First shots of horses with 70-200 2.8

just got the lens and need a little feedback/direction. both of these were taken on shutter priority: the first was at 1/2500, f3.5, ISO 400, 120mm. the second was 1/1250, f3.2, ISO 125, 70mm. the camera was set on auto ISO and daylight white balance. the gravel in the arena seemed to reflect more light than i anticipated, but they both look overexposed, particularly the first. wondering how to avoid in the future. TIA.

You only need to shoot at about 1/1000 to get good images of jumping. You can reduce your ISO. I like to use an incident meter. You can watch your histogram and use exposure compensation. Try shooting AV so you can control your depth of field.

While I know it is intended to be used for daylight scenes, I detest that white balance. Makes the pictures looked washed out. I greatly prefer cloudy or shade.

Yeah, I would either shoot AV or Manual in that situation. What metering are you using?

but honestly, with digital, I wouldn't mess around with a light meter. Just check your histograms and adjust accordingly.

thanks for the input. i will be shooting more this weekend so i'll try the suggestions. i, too, thought the pics looked washed out but, while shooting, didn't think about changing the white balance.

Use a white balance card or a colorchecker passport and shoot RAW or set a custom white balance. As light is constantly changing outside, shooting RAW and including your WB card in a frame is probably the easiest way.

a couple more. hopefully better. let me know what you think. both shot with T1i & 70-200 2.8 non-is, shutter priority, 1600 iso. first at 2.8, 1/250, 200mm. second at 2.8, 1/320, 200mm. no pp. TIA