On a cool autumn afternoon earlier this month, First Tae Kwon Do Western Australia’s black belt members and invited senior belt members trained together, and potential black belt candidates undertook a practice grading examination. The two hours of intensive training started with warm-up exercises, proceeded through basic technique drills, and culminated in board breaking tests, punctuated by rounds of sparring.
For this event, I was shooting with the 70–200 mm f/2.8 lens that I have been using more regularly these past several months. This takes away from the flexibility of having a faster maximum aperture with my prime lenses, but at the same time has benefits in range and vibration reduction (or image stabilisation). Having flexibility in range is good, but vibration reduction makes a world of difference when it comes to longer exposures—relatively speaking.
For martial art action, I would like to be shooting at 1/250 s at slowest, though ideally 1/500 s or faster. There are times, though, when I may want to capture more of a portrait than an action image, such as in the first photograph below.
Any time that motion is involved, on the other hand, a shorter exposure is necessary to ‘freeze’ the action. That said, it is entirely possible—sometimes desirable—to have a longer exposure and have the motion blurred artistically along the axis of movement. The entire situation would ideally have been set up in advance, and most likely there would be several ‘takes’ needed, unless everyone involved is a veteran. Extensive scene preparation and repetition are usually not viable in the situations I am shooting in, so quick capture it tends to be.
As always, best wishes to those preparing for their upcoming grading examinations under Master Vernon Low in June, regardless of rank.