Shots from the 2010 Florida Championships, held August 21 in Orlando, are going up on the site.
The lighting was marginal at the Rosen Center ballroom– two cans on either side of the stage plus the room’s incandescents set low. Not trusting the light, I shot at 1600 ISO with custom white balance and that seemed to turn out passably well– though of course I prefer some room to work with. (There’s a firmware hack to allow the Rebel to shoot at 3200, but I’ve never been able to get it to work.)
I’ve never been a big fan of flat-floor venues for contests, either; the view from the back rows and side wings is nearly always problematic. That said, both the number of competitors and the level of competition were wonderful.
The bikini contest took up an excess of time, both in the judging and in the post-processing. I am seriously considering just skipping that portion of the shows… we’ll see how many hits those shots get in comparison to the shots of the athletes. To their credit, though, some of the bikini class participants are getting noticeably more athletic… likely tired of looking like the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man in comparison.
I also did a shoot afterward with amazing competitor Iris Davis, and those shots came out spectacularly. Look for it shortly…
Shots from the