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I ama semi-beginner. This shot was taken at a dressage competition (my daughter riding). I would much appreciate commentsand good suggestion for improvements.
Data: 30D + 70-200 4.0 L, Speed: 1:1250; ISO: 100; Aperture: 4.0; Focal length: 159 mm.
Best regards
Peder
First, Peder, what a gorgeous animal. I like that the horse is not fully in the shot; it gives the sense of motion without using motion blur. I suppose to be picky you could say there should be more space between the horse's head and the left edge of the photo to further define movement.
That is incredible clarity for a lens fully stopped down. What priority were you using for this shot and were you using a tripod?
Keep up the great work.
John
Great shot Peder, very sharp. Love that 70-200 f/4L[:)]
I agree, good shot with excellent contrast and sharpness. The only suggestions I see are the framing is a little too tight on the ear and if your daughter's profile was in plane with the horse it would be a stronger shot. I personally have the hardest time remembering to check my backgrounds, so unfortunately I tend to look at everyone elses. [:)] You've got a decent background blur but the wheel on the trailer is in strong contrast to the rest of the shot and steals attention away from the main subject. Two more strides and it would have been hidden.
Comments on the photo or the horse & rider?[:D]
As others have mentioned, the background is a bit distracting, but, having taken a lot of photos at horse shows, Pony Club rallies, and 4-H fairs, I know that it's often difficult to avoid "junk" in the background. You did a pretty good job of keeping it out of focus, especially compared to the really sharp focus on the horse & rider.
The photo does seem to violate one common "rule" of action photography, i.e., to leave "action space" in front of a moving subject. There are times one can violate that "rule," of course, like any "rule" in photography or art. This photo works more as a portrait in dynamic tension than an "action" shot. Cropping off the horse's lower legs helps that feeling, to me, at least.
Re: horse & rider: I am a professional dressage instructor/trainer--I've been teaching dressage (and jumping, eventing, Pony Club, etc) for 32+ years. One of my students won the Arabian National Dressage Championship at Second Level this year.
The horse & rider both look very nice! The horse seems VERY well groomed (we'll ignore the horse-slime on the left knee[:)]) and the rider is impeccable. It's quite a lovely picture. I wish that my 4-H members would look that good!
The rider's position is quite good, at least as far as I can tell from the photo! She's well-balanced and seems to be sitting quite straight. Her hands and reins make a nice straight line to the horse's mouth, though she might pull her hands back a little toward her body (2" at most) and turn her thumbs up a bit more. It looks like her right hand may be above or across the withers. If so, she should work on avoiding doing that. Among other effects, it can encourage the horse to tilt its head, rather than bend correctly. If those were the only "problems" one of my students had, I'd be very pleased! She's doing a very nice job.
The horse seems to be pretty well "on the aids"--at least as far as one can tell from a still photo, though it may be a little over-flexed. Still photos are hard to judge, as they represent a split-second of a very dynamic situation.
One technical point: bit guards (the disk on the bit right next to the rings) are not allowed in recognized dressage competitions. I don't know what sort of competition this was, but your daughter should be aware of that rule. I don't have the Pony Club rules immediately available, but, it's likely that bit guards are not allowed in Pony Club dressage, either. If the rings irritate the horse's mouth (as they can do), she may want to try a different bit, like an egg-butt or full-cheek--there are other designs, as well. (I have something over 35 bits--but only two horses!)
BTW, I have the same equipment, though my 70-200mm f/4L is the IS version. IS doesn't help much in this situation, of course! I have considered getting a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, but it's not as "good" a lens as the f/4L IS. The one extra stop would be useful in indoor shows (1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 at our Fairgrounds!). However, I have a set of fast prime lenses (35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.8, 85mm f/1.8, 100mm f/2, 135mm f/2.8, and just bought a 200mm f/2.8L). They're not as convenient as a zoom, but one nice thing about dressage tests & jumping competitions is that I know where the horse will be, so I can pick a lens for a spot (e.g., a jump or a particular movement in a dressage test). The 100mm f/2 and 200mm f/2.8L are the most useful, though I've done some interesting "ground level" (literally--less than 2' off the ground) shots with the 35mm f/2 of pole-bending.
Thanks a lot for the insightful remarks and suggestions. I didn't do any post-processing on this picture, except crop the picture on the left side!!!!!!. Well, back to school again......!
The background was unavoidable in this specific situation. Several trailers parked in the background, and generally a somewhat messy background. Not sure what to do about that. I have noticed that the rider(s) er often not looking straight ahead. They are not facing the direction of travel, but preparing for the next action. In this case a right hand turn. They are not supposed to do that in dressage, so here is also a lesson for the rider.
Again, thanks for the comments. Moreare welcome.
Peder
Dear George Slusher
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Also on the horse/rider. If the rest of the blogcommunity will excuse us: temporarily turning the blog from photo-mode to horse-mode. The horse is a Dutch warmblood (father Zeoliet), 9 years old at the time. We are Danish but living in The Nederlands, and the competition took place in The Nederlands. You are right about the bit guards but this was a mid-level competition in Holland, and the last level in which she was allowed to use the bit guards. She has in the meantime replaced the bits, and its working fine.
The horse is currently on sabbatical. It had an injury (and has a somewhat fragile bone structure) and the vets are giving ita year to fully recover, and in the mean time my daughter took the opportunity to breed it with a very nice Dutch warmblood stallion. Delivery inJuly 2009.
I checked your photo gallery. I love to video of Titus. Very nice horse.
Peder
I haven't written in a while (a BIG while haha), but this is just the kind of post I was hoping to find without creating a new one myself :D.
Quote:
Originally Posted by George Slusher
I have the 70-200 f/2.8 L non-IS, and I can get a good 1/320 f/2.8 ISO 1600 on my XSi...on the other hand, the indoor focusing ability of my body is coming a little short on me, but I'm trying to get used to it.
I photograph my girlfriend's jumping competitions, and during winter they're all indoor. But I find myself taking one, maybe two, good shots each time. Maybe you could help me find out what's wrong (apart from when my XSi won't focus)...
This is my last "good shot" of her:
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/388/dpp0012wtkm.jpg
1/320 f/2.8 ISO 800 110mm with Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 non-IS
I try to get in a position where I can shoot 3-4 jumps; it usually happens that on 2 of those I have a clear view (like this one) and on the other 1 or 2 I have some part of some other obstacle standing in the way, so in post I have to crop.
I don't usually pre-focus on the obstacle and shoot when the horse jumps, but I follow the horse all the way up to the jump and fire a 3-5 photos burst, in which I can usually get gallop-jump-air position-landing (I'm sorry I don't know the tchnicla terms, neither in English nor my own language haha).
So, here's one of my "bad shots" from the last race. BTW, I always shoot on full manual, trying to stay at 1/320 or slower...
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/2427/dpp0007wtkm.jpg
(same specs as before)
What I can't figure out in this shot is if it is OOF because I didn't focus correctly or because of thin DOF.
Every suggestion would be much appreciated...
Andy
Nice photo Peder!
The only thing I can think of changing about it is changing a rediculous thing about the rider....
Why don't they wear a helmet with lights underneath pointed at their faces, like with licenceplate lighting [:P] Would kill that annoying helmet-shadow. Hmm I think I'm gonna ask patent-rights on it [;)] "Underhelmet detailing light" also available in blue/green/purple/orange/red and white ^^
Love how sharp the 70-200 4.0 L is
good shot. Too bad your daughter was not looking at you
Mark
Shoot later in the day so that the sun is at an angle to reduce the shadow under the rider's helmet.
Excellent photo but I am going to nit pick the helmet shadow. Do they make non-visored horse helmets? (I'm a total idiot in all things horse haha). But no visor would also help to reduce the shadow.
What AF MODE are you using for this? check this explanation out for your XSI AI SERVO MODE.....
<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';"]AI Servo: The XSi constantly refocuses attempting to calculate the
moving subjects next movement and based on that prediction focus the
lens on the subject. This mode should be used when shooting sports,
moving objects, or any type of image where the subject matter is
constantly changing location. This mode can be combined with
continuous shooting to capture 3.5 frames per second while following a
subject. If the auto focus is able to perform adequately, you will get
3.5 frames per second in focus while your subject matter is moving.
I am indeed using AI Servo, I always have, and I think it does a great job at following the horse when it's coming right at me, but just as it jumps, AI Servo seems to have some problems with its calculations, I guess...