MMA Fighting and Boxing
A life of photographers is exciting and full of adventures. They are not only traveling around the world and covering latest and coolest events. But the moments they capture tend to become a part of history. From fashion catwalks to technological events to sporting events, photographers are required to cover every field. One of the most thrilling fields to be part of are boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA).
In a fast action sports, such as boxing and MMA where photographing every punch, every move, every sweat and every blood drop becomes extremely crucial. You cannot simply miss anything. Neither would you be allowed to use any excuses afterwards. Once the moment is gone, it is gone, it will not come back and if you were not able to capture it then it would be an opportunity lost.
At times, you do feel like pushing liimits in order to freeze moments that will not only make you a better photographer but would also give a new face and image of the fight to the audience. When you are given the task to cover a boxing showdown, it is essential that you keep your best tools with you. Your camera, your fast lenses, everything that you may or may not need (it can be even a bottle of water for refreshment) but just in case the need arises, you should be well-equipped to cater it. Photographing a boxing fight is not only about the fight itself, not just the uppercuts, the jabs, the crosses or the hooks, it is everything right from the moment the boxer enters the arena. Sometimes even the pre-fight moments make history when the towel is in the head or neck of the boxer and he is strongly concentrating on his strengths and weaknesses, even capturing those moments is important. During the fight, you need to focus on the boxers, their encounter but mainly above waist height. The movement of the legs is very important in MMA but in boxing, the focus is mainly on the arms therefore both require different photographing techniques. MMA allows the fighters to use anything to everything for their defense and attack thus MMA involves more of your skills as a photographer than boxing.
Both sports don’t only test the limits and concentration levels of the fighters but also of the photographers and the gears they use. But, after an event has been successfully covered, you need to sit back and edit. Take the pictures from your memory card and transfer them to your laptop. Use the best editing tools such as adobe lightroom and/or photoshop and remove or edit all the unwanted details of a picture. Instead, only leave the action itself for the audience to view and enjoy.
