C&C appreciated

[Maritimer1]

Shadowman asked about the series of shots after one I had put in a monochrome competition. I just realized that I do not have a series for that particular shot as I was attempting to pan.

This is a series of the same horse and rider over the same jump. I haven't cropped the photos to give you an idea about the environment. Just overhead, there is a tungsten light (there are about ten of them in the arena, that was casting a lovely purple haze on my colour shots. I had the WB set for tungsten. Unfortunately, I had to stand on that side of the arena and was facing the windows which are set high in the wall. I switched to b&w as pp work on a previous batch could not totally rectify the colour problems from the low light, the tungsten etc. In PP for these, I used auto exposure in ACR and then tweaked the brightness and fill light a bit. ( I have that option, now ) In photoshop, I sharpened with USM and reduced noise.

Camera used was a Canon Rebel xti (400). I had the 75-300 non IS kit lens attached, 1/125, f4+2, 1600iso (that's as far as it will go) at 100m. Camera was handheld. I am trying to learn as much technique as possible from this camera. In particular, I would love to learn how to pan properly as I cannot get a "frozen" action shot in this light with my current equipment. All C&C is welcome and appreciated.

Thanks!
Myra

[Dave Humphries]

~ In PP for these, I used auto exposure in ACR and then tweaked the brightness and fill light a bit. ( I have that option, now ) In photoshop, I sharpened with USM and reduced noise.

Hi Myra,

Two things from this sentence,
1) I would recommend the using the Noise sliders on ACR's Details tab in preference to doing it (later) in photoshop proper.
I leave both those ACR noise sliders at 100 (yes, the maximum), it has little effect on sharpness that cannot be restored with capture sharpening as soon as you get to photoshop.
2) As written, you say "sharpened with USM and reduced noise" although I appreciate that doesn't necessarily mean you did it in that order, but just to clarify; It is always better to noise reduce before applying any sharpening.

Your uncropped shots do sadly demonstrate that that venue is just not at all "photograph friendly", so you are facing an uphill struggle with every exposure.

If there are those other bods standing around in the background, can't you get over there? (but be careful, you might even need one of them as a look out for impending trouble if you have your eye in a viewfinder).

Cheers,

[Maritimer1]

Dave, thanks for the tips about the sliders in ACR. I wasn't sure if I should leave them at default, fiddle with them or just set them to zero. None of the above! I'll try the 100 route next time.

Oops! Yes, I did do noise first and then the USM. (You'd think I never read CinC!) I used 300/.3/0 for sharpening.

The people inside the ring were there to reset the jumps after they were knocked over. The only other person was the clinician, a former rider for the Canadian Olympic team. She was a very nice person, but I wasn't about to get in her way and in the way of the riders who paid over $300 for the instruction<LOL>.

I almost had some clear shots with panning. Need to do some googling on that subject. I tried using shutter priorty mode at 1/15 and 1/30. Of course, the light was much brighter, but I still had too much blur. One photo I tried with 1 sec shutter speed went to an aperature of 27 ... and ended up looking like a double ghostly image. I can see how a person could get some interesting effects if they knew what they were doing, or if they were incredibly lucky.

I will be very happy when the jumping/show venue moves outside for the season, although the learning can happen anywhere.

Thanks!
Myra

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Myra,

The shutter speed required for a good pan depends on a couple of things; most obviously the speed the object is moving, but also how close you are to it.

The latter can be judged by how many degrees you have to twist your body through to follow the subject on approach, taking and follow through.
You should be 'square on' (with a straight body posture) for the taking phase.

I tend to use aperture priority, even when shooting panned horses, varying exposure will alter the shutter speed over a few shots and on review, I can judge which shutter speed are best at a particular jump, then I alter aperture and/or iso to get the best effect. I find this method better than a formula speed in shutter priority.

I saw those other shots and I would suggest aiming for 1/60 to 1/125 for a better panning effect, also perhaps dial in 1/2 or 2/3 stop of negative EC as they are all blowing the whites. However, three above are better, but the last in series above is almost frozen (in background - see Greenhaw sign), this tells me you stopped panning and simultaneously took the shot - it is important to keep following the horse for at least 1 whole second after the last shot is taken. This is the 'follow through' phase I referred to above.

Good luck with next shoot,

[Maritimer1]

Excellent advice! I was doing the panning backwards by using the shutter speed option. Also, I wasn't straight on. This should be more enjoyable to practice outdoors where the light is not such a factor. Thanks, Dave!

Myra