"Horsies" - A CMHA Equestrian Event

Jon kept inviting me to come out & shoot "Horsies" with him. I kept saying that I don't shoot one horsepower. Then he baited me by saying that they've added a jumping event, so I said I'd go & try it out.
Jumping! Yeah, 2' 6" at the most! But then, most of the competitors are kids & I saw a few horses who weren't exactly veterans at it, either.

Why I still don't care for shooting "Horsies":
1. The feet have to look "right". (together)
2. The ears have to look "right". (Pointed forward)
3. The riders eyes should look ahead.
4. Most angles had a LOT of crap in the background.

All are with the 70-200 f/4 L
How did I do? These are the best, and you can see that most are junk!
A good starting shutter speed would have been 1/1500 sec. I used 1/1000.
A good starting f-stop would have been f/8. I used f/5.6.
I suspect that AF had trouble tracking the dark horses & coats. Most aren't as sharp as I'd expected.

So here they are. GOOD LUCK if you ever go out to shoot these! LOL!

A couple of the riders.

I don't know much about shootin' horsies. I do know what a b*tch it is to shoot people in bright sun, and I'm impressed with how well you brought up the shadows in the first two. Plus, they have that "pretty girl" factor which covers a multitude of photographic sins.

The rest look fine to me. I think it's a little bit like shooting a dance recital - Still images tend to expose every little defect in the athlete's technique, and the competitors will notice those things even though the general public wouldn't.

Thanks, Curtis!

Generally, I exposed for the sunlight on the background & shot RAW. In RSP I...
Upped the exposure 1-stop.
Highlight contrast = -1.0
Fill Light = 10-15

Very true, except...

That's true in my case. For Jon, it's much more difficult because they only will buy the perfect ones. I'm going to stick to cars.

Geez Frank....that was literally "child's play".

Come out to a Speed Event, they don't just trot, they go flat out and weave through poles with 7 second run times.

Shooting old cars in a parking lot is much more controllable.

Good stuff... after you shoot horses for a while you get REAL good at waiting for the horse to look good. I take a safety shot and then pan and wait keeping the horse framed... looking at the ears and feet at the same time. W/ portraits you get good at watching the horses ears and the riders face at the same time. You hope the horses ears are forward while the rider cracks a smile... sometimes you are just lucky enough to get the horse w/ ears forward. At any rate... good series of shots!

Well said. Thats one reason there aren't too many of us around.

Heh heh... I find it funny to when I see people out at events I'm shooting. They come running up with their 1d2n and 70-200/2.8LIS, put the rider somewhere in frame, and start shooting at like 8fps, heh heh.... all the while I'm cracking a smile behind my Xti and click one one perfect shot at the perfect moment. They return home with 200 lousy unframed photos cause they couldn't see where the horse was with the mirror up

I've refined that down to one click of the shutter & I've caught 1,600 horsepower?

Thanks for the comments!

sirsloop wrote in post #3491815
Heh heh... I find it funny to when I see people out at events I'm shooting. They come running up with their 1d2n and 70-200/2.8LIS, put the rider somewhere in frame, and start shooting at like 8fps, heh heh.... all the while I'm cracking a smile behind my Xti and click one one perfect shot at the perfect moment. They return home with 200 lousy unframed photos cause they couldn't see where the horse was with the mirror up

Yeah well we all have to learn glad I ain't perfect yet I do still come back with lousy shots, but maybe like me these people are learning what they and the camera are capable of. Just hope you gloat silently

Those photos are better than what I generall get. I especially like the tilting one as I think it gives more action. I have to choose between taking my horse or taking my camera :/ I'm lucky that there are 20 people on my yard with their own horses so when they're practicing, I can take the camera out for a practice run before going to the shows!!
Although next year will be a toughie as my horse will (hopefully) be trained to jump..

Well done in your piccies and for attempting it!!

Jon the Elder - It is always a pleasure to look through your gallery from a tog and rider point of view. I love the Stayton Scenes bay. KS-0093 and also the liberty rider on the grey horse.

Thanks Carrie....appreciate the comment.