BC Derby Racing Horses - Part 2

[Brownbear]

Following are some photos from the BC Derby. I struggled with my timing and the composition of the close-in photos hence my photos are crooked with no room for cropping; horses exiting the frame too late, and/or part of the horse or the tops of the heads of the jockeys are clipped.

I am going to try this again and I would be interested to hear if these types of close-in photos could work. I like the emotions captured in the close-in shots in the horse and the rider and I would appreciate any tips on how I might better compose my photos on my next try.

Thank you.

#1




#2



#3



#4

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christina,

"Could they work", they certainly do for me, No 1 & 2 especially.

Not sure I can give any tips as it's not something I have attempted but here's a couple of things you could think about;

a) Your pannings excellent and I wonder if it would be possible to use a slower shutter speed and get some motion blur in the background. Not easy I'm sure and may not be possible.

b) Have a search, which you may have done already, at horse racing pics on the web. May get some ideas.

But for me, the close up ones have more impact than the group shots and the IQ is good..

Grahame

[Brownbear]

Hi Grahame,

I think #1 #2 are the best of the bunch of the cropped shots because I captured more of the horse and at least the jockey's face.

I checked out the sports page of today's paper (and other sites) and it seems that the close in photos with cropped/clipped bits can be good shots if one captures emotion and action, but for some reason it is not ok to clip bird photos. On my next try for the close in shots I will try my best to get the head of the horse and the jockey in, both looking at me.

1. Will try... I checked out a few sites and it looks like one can use a SS of 800-2000 with an aperture of up to F9. So I will experiment with each race and see what works best..

2. Yes, I saw many cropped/clipped photos that worked but only if something special was captured, and the best shots had blurred backgrounds.


Your feedback is truly appreciated. Thank you.

[donaldjledet]

Try shooting at shutter speed around 1/125s.or slower and pan. To get blur

[ajsmith]

The exposure, color and depth of field is very nice in all of the pictures. I like #1 and #2 also.

Panning takes a lot of practice. I tried to get some panning photos of my nephew riding a bike one day... he got tired of riding the bike before I could get a decent shot. I will have to try that again

[bje07]

I prefer # 1, sorry but on the # 2 the pole is distracting.

[Brownbear]

Hi Jean,

Thank you for sharing. I agree, the pole is distracting...

I had lots of shots where a pole seemed to be growing out of the horses or jockey's head, so I likely was just happy at the moment to see the pole in front. Next time around I am going to work hard on blurring those backgrounds...

I prefer # 1, sorry but on the # 2 the pole is distracting.

[ClaudioG]

Yeh..my fave is #1 as well..something about fast moving objects displayed with horizon at an angle seems to work for me..think Formula 1 images..super bikes..skateboarders..alll seems to work well..as does #1 here, JMHO

[Brownbear]

Thank you Claudio.. I will look up Formula 1 images and take a peek for ideas. Appreciated.

Yeh..my fave is #1 as well..something about fast moving objects displayed with horizon at an angle seems to work for me..think Formula 1 images..super bikes..skateboarders..alll seems to work well..as does #1 here, JMHO

[jprzybyla]

Good work... nice images sharp detail and great color. Below are a couple cleaned up, other than that I would not do a thing. What I do with birds and a zoom lens is not to shoot as tight leaving room to crop and straighten for composition.

[Brownbear]

Hi Joe,

Thank you for showing me this. I must say that you did a great job of cleaning up my photos... I also did not notice that the bokeh in the 2nd photo was messy looking... If I knew who these people were I would send them their photos.

Always appreciated.

PS I have a Canada Goose that I am going to name after you when I get around to it. Also a jellyfish and a sea otter but no worries I will honour someone else with those... And yes the sea otter ate the jelly fish...

Good work... nice images sharp detail and great color. Below are a couple cleaned up, other than that I would not do a thing. What I do with birds and a zoom lens is not to shoot as tight leaving room to crop and straighten for composition.