Beginner Equestrian photography

[kellyanne1703]

I'm am practicing equestrian photography and was wondering if anyone has any advice on equipment would be best.
I have a canon 6D
24-105 L lens
SIGMA 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM C Telephoto Zoom Lens (doesn't seem quick enough or could be me not used to it yet)

 

[wambam]

What were your settings for this shot?
i cant see the exif.

 

[Nawty]

The shutter speed is too slow and you are getting motion blur, for horses (or action in general) you want to be somewhere north of 1/1000s.

The classic lens for this would be a 70-200 f/2.8 as you need as much light (fast aperture) as possible so you don't have to bump the ISO too high. As you say, the 150-600 is pretty slow aperture unless you are in bright sunlight, which this shot isn't. The simple solution is to bump up the ISO.

 

[snerkler]

As above the shutter is too slow. The 150-600mm is quite a heavy beast for this kind of photography too. The 70-200mm f2.8 is generally the one to go for, but the 70-200mm f4 would also be a good option and is significantly cheaper and lighter.

 

[epicfx]

I recently bought a 70-200 F4 L second hand and got these shots the other day, the shutter was only on 1/500th so i'll try and up it for my next lot. But ok for my first attempt.

Also are you using AI Servo or a dynamic shooting mode instead of single shot?

LRM_EXPORT_20170614_093144 by tuck411, on Flickr

LRM_EXPORT_20170614_093110 by tuck411, on Flickr

 

[mike weeks]

My tram cameras are all set at 1/800 as the lowest shutter speed on Auto ISO and we have no issues, team lenses are 28-300s so not the best maximum aperture but more than adequate to do the job however the wider the maximum aperture the better the image as long as focussing and depth of field allow - the arguments for focussing mode can also include single spot focus and pre-focus on the jump

Mike

 

[odd jim]

Your shutter speed is too low or you're inducing camera shake. Or both. What settings are you using? You should ideally be using I Servo focus on the centre point only. Also with the Sigma you can increase the speed of the AF by setting it to speed priority via the dock (have you got the dock to tweak the settings?)

The Sigma is 'fast' enough on the 6d even in poor light where you can be flexible with the ISO. These shots were shot with a 6d and Sigma 150-600;

11 by Jim, on Flickr

26 by Jim, on Flickr

28 by Jim, on Flickr

15 by Jim, on Flickr

That said I use the 150-600 for x country where I need the length, with tactical positioning on the field. For everything else I use a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8.