My First Rodeo

Hey All,

I'm not a sports shooter by hobby, but it seems like I'm getting drawn in by hook or by crook, whether it be meeting up with kiteboarders on the Columbia River or, in this instance, coming down from some time in the beautiful forests and rivers of the Pacific Northwest Cascades into farm country and stopping by the Vancouver WA Rodeo that goes over the 4-day 4th of July weekend.

I found out there were no restrictions on my camera gear, so I figured "why the heck not" and grabbed my 1D Mk III and the 700-200 f/2.8 IS. I got on good terms with the "official" photographer and joined the handful of people who were crouching at the fence trying to "catch the moment".

This being my first rodeo since I was a kid, I wasn't sure what I was in for, had to get a feel for the action, and was thankful that shooting birds and shooting bucking broncos wasn't that far off.

Anyway, here's a few of the 500 shots I got, the rest can be seen here.

Two of a tossed salad, I mean cowboy:

Hey Tony -

#2 is a great capture. Solid action and the expression on the cowboy's face is priceless. Maybe crop it tighter to remove some of the blown sky?

With the kid-riding-the-sheep pics, I would have timed my shots so the background clutter was as minimal as possible.

Next time, save your pics using "Save As". That way to we can view your EXIF data.

Great shots. The 2nd one is fantastic. I hope he landed safely.
Well done for first time shooting rodeo.
Stuart

2 is awesome, if this is your first rodeo, nice work!

I have to agree on #2. Nice work! Not often you can see cowboy's faces so well on rodeo shots so that's a BIG bonus. Excellent shots!

Ditto all of the above.. Great shots.. especially the rider's expression on #2. The mutton buster shots are cute too. .. They're usually off so quickly, you don't get a lot of time to capture a lot of images.

All nice shots. You have to be careful because shooting rodeos can be addictive.

I've got one word for you....cowgirls.

Hey all,

Thanks for the great comments and compliments!

It's true that background clutter is a problem with these things! A lot happens right out the gate, where they are surrounded with people and "gate stuff". I had a learning experience!

As far as the exif goes, I uploaded biggger than standard files to PBase, but when I link from there I normally link the "large" size that they produce (stripped of exif) rather than to my original where exif is intact.

I shot in Manual, concentrated for this trip with getting a good shutter speed with a good exposure but a reasonably wide aperture, although I wanted to have some depth of field to preserve the animal and rider in 3D.

Judging a good focal length was also a bit of a challenge, if you zoom in too closely, the action can move or spread as, say, a bull or horse turns and runs!

For these shots,

#1,2 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 800
#3,4,5,6,7 1/1250, f/4, ISO 800

it was challenging as the sun went down -- the lights were underwhelming! I stayed until about 9:00, for the bull riding, and for that I went f/2.8, ISO 3200, keeping my shutter at 1/1250. Here are some results from the bulls, with exif -- you'll notice some noise and loss of detail if ya look closely!:

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Here's another set, jumping onto a steer to tie it off. The light was quite dim so I was shooting at ISO 1600, f/2.8 to get my 1/1250!

Exif attached:

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Nice! Your turning into quite the varied photog, what with all these sports your doing.

Thanks! Heh! Everything gets to looking like birds to me, you know?

tonylong wrote in post #5855436
Thanks! Heh! Everything gets to looking like birds to me, you know?

As long as they're not flipping you the bird

manutd101 wrote in post #5855477
As long as they're not flipping you the bird

Heh! Nope! But there is a difference -- a couple of running bulls and bucking broncos came to close brushes with me and the other photogs that were kneeling and leaning against the fence with our lenses poking through the opening. Having to jump back and dust off the dirt isn't something you need to mess with with most wildlife!

tonylong wrote in post #5855687
Heh! Nope! But there is a difference -- a couple of running bulls and bucking broncos came to close brushes with me and the other photogs that were kneeling and leaning against the fence with our lenses poking through the opening. Having to jump back and dust off the dirt isn't something you need to mess with with most wildlife!

True! Day I get bull-rushed by a songbird is the day I quit wildlife photography

manutd101 wrote in post #5855696
True! Day I get bull-rushed by a songbird is the day I quit wildlife photography

Heh! Yeah!

Well, tonight is the closing night for this rodeo, and I've decided to give it another go -- try to apply learnings, have more fun, and, hopefully improve the quality of my shots by some measure! Wish me luck and some bit of smarts!