Better Beamer Rocks! Portuguese Bullfighting

lynnesite

20D, 70-200 f2.8L IS with Better Beamer at 45 degrees on 580EX flash, at ISO 1600 <shudder> 150-200mm, shutter priority, 1/200th was the max I could eke out. A friend I'd brought along was shooting with a MK2 without the Beamer, believe me she's gonna buy one now. Thanks again Thomas for the recommendation.

Humane bullfighting. The bulls have a wide strip of Velcro across the shoulders. The lances are tipped with Velcro. The bulls are pasture-raised, 5 years old, from 1000-1500 lbs, fight once in their lives. Bulls are neither hurt nor killed. The bull only gets tired (eventually). These last night were FIREBALLS. Especially the first one. The horns were all too real. Most of the bulls ran out into the arena and rammed the divider the matador stands behind to escape. If you were near there (and I was in an alley that ran all the way around the arena's inner fence) you FELT the ground shudder. The cavaleiros would switch out between two of their horses, then another one would take a turn. 7 bulls last night, they did two on one on the last one. Albert used two hands and placed both lances, unfortunately that shot is blurred. Believe me, it's a fantastic show.

Once in a while the announcer would ask us photogs to move toward's the ring's back edge. <g> There was a photojournalist from the Portuguese paper, the two videographers, and a fellow pro horse shooter I'd brought along, so it wasn't too crowded.

The way they subdue the bulls is with the team of "forcados". Guys who call the bull, the first leader-guy is purposely caught between the leather encased horns, and everyone else dogpiles onto him. The bull is
stopped, then they bring in a small herd of cows with cowbells who surround the bull and escort him out. The forcados definitely risk life and limb, the first bull was brutal--veered to the right TWICE as they tried to catch him, and the forcados were tossed around like kindling. Matadors on the ground work the bulls and help as well.

One team of forcados were the famed Turlock Suicide Squad, the other with the burgundy was from Portugal.

The horses love their jobs, wonderful to watch. Unlike other horse sports like polo, the horses are extremely supple, dressage trained, and they like to have some Arabian in them for spirit as well as agility, besides using the pure Lusitanos too.

Partial gallery here

Andy

having seen the real deal (:uhoh) numerous times in my travels to spain, i'm much pleased to see that we humans have evolved to a point where the macho latins can still have their bullfights and the bull doesn't have to get hurt or killed.

super story, and photos, lynne!

tmlphoto

Great shots Lynne. YOu captured the action & excitement of the event very well. Thanks for the narrative as well. Very interesting. I'm glad the beamer idea worked out. That is an interesting technique of using the beamer as a bounce flash, but it makes sense with a very high ceiling. The ISO 1600 seems to hold up very well with your 20D. I don't hesitate to use it with my 1DMII if I need it. I'm shooting a jumping clinic on Saturday. I'll post a few if I get anythiing worth posting.

ScottMcLeod

tmlphoto wrote:

Great shots Lynne. YOu captured the action & excitement of the event very well. Thanks for the narrative as well. Very interesting. I'm glad the beamer idea worked out. That is an interesting technique of using the beamer as a bounce flash, but it makes sense with a very high ceiling. The ISO 1600 seems to hold up very well with your 20D. I don't hesitate to use it with my 1DMII if I need it. I'm shooting a jumping clinic on Saturday. I'll post a few if I get anythiing worth posting.

I agree, awesome shots.

As for the 1/200th shutter speed, I know this sounds like a stupid suggestion, but did you have the flash on high speed shutter mode? The flashes (580EX / Sigma 500DGSuper, etc...) restrict the camera's shutter speed unless you go into high speed sync and bump the speed up beyond the requested amount. I remember the last time I tried to use my new flash for some action photos, and got stuck at 1/200th, and that's what made me think of your comment above.

Then again, you might already know this and i'll just look like a fool... :uhoh

Keep up the great work.

dfdems

I bought a "better beamer" last year to use at a friends graduation from the police academy. I never ended up using it, as soon as I walked in with my gear the department photographer told me I could follow him around so off I went like a little kid.

It worked out but I could never get past the way it attaches to the flash. I have only used it testing when I initially got it but after seeing what it does again I am going to have to pull it out sometime soon..