Turn And Burn...

[Dancing_dog]

Barrel Racing.
I think this is an okay picture, but it seems sort of plain to me, I would like to make it more interesting if that is possible. Suggestions? Critique?






Canon 40D With a Canon 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: 5.6
ISO: 500

[Jim Bryant]

Do you have one of the horse coming around the barrel at more of an angle?

[Dancing_dog]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

Do you have one of the horse coming around the barrel at more of an angle?

This one is more around the barrel but I thought it was a bit to out of focus.

[Jim Bryant]

It's in focus, you have a bit of motion blur going on. Next time shoot at a high shutter speed.
Because.......1.) you'll be forced to shoot at a lower f-stop, that will put the background out of focus even more. 2.) A higher shutter speed 500 sec and above will stop the action better.

But, this is a better shot, that shows motion. BTW my daughter took third in Barrels, second in pole bending, fourth in keyhole and don't remember the others, but she took seven places in the Washington State Gaming Events about three years ago. Two years ago her foot slipped out of stirrup and she tumbled off while barrel racing and broke her shoulder in three places. She hasn't been on a horse since We ended up selling her horse in December.

[JFSanders]

Second what J.B. said. I like the second shot. It conveys motion and direction better and you can see more of the rider's expression. I agree that faster shutter and less aperture would be a good thing. And if you could get closer that would be good too.

[Dancing_dog]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

It's in focus, you have a bit of motion blur going on. Next time shoot at a high shutter speed.
Because.......1.) you'll be forced to shoot at a lower f-stop, that will put the background out of focus even more. 2.) A higher shutter speed 500 sec and above will stop the action better.

But, this is a better shot, that shows motion. BTW my daughter took third in Barrels, second in pole bending, fourth in keyhole and don't remember the others, but she took seven places in the Washington State Gaming Events about three years ago. Two years ago her foot slipped out of stirrup and she tumbled off while barrel racing and broke her shoulder in three places. She hasn't been on a horse since We ended up selling her horse in December.

After that rider went I switched to Shutter Priority but my lens didn't have a very lage aperture so the pictures came out quite a bit darker like this:



I think It stopped the action better but its just a lot darker. anything faster then 1/640 looked way to dark to be acceptable.

Sorry about your daughter, that seems to happen a lot though, I don't game anymore I just start and train young horses.

Canon 40D with Canon 55-250mm f/4.5-6
Shooting Mode: Shutter Priority
Shutter Speed: 1/640
Aperture: 5.0

[mattyb]

Tighter maybe? Be good to see that mud flying about. I was always impressed in horse racing shots to see the horse 'straining' if you get my drift.

Matt

[AlphaDogPhoto]

Great shots, very nicely done.

Maybe next time move to the other end of the ring so there is the greatest distance between your subject and the outside edge of the ring. A long telephoto lens will "compress" the distance between you and the subject, while the angle will mean the subject is farther away from the background (with limited DOF at wide open aperture the background will be blurred).

Shoot at full zoom longest focal length with widest aperture to make the background blur the most and fill the frame with subject.

That way everything in the frame that is important (horse, rider and barrel) is in focus and everything else is blurred or out of focus.

Here is my example: