They shoot horses, don't they?...

...cameras, that is!

In an earlier post I mentioned an upcoming event I've been asked to shoot.

It's a horse-jumping event - something I've never shot before.
So I thought I'd ask here if anyone has any experience in this field and/or
has any tips/advice please!

I'll be shooting with a Canon EOS10D & EF300mm f2.8 IS (rented!) and have a
512Mb CF card, 2 batteries & a monopod!

My initial thoughts are that I'll need more memory & a means to re-charge
the batteries in the car (or another pair of batteries).
See?.. I'm already spending what little profits I'll make from the shoot!! -
Still, it's all experience, eh?
I'm also concerned that the weather may be nasty so am contemplating rigging
up an umbrella to my back back. (Any other ideas?!)
It occurs to me that I mustn't risk startling the horses so getting too
close, using flash and wearing bright clothing might all be no-nos.

There are only 80 competitors (thankfully!) but I still think I'll have my
work cut out!

TIA

 

Yes, don't use flash at all. Horses are big - take a zoom lens - the
effective 450mm ish you get from the 300mm will be too close a lot of the
time. If I were using my *ist D, I wouldn't worry about recharging the
battery during the day (but still take a spare battery!), but I would say
that the 512MByte is much too little - I'd be taking along >1.5GBytes
(its what I normally travel with!). Weather protection important, be
prepared to shoot at high ISO to cope with the dark conditions in such
situations. Check your metering - they'll be against the sky some of the
time. Personally, I would use a tripod with the Manfrotto Grip Action
Ball Head rather than a monopod, but use what you've got. I guess you
can't take a spare camera...

--Sophie

 

If you can take an assistant and are nearish to a car or dry area then
you would only need 2 or 3 flash cards and get the assistant to drop
the pictures onto the laptop. Keep cycling the cards, although the
pro's would probably just swap bodies as it's quicker.

Last year I was at a 4x4 event and drove the off-road course. A photo
company had guys at two main obstacles, each with an assistant. Data
cards were collected by runners on quad bikes and by the time I had
left the course the photo tent had pictures of me ready to sell. I
actually bought the CD of the originals, which was burnt while I
waited. You might want to set up a mini-version of that from the boot
of your car? Assuming that you are looking to sell images to the
general public that is.

 

It's a horse-jumping event - something I've never shot before.

Will you be in the ring? If you have been asked to shoot this event then
you should be. In which case, forget the 300mm. A 70-210 is more than
enough. Even outside the ring, the 300mm is likely to be too long. The
monopod will be useful to hang your coat on if it's a warm day. Don't
EVER walk around near horses with an umbrella sticking out of your
back, they'll run a mile. Generally, don't put umbrellas up near horses,
though many spectators do.

Don't use flash. Clothing shouldn't be a problem. If you are in the
ring, make sure you know the route the competitor is taking and KEEP OUT
OF THE WAY. The best thing is to pick one or two jumps that you can
cover from a single position and then stay there. It helps if you walk
the course with the competitors before the competition starts, then you
know the route and can plan your shots better.

Aim to take the pictures at a 45 degree angle from the jump so you get a
side/front view as they come over the jump. This'll most likely give you
the best results. Side views are good if the jump hasn't got large wings
which block the view.

Use a shutter speed of 1/250 or faster to be sure of getting things
sharp. Slower speeds can work but you need practice.

Dark horses are a b***** to expose correctly. Better to give a bit more
than not enough. Owners/riders are interested in seeing their horse and
if you just have a dark mass they won't be interested.

Aim to take the shot either as the horse takes off or as he lands. In
both cases he'll be at full stretch and it shows the horse off better.
If you take the shot with them half over the jump, they'll have the
undercarriage fully up and it looks as if they've been shot out of a
gun, not jumped up there under their own steam

Hope that helps.

Peter

 

I've no idea weather I'll be in the ring - will check. I had assumed I'd be
safely the other side of a sturdy fence!!
Oh dear. That could be a problem. I'd better take my shorter consumer
lenses with me too.

I take it you don't think the monopod will be useful then?

Looks like I'll need to dig out my waterproofs and fashion a weatherproof
cover for the camera & lens.
The lens will cope with rain but I don't know how weatherproof the 10D is
\

Noted - ta

Good point. Thanks.

Noted - I've shot quite a few motorbike racing events & trackdays so have
had plenty of panning practice.
Although I'm not sure I'll be using this technique on my first horse event.
Happily horses move more slowly than bikes!

Ok - so better to over-expose darker horses? I tend to use centre-weighted
metering so perhaps I'll be ok?

LOL! I nearly choked on my cuppa just then!

It does - thanks very much for taking the time to respond Peter.

 

Thanks Tim.
I hadn't even thought of taking a laptop. Unfortunately I don't have one
with a USB port (so that rules out dumping the CF cards onto the laptop's
harddrive) and the laptop doesn't have a CD-R/RW so I can't write CDs on the
day. Great ideas for the next event though - thanks.

I'm planning to upload all the images to the internet the same evening and
will have handed out leaflets to all the competitors (etc) with the website
address on it. I've got BreezeBrowser which will allow me to create the
whole website (including the ability to take payments with my PayPal
account) at the click of a button.
On motorbike trackdays I've done some official photographer expect people to
let them know in advance if they want pictures taking - then they only shoot
these people.
I could try that method I suppose.

Thanks again.

 

Hi Sophie

I'm going to have to get a couple more 512Mb CF cards pronto!
I'm also going to have to shoot in JPeg mode rather than RAW as I only get
about 50 RAW shots per 512Mb card!! That's such a pain. I really need to
organise a laptop next time so I can re-use the CF cards throught the day.

I've got a spare film camera which I'm *very* familiar with and will be
taking several rolls of film just in case.

Thanks for the helpful advice!

 

Never done Show jumping, but I did try shooting a few rodeos whilst living
out in Arizona a few years.

My thoughts . . . . .

Try to use a shutter speed of at least 1/500th to freeze the action or
around 1/60th to blur the movement of the legs

Ensure your aperture is small enough to get the horse and rider fully in
focus but an aperture large enough to get the background nicely out of focus
when panning

Most of my rodeo shots were taken with an 100-300m lens, mainly from the
other side of the arena to the bucking chute.

Try to familiarise yourself with the route the riders will take through the
arena (not possible in many rodeo events due to the unpredictable nature of
the bronco/bull, but should be easy enough in a show jumping arena)

 

Just a thought, you don't know anyone with a horse who'd let you
photograph them while they train? That way you can get some ideas about
what works and what doesn't...


Richard.

 

You can get little sleeves that fit over the CF to turn it into a Type
1 PC Card slot. Haven't seen one for a while but they work well and
won't be expensive. That would solve your laptop USB problem.

Good luck

 

One can never have too much storage. If you are buying cards, try to get
ones which look different to minimise the "that card I just put in the
camera is full - oh, its the one I took out" moments. I have about 3GB+
which is probably now too little for a serious holiday, but can handle
most days out (John did fill 1GByte last night shooting amdram...).

Well, I think cards are cheap enough that you shouldn't re-use. When I
take a laptop along, I copy all the images from full cards onto its disc
(PCCard adaptor - its not slow) but keep the cards as a backup.

Fast film (ISO400 at least).

You do seem to be going in at the deep end - I think we've established in
this thread that horses are big: they're also FAST when moving and
getting a good picture of one doing so is erm... a matter of luck,
especially over jumps (prefocus, of course). And the riders/owners tend
to be very snooty if, say, the ears aren't pricked up attentively...

--Sophie

 

I take it you don't think the monopod will be useful then?

If you're outside the ring with a longer lens then, I admit, I have used
them, but they can slow you down a bit, especially if you're trying to
cover more than one fence and you have to shift your position in
between. If you're in the ring, you really don't need it and it'll just
be something else to trip over.

The problem with horses is they're not rigid and they move their legs
and head independent of the body (if you see what I mean) so, even if
you have a smooth pan, you will probably still get a blurred head and
legs. Blurred legs ain't so bad but a blurred head means the picture
probably won't be bought. I like to use slow shutter speeds and 1/60
usually gives a good sense of movement without totally blurring the
picture but, I've found owners and riders often don't like it.

I often use partial metering but still get problems. If the light is
fairly constant on the day, it can be better to take a manual reading
and use manual mode, that way, if you do get a bit of bright sky in the
background, you won't suddenly underexpose.

Sorry...

There's a couple of jumping pictures on my Web site if you're interested
(http://equiphoto.net)

Peter

 

I've just taken delivery of two more 512Mb cards from www.scan.co.uk -
£82.25 each (+ £7 postage !)
To make the cards look different (as you suggest) I've written the letters
A, B & C in large letters using a permanent marker pen.

I'm borrowing a suitable laptop and have ordered a CompactFlash to PCMCIA
adaptor - £4.64 - again from Scan.
I know I can use the USB ports to transfer the images directly from camera
but it'll save on camera battery power & means I can keep shooting whilst
the images transfer.
Unless I get really desperate I'll take your advice and not re-use any of
the 3 cards - so I've got them as backups etc

I've got some Fuji NPH800 in the fridge so I'll probably use that.

I agree - but with the help this newsgroup has given me I am jumping into
the deep-end with my water-wings at least *partially* inflated!!

I'll post here with the results early next week in case anyone's interested
in how I get on.

Thanks all for your help.

 

Thanks Tim - on your advice I have ordered a CF to PCMCIA adaptor.

Cheers