[SannyGlow]

What JSchmidt and Shavanni said above. They're damn good photgraphers as well.

Your 450D body will be a little slow (3.5 frames per sec in continuous drive) in taking action shots, but you will be able to catch a couple of good action shots with it, especially in combination with a fast lens (f2.8 or larger aperture). If you want to minimize action blur, you'll need to shoot at 1/250 or faster depending on your lighting conditions and ISO setting. Stopping down (closing) the aperture a step or two can also help in getting a wider depth of field and sharper subjects.

For portraits, you'll most likely will be shooting at slower shutter speeds, especially in low-light, so stay with the continuous drive mode and try to keep your hands still whilst shooting. Also, stop down your aperture, if possible, to obtain a wider depth of field - makes all the difference in capturing the kenshis' facial expressions behind the men-gane.

Aim your focus point(s) at the men-gane, nafuda or white keikogi. Your camera will have a difficult time focusing on blue keikogi/hakama, especially in poor light.

Avoid using flash during taikai.

My photography mentor and kendo head instructor, Kinno sensei, showed me not to be afraid of shooting at high ISO to get less-blurry and brighter action shots. The noise (grain) from high ISO settings can be reduced during post-processing.

Shoot in RAW mode. You'll be able to do more with your photos during post-processing.

As with kendo and iai, your photography should get better with more practice, so shoot as much as you can!

Any other pointers, xvikingx and Kenshi?

Kenshi: Consider this a very rough draft of my upcoming article on kenshi247.net...