Equestrian: Low angles and Marmite shots!!

[DemiLion]

Team shots in the bag at Aston-le-Walls and it's play time again...


1.First up literally a snatched shot of Polly showing some serious extension for an Eventer, and yes I know that I got the wrong pair!

2. Somehow this image just appealed to me:

Next, a nicely constructed bank after the second water lent the opportunity to get some fairly close low angle shots:

3.

4.

 

[DemiLion]

Now the marmite stuff:

I'm not a huge fan of panning with horses, but I thought that I'd experiment and see what I could get. I was actually surprised that I really liked some of the results, but it won't be a great shock to hear that the keeper rate is incredibly low (about 10%) and a lot of it is down to chance.

At 1/100th the capture is still too fast to be much more than just a blurred/bungled shot, although the stillness of the horses head and all four off the ground meant that this could still possibly work:

5.

Dropping 2/3rds of a stop to 1/60th provided better results, and these last three are all of the same combination, mainly because I ran out of time.

6.

7. Slower still:

8. And back half way between those two:

C&C welcome, and I'd be interested in everyone's views as to whether this works for you or not.

My favourite is easily No7 at 1/25th mainly because of the stillness of the horses head and neck, and the rider's boot and stirrup, in contrast to the motion of the shot.

 

[gramps]

Whilst I love Marmite, I can't say that I like the panning shots, in particular, for me, #7 looks like the horse has just thrown a leg!
#5 & #8 are the most acceptable of the bunch to me but I still don't like them, just too much movement blur in the wrong place ... almost like camera shake.
Like #2 - a different view, works well.

 

[Tugster]

What was the response from the customers Mark ?

Marmite is a good way of putting it...

 

[Erin]

#1 is cropped too tight for my liking.
Like the low angle on #3 and #4 - prefer the composition of #4

Have to say I'm not keen on the marmite shots.

 

[Marc]

I like #1 in spite of the crop and ''wrong legs''.

You don't need me to tell you my thoughts on panning and horses.

 

[Natalie_B]

Yuk on the marmite shots im afraid
The others are fab if a little tightly cropped for my liking

I love their bank by the water you can get very low in there and pretty close !

 

[Nikon Fan]

Like 3 and 4, not so keen on the panning shots.

 

[DemiLion]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

To be honest I didn't expect a great response about the panning, but if you don't experiment then you a) never know b) don't improve c) just end up with standard images!

The crop in 1 was forced on me because it was literally a grab shot and I gave it too much lead, but I think that it still merits showing.

What was the response from the customers Mark ?

Marmite is a good way of putting it...

Tugs, I play safe with the training stable that I shoot for and then head off and do my own thing once I've got their images in the bag. I usually try to experiment with at least one different style or technique to see what can be achieved. Obviously the reaction in this case isn't 100% positive and the failure rate is very high, but I still think that there is a bit of merit in it for flat work between obstacles as an 'arty' shot.

Hmmm Wilton next weekend - what to try there?

 

[neil_g]

liking 1 despite its "flaws" its a nice clean shot. and 2, i think that would work well as a shot on an article about competing if you get my meaning?

not too keen on the rest, the low level shots look a little soft and the panning shots i just dont like. sorry

 

[pope]

I like the panning of no 7.
lots of movement and horse`s face sharp. Would be nice if riders face was sharp too but prob asking the impossible.
I think the other panning shots there is not enough blur and therefore tend to look like poor shots.
Like the low angle shots too.

 

[dod]

but I still think that there is a bit of merit in it for flat work between obstacles as an 'arty' shot.

So do I. I actually quite like the panned shots. I tried some at Burgie about 5/6 years ago and had similar results.

Problem is once you're working you don't have the luxury of being too experimental.

 

[DemiLion]

Cheers John.

liking 1 despite its "flaws" its a nice clean shot. and 2, i think that would work well as a shot on an article about competing if you get my meaning?

That was absolutely what was going through my mind when I shot it, ie either editorial or commercial with room for text on the upper right!

Not sharp?

So do I. I actually quite like the panned shots. I tried some at Burgie about 5/6 years ago and had similar results.

Problem is once you're working you don't have the luxury of being too experimental.

... therein lies the rub, finding the common ground between the 100% guaranteed safe shot and a more artistic representation that's marketable. That's before you even factor in the embuggerance factor of the horse & rider getting something wrong; ie whether you play safe and cover one of the early warm up fences or go for something more dramatic and later in the course. If you are working as an event photographer then the calculation is a no brainer, you need to capture as many combinations as possible to maximise your potential client list, but for editorial or team coverage there's more leeway- the question is how much?