 2007 Nationals. I was overseas for the 2008 nationals en-route to the World Cup so missed them. So I picked out a few images for you.......

Wednesday 23 September 2009

Pick of the Pix Series, Fabulous Hair


Lens: 300mm, 1/400s, f/5.6, ISO: 1600, slightly cropped, no manipulation

Many of you can probably guess who this is. Taken prior to the 2007 World Champs this is Michael Davis.

In taking casual portrait images, and going through my library of them I realised how much impact someone's hair has. And for those out there like me with a lack of it, even the lack of it has significance :-)

Another thing I realised was how much beauty hair can have... even on guys!

Here are a few favourite images which are substantially impacted by hair....


Lens: 50mm, 1/60s, f/4.0, ISO: 400, flash

Candice Millar caught in a mid-air like kick.


Lens: 300mm, 1/200s, f/6.3, ISO: 1600

I think this is Afi.


Lens: 85mm, 1/250s, f/2.8, ISO: 500

Alisa Parker


Lens: 50mm, 1/100s, f/1.8, ISO: 800

Alex Couling


Lens: 140mm, 1/200s, f/5.0, ISO: 1600

Jessica Lewis


Lens: 55mm, 1/50s, f/2.8, ISO: 1000

Michael Davis


Lens: 85mm, 1/100s, f/1.8, ISO: 1250

Stuart Maden


Lens: 130mm, 1/250s, f/5.0, ISO: 800

Carl Van Roon

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Getting Up Above


Canon 40D, 17.0mm, 1/200s, f/4.0, ISO: 1000

Another way to make TKD sparring images more dynamic is to get in close and above the sparrers. Here Amy Reeder is captured throwing a punch at Alisa Parker. It looks like I'm holding the camera just above Alica's head for this very wide angle shot. Amazingly me or my camera hasn't been punched yet! (That's not an invitation either!)


Canon 30D, 18.0mm, 1/80s, f/7.1, ISO: 1600

An old image but a goodun. Johs Van Pierce and Candice Miller, both hyper weight sparrers at the 2007 Junior world Champs, sparring at a camp. I held the camera up over my head for this image.


Canon 30D, 17.0mm, 1/100s, f/3.5, ISO: 1600

Another over-the-head shot showing Alisa Parker and Robert Meleisea sparring.


Canon 30D, 17.0mm, 1/100s, f/3.5, ISO: 1600

Carl Van Roon and Jeremy Hanna - shot in close and high. I like the feeling of dynamic action of this shot. The camera is not horizontal which makes it feel spontaneous (which it was).


Canon 40D, 23.0mm, 1/250s, f/5.0, ISO: 1600

This was taken with me standing up on a table to get the camera about two metres off the ground for this image of Carl performing an overhead kick. It's an interesting viewpoint compared with the normal image taken from below.

Monday 21 September 2009

Getting Close In Behind


Canon 40D, 17.0mm, 1/200s, f/4.0, ISO: 1000

Another way to make TKD images look more dynamic is to get in close behind one of the fighters at eye-height and making the viewer feel like they're right there in the action.


Canon 40D, 17.0mm, 1/100s, f/3.5, ISO: 1600


Canon 30D, 54.0mm, 1/200s, f/3.5, ISO: 1250


Canon 30D, 185.0mm, 1/250s, f/5.6, ISO: 1250

It's hard to get close in a tournament but it is possible - this was taken during the 2007 world champs.

Sunday 20 September 2009

Getting Low Down


Canon 40D, 17.0mm, 1/250s, f/3.5, ISO: 1000

A great way to make your TKD photos look more dynamic is to change the angle of view away from normal eye height. The photo above of Carolina Dillen doing a pattern is taken with a wide angle lens at floor level. A side-effect of using wide angle up close to someone is that anything near the edges of the image appears stretched, ie her right arm and hand isn't really that long and looks pretty weird.


Canon 40D, 17.0mm, 1/200s, f/4.0, ISO: 1000

Alisa Parker and Amy Reeder in a teathered close contact sparring drill. Taken with the camera on the floor.





Canon 40D, 17.0mm, 1/200s, f/3.5, ISO: 1000

Luke, Chris and Carl wrestling. These wouldn't have nearly the same impact if taken from eye level.