I admit that I’ve got a soft spot for wrestling matches lit by a single overhead light (one of my most successful photos contest-wise was shot at such a match). But still, I’ve got a love-hate relationship with such matches and last night I was reminded of those conflicted feelings.
I love these matches because the single overhead light provides very dramatic lighting that turns an ordinary photo into a compelling image simply because the lighting is so cool.
Selah High School v. Toppenish High School wrestling
Wrestling-wise, there’s not much going on here. You can’t see faces and the body language is pretty boring. But the single overhead light has transformed this otherwise ho-hum photo into an pretty interesting photo that’s more graphic than journalistic.
Taking a wider view, the overhead light can give you this:
Selah High School v. Toppenish High School wrestling Jan. 19, 2010.
As a bonus, the single bright light yields a near-black background, free of any distracting elements.
But there’s truth to that old saying “there’s no free lunch.” While the light is dramatic, there’s not much of it. So, you got to shoot at a high ASA and slow shutter speed. You get a lot of blurred, unuseable photos.
Besides being blurred, the faces are often too dark to be useable, even though I am shooting in RAW format.
This is the photo we ended up running in today’s paper. Sort of a “thrill of victory and agony of defeat” all in one photo.
Selah's Ryan Depaz, left, celebrates after pinning Toppenish's David Chavez in the 215-pound match Jan. 19, 2010.
So while the single overhead light presents technical problems, the dramatic nature of the light more than makes up for those problems. Like I said, a love-hate relationship.
–Gordon King
