My first sports try - horse riding

[Raj]

Hi,

Some horse riding photos at:

http://www14.plala.or.jp/rajkaori/HorseRidingClub/index.html

These are my first try with my 20D & also with sports photography, so I am looking for some constructive comments.
I shot these at a horse riding club where some riders were training.
Images look a bit soft to me.
Please let me know your suggestions so that I can improve myself.

Thanks

[Raj]

are they that bad ?? :-(

[Avalonthas]

There pretty good, although horse racing aint my thing. Good shots though

[Molydood]

only advice would be to try levels adjustement in photoshop a little.
technically they look okay to me if perhaps a little unexciting.

maybe a few different angles, lilke getting lower down with the camera and looking upwards at the horses or something, or maybe the horses making a turn so you can see the forces and energy a little more, kicking up dirt etc.

or maybe some really tight crops on feet as they hit the ground, or on the horses head with snorting nostrels, and beads of sweat.

[Raj]

Thanks Moly. I understand these pics dont have a feel of action in them. Well these ppl were training in the field with instrcutor around. As such horses were not doing any hard labor other than taking a small run, jump & then get in queue for next chance.
I was looking for comments on both composition & tech side.
However using some different angles as suggested looks to be a interesting idea. I will try it when I go there next time.

Thanks for your inputs.

Regards