Horse Show pics [ Conformation show ]

Went to a horse show as one that I look after was being Shown [ dapple grey ], so gave it a go to try for some nice pics - felt very different from taking agility pics did`nt think it would but it did

The aims :
To get clarity/sharpness,
to try to capture the power, movement, and grace of horses,
to try to do credit to their physical condition

The difficulties :
Light - it was a horribly bright day, very glary,
the grass was heat seared so no lush depth of colour for underfoot and background,
positioning - limited possibilities of where to shoot from especially for light direction and distance,
background noise - vehicles, other horses, people, and ring marker tape unavoidable, not enough hours available to pp those things out of every shot, [ plus might lose the `feel` of it being a show ? ], so just pp`d number plates out, and noticeable distractions like big piles of horse droppings

The one I look after is Showing again next weekend [ Dressage ], so any help to improve ready for the next show would be much appreciated

[ They are on the montage I posted so wanted to show as well that the quality of the jpegs is definitely better than on the montage ]

1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


13


14

Nice shots Patch

Number 5s my fave !

Number 5 every time! Great background, lovely exposure - especially considering the lighting conditions. Lovely sharpness too - the feet are slightly blurry giving that sense of movement! Magic!

xx

Love #5 again, purely due to the background as some of the others are really quite nice but you can't do anything really re. the background in that situation.

It's always the same, you go to an event thinking it will be a great photo opportunity but when you get there you find loads of cars, horseboxes, burger bars and even caravans placed around the arena.

As with others I think 5 is the most pleasing because you were able to get a position where you were able to eliminate the distracting backgrounds.

In your position I would have set my lens to the largest aperture available (in my case f2.8) which would give you the best chance of throwing the background out of focus but you can never eliminate things completely. Unless your brilliant in PS

Great effort in less than perfect conditions

teve

Very nice Patch.

Having read your first post I think you've achieved your 'aims' and much of what I would have said regarding the shots you've already acknowledged in the 'difficulties'.

If I could add anything I would agree with Steve's comments about selecting a wider aperture although much would depend on the lens / distance from you to subject / distance from subject to background. Whilst it wouldn't eliminate the background 'clutter' it might at least blurr them enough to put the emphasis more on your subject.

Great set there, some really stunning horses!

I think you have done a really good job Patch, the worst thing about Horse shows are the backgrounds! They drive me NUTS!! When Ive done pics for people who have asked, Ive taken them away from the rings to get a better background, as all the "distractions" are really bad, but thats the same for everyone who takes pics at a horse show!

Last show I did, I was told they already had an "official" photographer, and I shouldnt take any, long story short, two letters and a few words, and I dont think Ill be bothered again!! WHy does it always happen to me?????

Thank you
I do have one problem with the 70-300 that it does`nt go to f2.8, it`s max is 4.5, and with the glare from how bright it was I had to up it to help with lighting so the dof suffered as a result in terms of the clutter but next time I will try different ways to cope with that level of brightness so I can improve things, I had`nt taken it into account for that side of things and would`nt have thought of it had you not mentioned it, thank you
[ and it`s scary that I completely understand what you are saying ]

Phil, you have no idea how much of an extra confidence boost you have just given me, I have always felt too inadequate through inexperience to give critiques out loud as it were but I`m finally starting to feel I can express those sorts of things a bit more now, [ on my own photo`s for the time being at least ], so to have confirmation that I really am understanding these things, for how and why they affect shots, as much as I thought/hoped I might be is a big step forward to me, thank you


It`s strange but at Agility shows background clutter is so `normal` and `expected` that people tend not to think about it when buying pics from the pro-photographers, me included when I bought any of my Defa, but at the horse show it really bothered me !
The area in pic 5 was the only bit that was clear most of the time in terms of people/horses going past outside the ring but it was limiting for how many shots I could get there because the line up in the ring was just ahead of that section so from watching the previous class I realised I had to try for shots when they all went into the ring for a circuit before lining up then then they did a circuit before leaving the ring at the end of the class. so I was chuffed that I did get no 5 at the right moment for the stride and composition

That`s just mean ! There are usually two or more rings on the go and one official photographer can`t cover them all so not letting anyone else take pics for friends/family would mean lots of people having no memento`s at all, I know when Defa was competing how disappointing it was to be in rings the pro-photographer was`nt shooting every time throughout a weekend show and one year at Dogs In Need which is a week long show there was no photographer on a single run of Defa`s, so for me and hundreds of other handlers we had no photo`s to look back on, and with the work that goes into preparing horses for a show it`s not fair at all for no one but an official photographer to take pics, and frankly with how much they charge for the quality in some cases it`s not on !

Happily at the venue I went to they asked over the tannoy for anyone taking pics if they [ the organisers - they also own the venue ], could please have copies to put on their website so I will be taking them a disc full when I`m there next weekend, with a bit of luck they might like some of them enough to use on there - copyright applies of course so if it does`nt seem too `above my station` as a beginner I might put a copyright signature on them, I quite like the idea of `Patchwork Photography`




To everyone, thank you once again for your comments and encouragement, [ no 5 is my favourite too ], chuffed to bits with everyone`s feedback and advice

Sounds great!!! Go for it!