My journey into the world of Boxing Photography

🟡 Setup – The Moment Before

Shooting a professional boxing match ringside. The lights were not perfect to say the least, the crowd was buzzing, and I had my gear dialed in from shooting previous semi pro boxing and 5 aside football. I thought I was ready.

🔴 Conflict – What Went Wrong

Round one starts, and I’m nailing the compositions—but every punch looks like a blurred mess. I’m chimping my screen after every shot, and it’s clear: my shutter speed was way too slow. I had been shooting at 1/500s thinking it was fast enough, but the speed of those punches made that useless.

Then I bumped it up to 1/800s—still soft. Fighters were throwing combos so fast that even my AF couldn’t track well in low light. Meanwhile, a photographer two seats down is calmly firing away—and showing crystal clear frames.

🟢 Resolution – How I Solved It

Between rounds, I made three key changes:

1. Shutter Speed: Cranked it to 1/1200s minimum—sharp punches at last.

2. Aperture: Opened to f/2.8 to compensate for light loss.

3. ISO: Pushed to ISO 3200+, and embraced some noise knowing I’d clean it up in post.

Bonus tip: I also use back-button focus with continuous AF—way better tracking for fighters moving unpredictably in low light. I use this method for all my sports and wildlife photography.

https://www.markdunn-photography.com