Polo Match

[LePetomane]

I went to my first Polo match. What an exciting sport. A magnificent display of athleticism and equestrian skills. And it's only a 10 minute drive from my home. I'm sure to return. My camera skills aren't that good when photographing moving objects so bear with me.

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[Shadowman]

Nice series, nicely exposed and focused.

[LePetomane]

John, thank you. I wish I had the entire horse in the frame in #4 but these things move so fast. Next time.

[rpcrowe]

John, thank you. I wish I had the entire horse in the frame in #4 but these things move so fast. Next time.

You bet that they move fast. There are some secrets of placing oneself in line to get a shot (but, I don't remember them - just do a YouTube search for the information). I have shot a polo match twice and used the 300mm f/4L I for one shoot and the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS ii lens on the next shoot. I actually preferred the 300mm f/4L IS because of the better ability to blur a background at f/4 than at f/5.6 which is the f/stop at around 300+ mm on the 100-400L ii lens...

After only two attempts I am still a neophyte at shooting this sport. My attempts are filed on my smugmug account at:
https://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Sports/S...-Club-Del-Mar/

Now that I am feeling a bit better (went on two shoots this weekend) I will go for another try at polo. We have a polo club located about 45-minutes from my house. I think that I will rent a relatively fast 400mm lens for my next try at polo. A combination of a fast 400mm on a full frame camera and my 100-400mm ii lens on a crop camera (or the other way around) might be a pretty good combination on a pair of cameras...

I purchased this accessory specifically for the polo matches



since I can place the chair virtually anyplace on the sidelines and the chair's shade keeps me cool and less sun burned. I have also used it for other types of outdoor shoots. The drink holder is handy for an extra lens if you are using only one body...

BTW: Like the Kentucky Derby and other high stakes horse races, the crowd watching the match can be some pretty good photo subjects also. At least in the Delmar Polo Club there are some elegantly dressed females...

[Stagecoach]

An enjoyable series and you have not done bad at all.

Some things to consider when you take your next set;

a) Exposure is always a bit tricky in this harsh light especially with light coloured clothing so beware of blowing it out. It's always easier to lift the shadows in post.

b) You could consider framing a bit tighter or cropping a bit tighter in post.

c) There is no need to get all of the horse in frame on every shot. No 4 is fine and a possible option is to crop in much tighter as here, or even more.

[LePetomane]

Grahame, thanks for the tips.

[lovelife65]

awesome series.

[LePetomane]

Another photo from yesterday. We went to a different club yesterday. These were the professionals. The game was a lot faster with more breakaways and scoring.

[rpcrowe]

I keep looking at your images and wondering how to get around the deep shade cast by the brims of the players helmets. Obviously, for many reasons fill flash is not an option.

Ideal way, I think, is to ask the weatherman to bring you some heavy cloud cover on the day you decide to shoot. But, if you don't have an in with HE who controls the weather, that option would not be a good one. Still, if I lived as close to the polo field as you do, I would grab my camera and run at the first cloudy day if one comes around.

I looked at my polo galleries on smugmug.com and the shadows don't appear as deep under the helmet rims. I checked when I shot the images and it was between June and September.

I did notice in some images like this one, it appears that I was shooting later in the afternoon because the sun was lower and side lighting the faces...



Exposing the bring out the shadow areas would probably cause the whites of many of the shirts to blow out. Perhaps, some very selective dodging and masking??? A very simple and quick fix that I sometimes use is to select Viveza II from my NIK software, place a control point that only selects the riders face and then either use the shadows slider, the brightness slider, or perhaps a combination of the two. Used in moderation, this sometimes helps...

I don't think this has anything to do with exposure but, since I was shooting from a folding chair. I shot the players from a lower angle. I like lower angles when I shoot many sports...

I tend to like my images better when I am shooting from the front (or near to the front) or from the right side of the horse. The front is self explanatory but, the right shows the hand that is holding the mallet.

A lot of websites on photographing polo seem to stress that a good shot includes the ball especially right before, during or right after the mallet hits it. I kind of like this shot and think that it may be one of my best during the two occasions I photographed a polo match. I do wish the horse's ear did not partially block the players face but, the darn animal just wasn't cooperating However, I do like it when all four of the hooves are off the ground. That's the magic of a fast burst speed!



I did this with a Canon 7D and an EF 300mm f/4 lens. With the 1.6x crop factor of that camera, I had an effective 480mm f/4 lens. I don't think that when shooting from distances you need to bring the crop factor into figuring the f/stop. Incorporating the crop factor into the f/stop depth of field has to do with the distance from the subject that you normally will shoot (especially when shooting a portrait). I think that I liked this setup with the 300mm lens better than using my 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS ii lens on a because I could get better subject separation with the 300mm f/4 lens. The 100-400L ii is about a maximum f/5.6 at 300mm and above.

There is a problem with subject separation when shooting a distant subject that is much closer to the background than it is to the camera. Luckily the Del Mar Polo Grounds has some backgrounds that are not busy. This shot would look terrible if the background was cluttered with people, shade tents and stands. The depth of field could not blur out the background. However with the background consisting of greenery, I think that the shot becomes acceptable. I did have to crop this considerably...



While panning at a slower shutter speed would have blurred the background and thus achieved subject separation, I would most likely have captured a blurry player. The polo player is always moving in the saddle, not like a jockey in a horse race who is sitting pretty still in the saddle like in this shot...



I hand held the lens during both shoots, I have found that the IS capability or the 300mm L lens is great and the 100-400mm L ii is even better. However, I can really do a better job hand holding when I am seated in a secure chair.

I used the maximum frame rate and used manual exposure so I could pretty well lock in a very fast shutter speed at my widest aperture. Exposure was controlled with auto ISO..

Finally, it was easier when I shot the earlier matches because the less competent teams were competing, This means a perceptibly slower game than the later matches when some players had a zero handicap..

Here are some YouTube videos on polo photography that I found:
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ography+-water

[LePetomane]

Richard, thanks. Those are some nice photos. There are more matches this weekend but I will be traveling to Bozeman to visit the grandbaby and do some fishing.

[rpcrowe]

Fishing and grand baby should always be the most important