Horse Show

[dedicool]

Hi,
I'm new to action photography. I've been on a horse show today to practice. I've taken the following shot and would be happy to get any review or tip in order to get better.


Camera: Canon EOS Kiss X4
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO: Speed 100
Lens: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

[Donal]

Remove the guy on the right in the white shirt. He's distracting and I found my eye drawn to him.

[photog1107]

Good first attempt! Panning is not one of the easiest skillls to master, and I find it hard to believe a shot could be this good at 1/50th. You must have steady hands.

Compositionally, if you had others to choose from, I'd try for one where you have the rider's face in view, but that just takes lots of shots, so shoot, shoot, shoot!

[danbaileyphoto]

I think it works exceptionally well as an action image. You have great color combinations, good exposure and the right amount of freeze/motion in your shot. It works well when at least a small part of your subject is sharp, or sharper in relative comparison to a blurred/motion background.

You nailed it here. Great job!!!

[Hill Country Hack]

Good job with the shot. Panning shots are difficult to get right.

You stated you are new to action photography, was the end result what you were looking for? Was it a conscious decision to have the horse's legs blurred, or a happy accident?

The reason for the questions is why the f22 on such a bright day? Was the intent of the small f-stop to slow the shutter down?

Only you know what you were trying to accomplish, and if the resulting shot was done with some forethought, great!

I agree with dedicool. The background guy with the white shirt (looks like a guy with a camera) is distracting. Get rid of him if you can.

The subject is too centered. Move the right edge of the frame closer to the tail as to leave more negative space for the horse to run into.

Keep shooting and posting!

[pkd14u]

I think this is a fantastic panning shot. My suggestion when shooting a horse in action is to try to get the shot when the horse's hind legs are under him. Not always easy to do, but can be very effective. Also, if you can get the horse out of the center of the frame, that would be a bit more pleasing to the eye.

[carenberg]

fantastic thanks for sharing

[daajaa]

Wow this is an amazing shot!

[andrewdt]

Nice panning shot! I would have tried to frame it (or crop) so that the horse was on the right of the frame and there was only open space ahead of it - show where it is going, not where it came from. So I would shave a little of the top and bottom first, then some off the right and try and edit out the white shirt in the background as already suggested,

When I pan I tend to use center focus on AI and then crop after, as choosing an off center point can work well and then when the object changes direction you are buggered.