Moss End show 2017 (horses)

[Dave Humphries]

I don't seem to photograph much these days, far less post a thread here, so I thought I should probably share some of the shots I took last weekend on the occasion of my daughter entering a couple of 'in hand' classes at a local show.

The weather was mostly bright cloudy/overcast, with the sun mostly 'in', but sometimes hazy and occasionally fully shining through gaps between the clouds.

Processing wise, I did the 25 or so shots my daughter picked out because of the postures captured of her horses, as much as anything. I then cropped and processed all 25 simultaneously in one session in ACR and PS for consistency of colour and exposure*. Don't worry; I won't bore you with them all

* Sadly my exposures had a few wobbles, some of these needing 1/2 or a full stop adjustment up and down, in ACR - I'm thankful for the headroom RAW provides. I started off Manual, but changed to Aperture Priority when I couldn't get Auto-Iso to work 'sensibly' (finger trouble, I'm sure).

All shot on Nikon D7100 with the Nikon 70-300 mm lens handheld at 800 iso; to ensure good shutter speeds. I use a variation of back button focus. For some reason, I was only using the centre focus point, so I had a tendency to chop the tail and feet off (even if hidden by grass), which I now regret.

Most are cropped 3:2 for my wife to print on 6 x 4 paper, there's an odd square one where the 6 x 4, or 4 x 6, ratio just wouldn't work at all. Otherwise I might have varied the crops a little more to suit the compositions. Some are un-cropped, although a few needed a straighten to get them level. Due to the excellent clear backgrounds at this location (edge of Windsor Great Park), not too many needed work to remove distractions, but I did clone out one parked car (in #7) and in some others; the odd distant person(s) and the occasional flying insect that was in the sharp plane of focus.

Please click on the images to view in LyteBox at their full height of 900 pixels.

1 = 300mm, f/5.6, 1/800s (456-7351)



2 = 165mm, f/5.6, 1/2000s (456-7363)



3 = 165mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s (456-7407)



4 = 200mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s (456-7429)



5 = 210mm, f/5.6, 1/2000s (456-7436)



6 = 165mm, f/7.1, 1/2000s (456-7469)



7 = 185mm, f/7.1, 1/2000s (456-7474)



8 = 116mm, f/5, 1/3200s (456-7539)



9 = 170mm, f/5, 1/3200s (456-7547)



Each class had about 6 entries and Megan got 2nd in both classes, this she was well pleased with, because it was the first time ether of these young horses had ever attended a show.

For anyone wishing to 'orient' themselves, the yellow 'road' in the background of many shots is the "Long Walk", running between Windsor Castle and the Copper Horse.

Hope you find the pictures and other information helpful/interesting.
Let me know what you think.

Dave

[Shadowman]

Hi Dave,

Nice captures, favorite for pose and overall aesthetics is #4. Surprised that most were underexposed when using aperture priority, Nikon's tend to expose to the right so wondering if either exposure compensation was in use or you were using spot metering?

[rpcrowe]

Really nice coverage of a lovely young lady...

I find that using Auto ISO with my Canon 7D2 camera on manual is the ticket for action in changing light situations. That way, I can lock in my shutter speed and depth of field, while the auto ISO takes care of the exposure...

The entire set is really nice but, my favorite is #1.

[Dave Humphries]

Nice captures, favorite for pose and overall aesthetics is #4.

Thanks John,

Surprised that most were underexposed when using aperture priority, Nikon's tend to expose to the right so wondering if either exposure compensation was in use or you were using spot metering?

IIRC most were OK, it was just some which were either over or under by 1/2 or 1 stop.

Metering was Matrix throughout and after initial 'acclimatisation' to the light, I settled on 0EV compensation initially (for the beige horse), but then started varying the EC (+0.3, +0.7 and +1) as the grey/white horse was more likely to cause underexposure.

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks Richard

[KimC]

Really enjoyable set Dave! If mine, I'd be tempted to clone out the blue rope (fence) in the ones I was going to print. Lovely daughter and ponies.

[Dave Humphries]

Really enjoyable set Dave! If mine, I'd be tempted to clone out the blue rope (fence) in the ones I was going to print. Lovely daughter and ponies.

Thanks Kim,

Yes I did actually do that in #3 because the nearest rope was dead in line with the bridle's nose band and it looked really odd, although then I went and left a more distant one in shot behind anyway.

My reasoning for not removing the ropes in all of them was that these were processed for Megan, rather than here, and I felt removing the ropes might have removed the context of a show ring, albeit making better photographs. That said, I guess there are other clues for the trained eye, such as the number tied around her waist.

Next time I'll know better - in fact I'll ask my daughter and wife about it in case my instinct was incorrect.

Thanks for your thoughts, it has helped me.

Cheers, Dave

[John 2]

Some beautifully subtle colour Dave. Nice set. Striking young lady and some lovely ponies.

[Dave Humphries]

Some beautifully subtle colour Dave. Nice set. Striking young lady and some lovely ponies.

Thanks John, re the subtle colour, yes I noticed that when I viewed #1 in the monthly comp alongside other entries, I recall giving most a small Clarity boost, I didn't give the vibrance or saturation anything, given there are almost no neutral tones, I felt it might make them 'over powering' if I did. Perhaps a bit more oomph to the clarity and just a hint of vibrance should have been the way to go.

Thanks,
Dave

[bnnrcn]

Very nice set Dave Although you explained your reason for not cloning the blue rope , IMO #1 looks better without it.

[Dave Humphries]

My thanks to Kim and Binnur who suggested removing the blue rope, I have done this and also given a bit of a boost to the local contrast (which helps the colours), plus a slight crop change and a few other 'tidy ups'.

You can play spot-the-difference below

"Original"


"New improved"


I have updated my entry in the Monthly competition accordingly.

Thanks again,
Dave

[bnnrcn]

It looks better without the rope Dave. May I ask why you cropped the image from the RHS, did the empty space seem too much after removing the rope?

[KimC]

Changes looks awesome Dave -- it's such a beautiful image and now nothing distracts from it's beauty!

[IzzieK]

The change is awesome, Dave...sorry for the late response. And I am still half asleep so I won't comment much apart from saying Megan is a pretty girl.

[Dave Humphries]

It looks better without the rope Dave. May I ask why you cropped the image from the RHS, did the empty space seem too much after removing the rope?

Thanks Binnur,

Well I thought so, but it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong

The original framing was to be able to print on 6 x 4 paper, but without that constraint (for use here), I thought placing Megan on the right hand third made both her and the horse larger in frame. I also squeezed a little more space in 'after' the tail, way over on the LHS, as that was a bit close to the edge before.

Changes looks awesome Dave -- it's such a beautiful image and now nothing distracts from it's beauty!

Thanks Kim,

The change is awesome, Dave...sorry for the late response. And I am still half asleep so I won't comment much apart from saying Megan is a pretty girl.

Thanks Izzie,

Cheers,
Dave

[skitterbug]

Beautiful daughter and lovely horses. Motion is hard to catch and still have no great amount of graininess. At least it is for me...... Your last edit is well done!

May I ask what Megan uses the Palomino horse for?