the_sword_july_2015

TECHNICALFencing Through the ViewfinderA Photography Primer for a Fast Sportby Serge TimacheffFencing photography uniquely provides athletes, coaches, officials, and fans the ability to take as much timeas they want to examine a very fast sport. While video can show movement and bout interplay, photography offencing stops a moment in time in ways that can be very revealing.As the official FIE photographer, I haveshot every senior and junior/cadet worldchampionship as well as all Olympic Gamesand many grand prix events since 2003, withmore than two million images of fencing inmy archive. It also represents millions of milesof travel and thousands of hours sitting oncold, hard fencing floors, often waiting for aninterminable women’s foil event to come toan all-too-often predictable end (Italy againstItaly? Again? Really?). During this last decadeplusof not-as-glamorous-as-it-soundsfencing photography, I’m often asked how totake good fencing images, and I’d like to sharesome of my thoughts with you.Please note this article is written more forpeople who are using “digital single-lensreflex,” or “dSLR” cameras. Shooting fencingwith a camera phone or point-and-shootcamera are a separate discussion.Shoot with a Digital SLRI’m not shy about this statement: In the ageof phone cameras and small pocket cameraswith lots of megapixels, the quality of yourcamera and lens still make a huge difference.Fencing is not very compatible with camerasmade for snapshots taken either outdoors(with lots of light) or using a flash (which isn’tallowed in our sport). For fencing, where theaction is fast, the light is low, and being ableto control your camera because you can’tcontrol anything else, you need a camera thatresponds quickly and has accessible features.Even a more entry-level dSLR, such as a CanonRebel, is far superior in how you are able tocontrol functions. Plus, forget about the cutelittle presets on your camera, and learn to takephotos with semi-automatic and, ultimately,totally manual settings.While some non-dSLR cameras tout manualcapabilities, often the functions are buried toodeep or are not quickly accessible to whereyou can make changes on-the-fly in fencing.For example, the ability to rapidly change anexposure from a high-speed setting capturingstop-action shots of white uniforms on thepiste, to a lower-speed setting optimized fora fencer’s face when she wins and screamsvictory, simply cannot be accomplished fastenoughon some cameras because the controlsare hard-to-reach. For most dSLRs, you can doit without even looking at the controls if youknow your camera well.Understand the Exposure Triangle.Today’s cameras have three primary settingsthat will affect your images: shutter speed,aperture, and ISO. These three factors areconstantly playing against each other,meaning when you raise one you may have todiminish another—and you need to understandthe tradeoff for what kind of photo you want.First, what are these three settings?Shutter speed is how fast your cameraallows light in to capture an image. It’s greatfor producing stop-action images of fencing,where the blade is caught in mid-motionor moving fencers are frozen in time. Youshould be using at least a 1/500 secondshutter speed to shoot fencing, and at least1/125 or 1/250 second to take images ofnon- or slow-moving objects (like medalistsposing for a picture).Aperture, or your f/Stop setting, representshow much space is opened in your lens tolet light in. Why does it matter? Becausethis is what determines depth-of-field. Thisis how much of your visual field is in focus.If you’re shooting fencers with shallowdepth-of-field (e.g., an f/Stop of f5.6 orless), meaning a wide opening, then onlypart of your “scene” will be in focus. This hasdramatic effects by highlighting somethingyou want people to see in the image but itcan be difficult to manage when fencers aremoving as they may quickly go in-and-outof focus depending on how fast your rig’sautofocus may be. A deep depth-of-fieldsetting (e.g., f/8 or higher) will make more ofthe overall image in focus – which is goodfor shooting a picture of three teams offencers standing on a podium after gettingmedals, for example.Moving fencers frozen in time at the Athens OlympicsISO is the measurement of how sensitiveyour image sensor (which converts lightinto a digital image) is to light. A lowerISO number is less sensitive; for example,you’d likely use ISO 100 for shooting inbright sunlight. For fencing, a high ISOsetting means you’ll be able to capturelower-light images in a darkened or poorlylit fencing venue. Better-quality, semi-proor professional cameras have very high ISOcapabilities (some more than ISO 200,000,whereas consumer cameras are far lesssensitive). Higher ISO means a “noisier”image, looking “grainy” with light anomaliesmore visible. However, today’s camerascan easily shoot at ISO 3200 or higherwithout too much or any significant visibledegradation in quality. Typical settingsfor most fencing halls might be anywherebetween ISO 1600 and ISO 6400.JULY 2015 THE SWORD 21