A day at the races.

[Bev]

Marks Tey race meets are a good day out, along with the atmosphere and crowds, it gave me plenty of opportunity to photograph the horses.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s300/bevb_2007/races5copy.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s300/bevb_2007/races3framed.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s300/bevb_2007/races2frame.jpg

[mobilevirgin]

2 & 3 are great - don't imagine that's an easy task. 1 less good simply because of the cluttered background.

Not keen on the borders though - they don't add anything and tend to distract

[King of Groove]

Are there certain rules about you photographing the horse racing?

For example are flashguns banned?

[bootneckstu]

Number 2 & 3 for me also, nice shots.

[Bev]

Thanks for comments and feedback.

Unfortunately it was difficult to get a place where there would be less clutter in the image, i would of liked to of been right next to the jumps like the press and magazine photographers were but we were'nt allowed.

As for rules re horse racing events, i really am not sure, on the day i didnt notice any flashes used...but an interesting question Northstreet1.

[ranarama]

I can't really add much to what people have already said. Taken well but unfortunately there's a lot of clutter.

I've not done photography at a race meeting before (I want to) but don't use flash whatever you do (they are banned). I work in racing broadcasting so I see racing every day. Horses are skitty animals at the best of times and a flash going off on the finishing straight (or anywhere else) will more than likely scare them and veer away from it. I saw a horse swerve violiently to the right a couple of days ago as it got scared by someone just standing on their own by the rails doing nothing. The jockey was thrown off and those sort of incidents risk jockeys lives.

It's probably taking things to the extreme but if a man doing nothing does that a flash will more than likely make things worse. If nothing else you'll have a lot of angry punters chasing after you.

If you're looking for inspiration read the Racing Post and keep an eye out for Ed Whittaker's work. I've seen some really stunning photos from him in there.

[LeeP]

Also look out for Trevor Meeks - a top guy!

[Yv]

Great shots Bev. :thumbs:

I know what you mean, I did Sedgefield a few months ago and access is so limited that uncluttered backgrounds were impossible. From where we were, even getting down low couldnt avoid it. You were not allowed anywhere other than the home straight, so the nice, rural fences were not accessible to us, the great unwashed. However, I would say that horse racing and in particular a jump meet are great places to go to learn about taking shots of moving objects, especially if you plan any higher octane events in the future.

[InaGlo]

Hmmm! only me then who thinks that the 'cluttered background' adds to the shot! :thinking:
I like the vibrancy of the horses, the jockeys, the fences, they really stand out against the greyness of the background and the people watching, who help put it all nicely into context for me.

Its a race, without some punters in the bg, to me the pics wouldnt have the same sense of excitment.
Jmo of course. :)

[dunedin]

Great action, why worry about clutter just look at photo, Photoshop to me gets over done on photos, bet if you actually seen the first results of photos there would be a lot less posted on here

[theduck1]

very nice pics bev

[malla1962]

Nice captures.

[DCCD]

Nice shots! 2 and 3 for me (enough said about no 1 ) :)

[Jade]

i actually really like number 1 i love the angle its taken on and think the people make it even more interesting