Horesepower of another type...

[Jim Sykes]

Well, its not The Derby, but I spend my Saturday standing in the rain at the Virgina Gold Cup shooting steeplechase racing. Apparently this is one of the big events in the country for this kind of thing...at least that is what I was told there.

Its a whole different ballgame in many ways, while many of the normal ideas of composition still hold true. They are harder to shoot than one might think. You have a lot of movement going on that a car just doesnt have, so getting totally sharp pans is a whole new thing. They are also pretty unpredictable as to where and how they will move. I think I'd do a little more vertical shooting next time for the head ons to try to get the whole horse and rider in till the last minute. I was also a little over lensed for some of the closer jumps and couldnt really back up, while a little under lensed for the jumps further away.

Very interesting and a fun experience. I'll definitely try to do it again sometime and have a little better idea of what I want the next time.

Also, did I mention that, unlike car racing, you get only one or two (if you're lucky) trys at a particular shot? Yeah, that makes it a little harder to "experiment" with what you want to do. So having never done it I didnt have a lot of chance to "figure it out along the way." So that said, I'm reasonably happy with what I came up with on the first try. There were six races, with two of them coming by me twice.

Anyway, short story long, here are a few of the photos I liked.

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/001.jpg

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/002.jpg

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/003.jpg

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/004.jpg

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/005.jpg

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/006.jpg

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/007.jpg

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/008.jpg


Wheeler, give me a critique!!

[Jim Sykes]

Couple more.

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/009.jpg

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/010.jpg

[John Thawley]

Pretty cool.... I watched the Derby yesterday... saw all the photographers dragging around 500mm LOL.. but got to thinking how that would be a very cool thing to shoot. I'm going to have to try that.

I guess I'll add it to my list along with those dirt racer sprint cars. LOL

JT

[Andrew Wheeler]

HI Jim!

Not bad (the colours are lovely and the motion pans are good), however, it might be a good thing to be able to see the hooves in the shot if you're including most of the beast in a wide shot...

Andrew :)

[Jim Sykes]

Yeah, that is the one thing I realized when I got home that I was failing in a few of these. Next time on the head ons, shooting vertically would help and a couple of them, like the first, I just didnt pull wide enough to get them in the bottom. Plus, since it was raining, I was using an Aquatech and their eyepieces are deeper and harder to see the entire frame with, and I found myself concentrating so much on the rider and saddle, that I caught myself cutting off the hooves without realizing it.

Live and learn.

Plus, without fail, it seemed like the best composition of the riders were in that spot between where the 500 was wide enough to get the whole horse and rider and where it was perfect for just the rider and head of the horse. So I got things like the second shot.

The fifth one I was just too tight and just simply missed the hooves in front, you can see there was room there, I just missed it. I still included it because I thought it showed the rider and the muscles in the horse so well and still worked, just wasnt perfect.

But you're right. Hooves were my biggest "dammit" when going through my shots.

Curious about something though. Someone on another forum said he was really distracted by all the blown highlights in these. I'll admit, some of the whites are very close and have a couple small blown areas, but for the most part they all retain the detail that is supposed to be there and I think they accurately represent how white some of these silks and pants were.

Is anyone else "distracted" or feel that the whites are too white and/or blown and really ruining the images?

[John Thawley]

Is anyone else "distracted" or feel that the whites are too white and/or blown and really ruining the images?

I don't see anything here. Can't imagine what they're talking about.

JT

[Dennis Murray]

The only ones I can see a potential problem with are the one with sky (the first on your second post) and the grey one on the second horse. Of course, you said it was raining all day, so your sky probably was white or grey. On the second one, the pants of the rider could be a little hot - but what detail would be there any way? I don't see it either.

Horse racing is one of those sports that a lot of sports photog's seem to love to work. Bill Frakes has some really great stuff from the derby on his site (which in itself is well worth 30 or 60 minutes to check out).

I would agree on the hooves...either cut them totally and tight crop to the rider and horse's head or get them. It's like clipping the feet in track and field.

[Jeff Boerio]

Jimmy,

I'll have to run these past my wife, who knows a thing or two about horses. But for me, I really like the last one from your first post and the last one from the second post. The first picture reminds me of one of those multiple exposure shots. The other one is just a really cool pan.

Jeff

[Jeff Boerio]

My wife digs the last two of the first set. In the first of those, you've got one horse with a hoof on the ground and its other front leg extended. And the second horse is completely off the ground.

She also dug the last picture in the first set because of that "multiple exposure" thing I mentioned.

She also liked 5th picture, even if the hooves were clipped :)

Jeff

[Jim Sykes]

Thanks guys.

Thanks JT. I dont know what the guy was complaining about either. I can for sure say they are very close to being blown, if you mess around with the dropper and info screen in Pshop, you can see points that get close to 255 in many spots, but very few little ones actually go to that point. But hey, they were white and I think it looks pretty close to what they really looked like. They were bright on a drab day.

Thanks for the compliments Jeff. It was a fun thing and I'd like to try it again. Having been able to get home and look at some things, I can really start to see what I would like to have done differently. Hooves being the number one thing.

Its funny though. When you look through the camera, you are so focuses on the rider and the upper part of the horse, its really easy to chop off the bottom. It would definitely be something to keep an eye on the next time.

Thanks fellas.

[Andrew Wheeler]

Hey Jim,

The whites don't look blown to me and as I said I think the colours are really good, and from my experience (I did start out in the biz photographing horses for a living - you can check out my horsey site if you wish - I did some work for Cavalia and lots of advertisers) the colours are what help draw people in. If it's their own horse then things start getting very very very technical and tricky (and to some degree personal), especially if it's an action shot.

Love horses.

Andrew

[Jim Sykes]

Thanks Andrew. I knew you were a horse guy first which is why I specifically asked your opinion in the beginning.

I think the other guy was either too full of himself or just screwing with me. Once he said something all his "followers" chimed in with the same comments.

Regardless of whether he meant it or not, I know better and was pretty confident it wasnt a problem. But you never know, I just wanted another opinion to see if there was something I just wasnt seeing.

Thanks fellas.

[Erik Anderson]

After shooting rodeos for a bit, I've learned that there is a 'pose' the owners look for in the horses and will buy that photo every time. Sadly, no one can explain what that needs to be, they just 'know it when they see it'! This looks like your most powerful shots with respect to the stride of the horse:

http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/images/goldcup/009.jpg

Other than agreeing with the earlier comments about some verticals to prevent the cropping, these are solid.