showjumping

[palmerstoat]

Took some pictures at the weekend of my son having a lesson. I am trying to nail the head shot of horse and rider. Any criticisms welcome.

[Otta]

palmerstoat, I have shot horses for may years . The image you show is very dark ( at least on mymonitor) If you show the details of your shot I will try and guide you . This is my view only having sold many images to horse owners but crop is too tight .

Have a look here (http://www.eventsphotographer.com) it might help . A 3/4 shot with your 100 -400 set to say 100mm f 5.6 @ no less than 320th but ideally 500th should give you a good starting point . If you want a tigher crop ,as the rider comes forward shoot the riders head ,chest ,horses head and legs . I know they will like it as this sell well if done right.

Hope this helps ,If you need anymore help just ask.

Roy

[palmerstoat]

Roy how do i show details of shot?

[palmerstoat]

Roy why do you think the above shot is too dark ? The exposure meter seemed to show it as right. Have checked out your portfolio and there great just the sort of thing im after. Thanks Tim

File Name
IMG_0010.JPG
Camera Model
Canon EOS 20D
Shooting Date/Time
3/11/2006 11:33:28 AM
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/400
Av( Aperture Value )
5.0
ISO Speed
100
Image Size
1156x1536
Flash
Off
Color Space
sRGB
File Size
1028 KB

[Otta]

palmerstoat,

Do you have anymore shots .
The light looks like it's behind your son , so you will either have to move to another fence so the light is behind you or increase your exposure . It will help lift a dark bay horse from the drab winter background .

Seems strange you manged 100 iso unless it was a lot brighter down there than it was up here . I am sure the 20d will easily go up another two or three stops to give you more tolerance over your exposure combinations .


Roy

[Darvon]

Roy, nice portfolio. Are you using medium format in those pictures.

Tim, I would agree. Your shot is a little dark for me and soft on the focus. Don't always believe your light meter and take a couple test shots. Also experiment with different exposures. I have a 20D, too, and there's all kinds of things that affect the overall appearance of the shots. I've gotten to the point where only manual settings will do what I'm looking for most of the time and I still often find the need to bracket the exposure or only shoot in RAW where post-production work brings out the photo. But if you get the shot right in the first place, less pp work is needed.

[Otta]

Hi Darvon ,

No they are all digital most of the horse shots are from a 2.7 megapixel nikon and a 80-200 2.8 but I now shoot with a 1DMK11 and 70-200 2.8 .

Roy

[jonathans9]

I posted a few days a go about shooting my first show jumping event. My concern was getting light on the face of the rider without using fill flash. The event has contracted with a photographer who is letting me shoot this one person. He gave the OK for fill flash but I have decided against it. If the horse throws the rider because of the flash I do not want them blaming me!!
BTW does it make sense to back off a stop with exposure compensation as the horse involved is a very dark brown? I suppose I can always do a few test shots.
I will post this weekend.
JS

[palmerstoat]

Otta hers another taken at the same session hopefully it appears ok not quite sure how to re size large files
File Name
IMG_0035.JPG
Camera Model
Canon EOS 20D
Shooting Date/Time
3/11/2006 12:11:18 PM
Shooting Mode
Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/320
Av( Aperture Value )
5.0
Metering Mode
Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed
100
Lens
100.0 - 400.0 mm
Focal Length
200.0 mm
Image Size
3504x2336
Image Quality
Fine
Flash
Off
White Balance Mode
Auto
AF Mode
AI Servo AF
Parameters Settings
Contrast Mid. High
Sharpness Mid. High
Color saturation Mid. High
Color tone 0
Color Space
sRGB
Noise Reduction
Off
File Size
2660 KB

[palmerstoat]

maybe somebody can explain how to display images properly am struggling with this one. am editing images in either photoshop elements or Canon digital photo professional.

[Darvon]

Palmerstoat, I struggle with this site, too. I don't like resizing my images because they lose clarity. Some folks on this board know how to get around some of that, but not me. In this last picture you did a GREAT job with timing. Exposure looks better to me as well. It's very small so I can't be sure, but it looks a little "soft." I just purchased an L series lens and that made a HUGE difference for me... 70-200L 2.8 with IS. Can't say enough about this lens.

[dshootist]

palmerstoat, I have shot horses for may years . The image you show is very dark ( at least on mymonitor) If you show the details of your shot I will try and guide you . This is my view only having sold many images to horse owners but crop is too tight .

Have a look here (http://www.eventsphotographer.com) it might help . A 3/4 shot with your 100 -400 set to say 100mm f 5.6 @ no less than 320th but ideally 500th should give you a good starting point . If you want a tigher crop ,as the rider comes forward shoot the riders head ,chest ,horses head and legs . I know they will like it as this sell well if done right.

Hope this helps ,If you need anymore help just ask.

Roy


i just realized this thread could be in people, animals, transportation or sport! anyhoo, here's a quick shot of horse and rider during a senior photoshoot i did a couple years back. i focused/metered on the obstacle first, set the frame capture to continuous and waited for her to enter the shot. this is hand-held from a 10D and the 75-300 4-5.6 IS USM. it's also back when i was shooting only fine .jpeg. very little PP work needed and on other shots she was more than willing to take more than one pass at a jump. let me know what y'all think.

ps-gotta love that 75-200!