[Hacker]

A few more from the event, let me know if you're getting bored with them.











A final shot of Icare D’Auzay shortly before his fatal accident, it's quite sad to think that seconds after this was taken he would suffer a mortal injury.

[namllihs]

Nice Set again, caught the action well also the look of concentration on both horse & rider, good stuff.

[Sonsey]

That's two great sets Colin

The g/f dragged me to Badminton last year for the dressage day and like you I found the crowds a bit too much, I decided to give it a miss this year (she still went on the Sunday) but I must be a gluten for punishment as I've just agreed to go to Burley at the start of September on the Sunday for show jumping

Anyway, a quick question, what sort of shutter speed do I need to be looking to achieve to get some good sharp shots?... + any other tips you could give me would be gratefully recieved

Originally Posted by Hacker

let me know if you're getting bored with them.

Noooo... keep'em coming

[Hacker]

Thanks Sonsey, hopefully I'll be going to Burleigh as well, I'm going to try and get a press pass.

With regards to tips the best all round lens for this type of event is probably a 70-200mm zoom, you should be able to get most of the shots you want. Having never been to Badminton before I went out on Friday and bought a x1.5 TC, I didn't use it in the end although I could have but I didn't want to keep swapping lenses due to the amount of dust. What I did find with the crowds was that most of them were doing what we did, watch one or two riders at a fence and then move onto the next one, however it was very busy and trying to get a shot when I first arrived at a fence was nigh on impossible but as soon as a rider passed that was the time to move in and bag a spot.

The light was a nightmare on Saturday, very bright and hazy as you can see from the pictures. I tend to use aperture priority for most of my equine work, I know this probably goes against the grain but it works for me, I'm usually somewhere between f/2.8 - f/5 which gives me a good shutter speed, I find that 1/400th is about fast enough but you can go slower if need be. I also use the Auto ISO feature on the D200 which can be handy at times. I also dialled in +3 or +7 EV to try and retain some detail on the horses and riders although this meant blown skies.

I noticed on the other Badminton thread that some people mentioned that there was no sense of movement which I find a bit odd if a horse is six feet in the air with all the hooves of the ground! Equestrian events like this are different to motorsports, when conveying a sense of movement with cars or bikes panning is combined with a slower shutter speed to blur the background, this is ideal for this type of photography as the subject is usually moving on one (horizontal) plane however you can't use this technique for showjumping or cross country as the horses are moving in two planes - horizontal and vertical. Quire often they are also coming straight towards you as well so you need the higher s/s to freeze the moment.

Hope this helps and if you have any more questions just fire away!

[Sonsey]

Originally Posted by Hacker

Thanks Sonsey, hopefully I'll be going to Burleigh as well, I'm going to try and get a press pass.

That's great mate, if your going to be there on the show jumping day (Sunday I believe) let me know and I'll look out for you

The main lens I'll have with me (I don't have a fast 70-200 range lens) will be the 100-400L IS, not the fastest but at least I should have the reach to get closer to some of the jumps on the other side of the arena from where we'll be seated... hopefully it'll be nice and bright on the day so I can get a decent shutter speed.

Thanks for all the other tips Colin, they'll definitely come in handy as I've never tried photographing jumping horses before, should be interesting! Rep points on the way for all the help

[nichpr]

When photography helps us see something differently for the first time - its to be commended. Even having seen many of these events on television, I had no idea some of these jumps were so high and challenging.
Well done and thank you.
- Paul