My first Rodeo shoot - Tips, comments?

First time I get to go.

Looking for comments and tips from those who have gone before, and could spare me some blunders.

Best place to be, best events, etc.

My longest lens will be 250mm on a crop camera.

Thanks in advance for your comments !!

No different than any other action sport. You'll be looking to catch action, drama and intensity.

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Thanks !! Specially for including the EXIF on those images, helps me see the 1/250 speed combined with the other parameters. I will definitely post a few after the weekend !

PhotoJourno wrote in post #12183533
First time I get to go.

Looking for comments and tips from those who have gone before, and could spare me some blunders.

Best place to be, best events, etc.

My longest lens will be 250mm on a crop camera.

Indoors or outdoors?
Daytime or night?

I've only been to one rodeo, but I'm keeping my eye out for another one.

It was at night (6pm-9pm) and I only had one lens... a 200mm:

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PhotoJourno wrote in post #12183533
First time I get to go.

Looking for comments and tips from those who have gone before, and could spare me some blunders.

Best place to be, best events, etc.

My longest lens will be 250mm on a crop camera.

Thanks in advance for your comments !!

Light/lens
Is your longer lens is the 55-250 f/4-5.6? If you're shooting indoors with this lens, you're probably going to need some extra light (flash if the venue allows it) in order to get the fast shutter speeds mentioned earlier. If you're outside, chances are that you won't have any problems.

Focusing
Also, use AIServo focusing. The only time I would use the OneShot setting is for goat tying or something where the action is all in one spot. I would also switch over to center point AF. If you let the camera try to pick which points will be in focus it just gives it something else to get wrong (you'll have a lot of sharp pictures of the rails on the other side of the arena).

Position
I prefer to get about 1/3 of the way down the arena from the chutes on the opposite side of the arena from them. Bulls and broncs will tend to come right towards you. The way my school's arena is setup will also have the team ropers come along that side. You'll also get a chance at good face shots during the barrel racing on the close turn.

Exposure
Shoot RAW if you feel comfortable with it (and have enough card space). It will give you more flexibility in case the camera gets the exposure wrong. I would leave the ISO set to Auto unless you really need to go to a higher setting to maintain your shutter speed. You can fix a noisy picture in DPP (provided with your camera - especially if you're in RAW), but a blurry picture is unrecoverable. Take some test shots as well. What I have found shooting my Rebel XSi at these events is that the dark dirt will confuse my camera into thinking that the picture needs more light. There are options with choosing spot metering and so on that can help a bit with this.

PhotoJourno wrote in post #12183871
Thanks !! Specially for including the EXIF on those images, helps me see the 1/250 speed combined with the other parameters. I will definitely post a few after the weekend !

The 1/250th speed is due to the use of flash strobes during the event (their fast duration stops the motion more than the shutter speed). You'll need a lot faster shutter speed if you want to stop the action.

Fellow novice but I did get to shoot a rodeo Saturday night. Using a 7d indoors I found the 70-200 II to work perfectly except a few shots I needed less FL and more width (e.g., team roping as they got closer to where I was standing).

I went through college on a rodeo scholarship so I knew about where I wanted to be and angles although access in this arena was a bit tough. I ended with quite a few keepers but only have this one available to post at present. This was actually the most fun I have had yet with my camera.

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I like the b&w rodeo pic. That horse almost looks like it is laughing as it bucks the rider.

Stay away from the pointy ends of them horns.

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PhotoJourno wrote in post #12183871
Thanks !! Specially for including the EXIF on those images, helps me see the 1/250 speed combined with the other parameters. I will definitely post a few after the weekend !

You'll need faster shutter speeds than that to freeze the bull-bucking action.

Fligi7 wrote in post #12469533
You'll need faster shutter speeds than that to freeze the bull-bucking action.

+1. You never did answer clarence's question about indoors or out. It is a huge difference in approach.

Outside, up the ISO to get a shutter speed of at least 1/1000 and fire away. Contrary to what some do I also stop down a little to get some wiggle room on focus. Generally you are far enough away that even stopped down to 5.6-8 you are still going to get blurry background. I always use hand held meter, shoot in manual and almost always shift to the right about 2/3 stop to decrease shadows under the cowboys' hats. Generally use center point and AI servo.

Indoors, is a whole nother issue. You have to up the ISO to get a marginally acceptable shutter speed which I consider 1/500th. If, as someone asked, your lens is the 55-250 it isn't going to be fast enough. You're going to have to have a lens at least 2.8 and I find I always have to go to a 2.0 prime. I use a 100 f/2.0. White balance is a PIA. Shoot in Raw and adjust in post. Some will say to use a custom WB but the gas lamps in most indoor facilities have "shifting" WB every 60 seconds so you still need to adjust in post anyway.