It’s rainy season in Okinawa, but yesterday morning we had a dry spell long enough to capture Ben and Antonio practicing capoeira at Araha Beach.

Gear: Pentax K-1, 28-105mm lens,  Priolite M-Pack 1000 HotSync strobe

Using the Priolite HotSync system meant I was freezing the action with the shutter speed rather than the flash duration. This removes the issues you get with ambient light blur when shooting motion with strobes outdoors.

ISO 400, f4.5 1/3200 sec  

This was my first time shooting Capoeira so it was  tough to anticipate the action. With two subjects performing different moves at the same time it is also tricky to get  images where they are both mid air, correctly illuminated, and in focus.

Back flips and kicks are so fast to the naked eye it all happens in such a blur. It’s fascinating to check out the images and see them frozen in time. In some shots they looked like skydivers free falling.

I’d also like to try this on a bright sunny day where the strobe would act more as fill rather than the key light. It would also let me push the shutter speed further to 1/8000 second.

A huge thanks to Ben and Antonio of Capoeira Academy Okinawa. Looking forward to working with you again!