Royal Armouries Jousting Tournament

I went down to the Royal Armouries on Saturday (which is in the City of Leeds NOT London for a change); over the holiday period they are running a jousting competition and thought it might be an opportunity for a few shots. The guy below was the warm up man before the main event, those teeth can't be his own surely; they're huge.

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where are the impact shots

Well to be honest; that's where I let myself down, I thought if I take a series of shots panning along with one of the riders from the start of the charge to the end I'm bound to get the clash. Of course if you pan with one rider you automatically pan against the other rider; unfortunately the contact shots all have one rider nicely in focus and the other is just a blur. I may go back today and up the shutter speed although I like to try and keep a little blur on the legs to give that sense of movement. I had the 1d2n on 8.5 frames a second and still only got 4 or 5 impact shots (blurry though they maybe), you wouldn't believe the speed at which they meet, both horses are at full gallop; they must be doing at least 50 mph combined speed when they pass each other. I also did some videoing and at 30 fps showing a frame at a time it's still hard to get the actual point of contact.

I didn't go back as the wife wanted to go looking for a new dinning table so any thing I wanted to do had to wait, here's a couple of near contact shots. The first as you can see is how I explained in the earlier post i.e. panning on one so the one coming from the opposite side is blurred, the second by the magic of photoshop seems OK; focus wise that is; not edit wise A little more time might see a better edit; but there again why spend hours on a shot that's never going to be worth anything?

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Im in awe, would love to see a jousting competition, I really should chase up the SCA (Society of Creative Anacrinisms) for one of there medieval meetings and take some photos

Keep up the good work

I particulary like the man on the white horse (bit of brown) with the sword

Thanks Brett, it's great to see the huge horses charging at each other at speed. Get yourself along to any historical get together, some great pictures to be had.

I see you had the same problems I did when I shot them a few years back... Royal Armouries is an amazing place, they just don't like you using flash indoors !

If anyone is in the vicinity of Leeds it's worth a visit.

Faolan wrote in post #3014900
I see you had the same problems I did when I shot them a few years back....

What! your wife wanted to go look at dinning tables the next day as well, would you believe it; women! they're all the same

I didn't actually go around the museum as I went specifically to shoot the falconry and the jousting, I will be going back soon though and would echo your point; if you're in the area give it a visit (it's free now 'cos it's not in money grabbing London).

that looks like a great time.

I really like how you put in their faces when you couldn't see them, great idea.

@ the health and safety sign in the 5th picture...the step would be the least of my worries walking out there!


Steve

Nice images, I like the way you put the top ones together.

I always wondered about, what if they tripped with those stilts on? bad enough doing it from feet level

Nice series of shots. As mentioned- it looks like a lot of fun.