# Equestrian Event



## tirediron (Oct 30, 2016)

Spent this morning shooting a local amateur equestrian event.  A The lighting was friggin' horrible and WB was almost impossible, but overall, I think the results are at least acceptable. s I'm not a 'horsey' person, I would greatly appreciate any input on composition, crops, etc.

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Brakes work... you wanna check the lights?

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This young lady was amazing; she looked to be about 9-10, and very small, but she rode that horse like no one's business!

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What part of "More sugar cubes or no jumps" didn't you understand????

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The whitest white horse I have ever seen; looked like she'd been done over in blanco!

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Make sure you get my good side!

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## jcdeboever (Oct 30, 2016)

Those are great, I enjoyed looking at them. I like the horse hats.


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## baturn (Oct 31, 2016)

You caught some very interesting action.
 Where was this and how do you find venues and dates of events?


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## tirediron (Oct 31, 2016)

jcdeboever said:


> Those are great, I enjoyed looking at them. I like the horse hats.


Thanks JC! 


baturn said:


> You caught some very interesting action.
> Where was this and how do you find venues and dates of events?


Thanks Brian!  This was a referral from a girl who'd posed for my 'Senior Photography' advertising package.


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## MSnowy (Nov 1, 2016)

You caught some nice action. A few of them need to be straightened. As far as image quality #4  looks nice the rest don't look that good. I'm sure do to bad lighting or the fact that I don't have a calibrated monitor


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## pjaye (Nov 1, 2016)

I've been to a horse show and photographed it so I know how *hard* this is. I like them, you did really well. I especially love the funny and "story" ones. Well done.


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## zombiesniper (Nov 1, 2016)

Great shots.
Number 8 is my kind of horse.

My only real complaint isn't something you could control. It's the location. 
It's to bad that the barn is in all the shots. Inside event? Would have been a totally different set outside with a field as the background but again you can change that.


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## tirediron (Nov 1, 2016)

MSnowy said:


> You caught some nice action. A few of them need to be straightened. As far as image quality #4  looks nice the rest don't look that good. I'm sure do to bad lighting or the fact that I don't have a calibrated monitor


Thanks Mike.  Lighting was crap.  Very dark and a what there was was a mix of sodium vapour, sunlight, and sunlight filtered through two colours of fibrelass light panels...


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## tirediron (Nov 1, 2016)

symplybarb said:


> I've been to a horse show and photographed it so I know how *hard* this is. I like them, you did really well. I especially love the funny and "story" ones. Well done.


Thanks Barb... definitely not the easiest shoot in the world, but a lot of fun!



zombiesniper said:


> Great shots.
> Number 8 is my kind of horse.
> 
> My only real complaint isn't something you could control. It's the location.
> It's to bad that the barn is in all the shots. Inside event? Would have been a totally different set outside with a field as the background but again you can change that.


Yep, indoor event; it was supposed to be outside, but they moved it inside at the last minute.


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## zombiesniper (Nov 1, 2016)

tirediron said:


> Lighting was crap. Very dark and a what there was was a mix of sodium vapour, sunlight, and sunlight filtered through two colours of fibrelass light panels...


That explains your issues. Just instal magic lantern and use the WTF! white balance feature.


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## tirediron (Nov 1, 2016)

zombiesniper said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > Lighting was crap. Very dark and a what there was was a mix of sodium vapour, sunlight, and sunlight filtered through two colours of fibrelass light panels...
> ...


Dude, you know better than that.  It comes nowhere NEAR explaining my issues!


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## The_Traveler (Nov 1, 2016)

I think that backgrounds are too bland and bright and cool

a hasty mask on a laptop while watching tv.


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## tirediron (Nov 1, 2016)

The_Traveler said:


> I think that backgrounds are too bland and bright and cool
> 
> a hasty mask on a laptop while watching tv.


Excellent point, and I may process some of them further along those lines, but with something in the order of 150 images, I'll wait and see which, if any of the images participants may be interested in before investing too much time.


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## jcwphoto (Dec 24, 2016)

Your focusing on the horse.  It helps if you move your focus point.  I have my camera so it maintains different spots for vertical and horizontal.  It is a tough situation and did pretty well.


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## tirediron (Dec 25, 2016)

Thanks. Interesting idea.


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## Overread (Dec 25, 2016)

I've tried different focus spots for vertical and horizontal and it made me want one thing - a focusing point adjuster on my battery grip (the one on the camera is just a bit too far up to reach easily when in the vertical position). That's because I'd want to make small changes to the focus point - can be a pain at times.

f2.8 is where I tend to be up to around f5.6 sometimes (if the light and scene allow); and find that the horses shoulder tends to work at a practical level for a good focusing point; at least if the horse is mostly side-on to kind of side on to you. The shoulder/neck area is kind of between horse and rider and ideally you want both in focus; plus the shoulder is a bigger area that moves around less than rider or horses head so is easier to track 


Backgrounds are a nightmare with indoor events like this - a real nightmare. Getting a good background is very hard and, as you've found, its near impossible to blur them out. So they are something one has to work with, though I found I had to stop treating them as a distract them and approach them with the view of the wildlife photographer - in this case the background is part of the moment; not necessarily one you want sharp and in focus, but part of the environment and the event and thus not as huge a distraction as one might think - or at least not something that totally spoils a shot even if we'd rather wish otherwise. 

Not sure but some of these look a touch soft - might just have been light and the result of high ISO and noise reduction - however I found that 1/640sec is the slowest you can go for a sharp shot - at 1/500sec hooves and mane/hair start to blur and any slower and it tends to get a bit of a blurry mess. 
Compositions seem good and you got some funny moments and some "OMG WE are not jumping this" moments (I tend to miss them as a get a sudden pang of guilt thinking the failed jump is the horse seeing/hearing the massive camera making a noise-  even though its likely nothing to do with it at all). 

You might think about shooting a little wider to get a bit more of the actual jump in the shot - or just to give you some room when shooting - I find that a horse going up with a ride atop often gives one very little room to work - esp when shooting as some horses will really go up high or some riders will sit very high on the back. 

I do agree that a bit more colour and punch to the shot as Lew suggested would help - although I think he went a little too heavy with the editing (possibly to show the point); and gave it a colour more akin to what I'd expect to see outside in stronger sunlight.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2016)

tirediron said:


> a mix of sodium vapour, sunlight, and sunlight filtered through two colours of fibrelass light panels...



I would have just went home and pulled my toes off with vice grips, it would be more fun than trying to adjust that WB lol


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## tirediron (Dec 29, 2016)

BillM said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > a mix of sodium vapour, sunlight, and sunlight filtered through two colours of fibrelass light panels...
> ...


If you've still got toes left, you haven't been doing this long enough!


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2016)

I didn't start this using my own toes, i saved those for last lol


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