Trying equine event photography

[peteram]

I attended this Quarter Horse show in Las Vegas this spring. Trying my hand at Equine Photography, would like to branch into events like this as photographers charge a lot for photos in events like this. I was sitting in the stands about 2 rows up. Rider was accross the arena. Pro photographer at event was either in same position as me in stands or was standing in the arena.

Canon XTi
ISO 1600
F4
200 mm
1/200 sec

used a soft gold reflector filter effect from Nik software.

[freybear3]

The background needs to be different, to blah


Good luck in trying to get into this field of photography work. It is very hard too.

[Laurenbiz]

The photo right now is pretty bland, but I think some enhancement of color would really do the trick.

You have such interesting, contrasting colors here - the red, teal, and green in the background are very cool, I think. I would brighten this and then maybe up the contrast - or try curves in Photoshop - to really make all these fun colors pop!

[CiiVii]

There are some serious color issues here, probably enhanced by the filter effect that was applied. If you have Photoshop, run the eyedropper tool over the white background of the number on the saddlepad and the horse's white socks. The socks are going to be tinted a little from the dirt that is on them, but the number is telltale for sure.

In event photos such as this, people are going to want accuracy rather than effects. My guess is that the white balance didn't start out right when you took the picture, and it went downhill from there. Given the nature of indoor riding arenas, you are going to have weird and poor lighting to deal with.

[peteram]

Thank you for your input. I have removed the filter effect and re-white balanced. Please let me know what you think. I agree indoor arenas have poor light and also weird lighting. The pro that was there had 4 strobes set up around the upper deck of the arena to give fill light, not an option for me, but I looked at his website and mine looks pretty close to some of his.

[miyukisarah]

MUCH better!

[jdepould]

You're going to need a much longer lens.

The composition right now is totally static. Man sits on horse, walks. Dead center of frame. There's no thing dynamic or eye-catching.

For example:


Much tighter composition, with lead room for the horse+rider to move into. There's a lot of motion, and it's actually a moment of something happening.

[CiiVii]

Originally Posted by jdepould

You're going to need a much longer lens.

The composition right now is totally static. Man sits on horse, walks. Dead center of frame. There's no thing dynamic or eye-catching.

FYI, the OP's shot is the typical one a western pleasure rider would buy. All they do is go around the rail, there's no exciting stuff involved. He was also intelligent enough to choose the correct gait (jog) and to find the right moment in the horse's stride. It's also good that the rider isn't snatching at the reins at that moment. The composition is normal and is what is expected, and that is what exhibitors purchase.

[peteram]

Originally Posted by CiiVii

FYI, the OP's shot is the typical one a western pleasure rider would buy. All they do is go around the rail, there's no exciting stuff involved. He was also intelligent enough to choose the correct gait (jog) and to find the right moment in the horse's stride. It's also good that the rider isn't snatching at the reins at that moment. The composition is normal and is what is expected, and that is what exhibitors purchase.

Thank you so much for the positive feedback. Do you have any tips for timing the shots to get the legs in the right position at the jog? I have a lot of bad ones compared to the good one here. Maybe it is just a matter of practicing more?

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by CiiVii

FYI, the OP's shot is the typical one a western pleasure rider would buy. All they do is go around the rail, there's no exciting stuff involved. He was also intelligent enough to choose the correct gait (jog) and to find the right moment in the horse's stride. It's also good that the rider isn't snatching at the reins at that moment. The composition is normal and is what is expected, and that is what exhibitors purchase.

All the more reason to do something else. Do you really want to be the guy who does the same thing everyone else does? With a railing running through the rider's head?