Horse Jumping!

bluesman graham

I went to a local show & while there I snapped off half a dozen or so horse jumping pics on the way round!.
I've no idea what to look for or show in a jumping picture:shrug:, so if I do get an opportunity to do any again C&C from you qualifed horsey photographers would be most appreciated:thumbs:. Kind regards Graham.
#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Glort

No.1 Has the obvious tilted background. I found when I was covering these events that the total side on shots were not good sellers. on many fences you can't get or obscure too much of the subject as well.

no.2 isn't what horse people want to see either. It hides detail in the way the horses feet are etc that they like to see.

No.3 is the money shot. Perfect.
The angle is spot on and you have captured the peak action. they can see the way the legs are tucked up, the position of the riders feet, the ears are up and the neck is right. Now I know from experience that this is pretty much luck with the timing and the horse has to be right in the first place but this is the shot to aim for because its what appeals to horse people and what they will buy.
The only thing that isn't ideal with this pic is you can't see the tail whic again is something horse people look at. That's more a thing with the fence than photography and it's near impossible to take the shot at the right time for everything to line up just so but you can get the timing for the peak action and then the rest is up to the subject.

I found for this shot that if I listened to the horses feet and wait till they speed up just before the fence and hit the shutter when they jump, the time delay in reaction, camera response, whatever, captured the horse in the right moment.

4& 5 appear to be a bi too late. Maybe 5 is too early but they are not the peak action/ height. The horses neck is not what the riders want to see. The horses legs aren't right and the riders are too far turned out. again, this is not something you can control if the horse or riders technique is off but it is certainly things they will pick up on straight away and dismiss the photo because of it.

If you aim to get the no.3 shot, you'll do well.

I always prefered show jumping and equitation out of all the disciplines because although it was probably the hardest one to get right and the most effort, it was easy to see when you got a good pic and I liked the action. Sj is also pretty easy to pick up once you do it for a few hours as it's mainly the timing and you just hope the horse and rider do their bit.

When I was shooting what I looked for was the spot I could get the best angles on the most Jumps. Some course designers seemed to have a talent in making every jusp but 2 impossible to shoot no matter where you stood. I got friendly with one guy and gave him a heads up as to what worked for me and I swear he used to set the courses up so there were only 3 fences on the whole arena I couldn't get.

Although not what you are after specificaly, there is a vid I did here with a few Jumping pics at the end ( that probably go against most of what I just said) that you may get some ideas from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOEEapMBHQ8

puzzledpaul

First, I'm no qualified nag snapper - but during the period daughter No2 was taking lessons we went to a few county shows. I took a few shots (few being operative term as in days of film and subject matter of no real interest) - but got talking to a guy who seemed to know what he was doing ... and he was forever trying to get the best vantage point (as G says) ... which included getting as low as possible - in attempting to control the (generally rubbish) background.

My results seemed to benefit from this, too.

pp

divamum

These aren't bad at all - your timing has been good to get either front legs in tightest position or fully airborne; that's what most people struggle with. Typically, the moment of exact takeoff or past the apex (top of the arc) are the ugliest. Sometimes you can get good shots just as the horse is landing, but they're harder to catch than that mid-point, IMO. One thing you can do (even though you seem to have nailed it pretty well already) is listen for when the hoofbeats stop - by the time your finger has pressed the shutter after hearing the silence, you usually catch the point you got in #3.

I really 3 and 5; 2 is great except for background (you could possibly crop it in and add a big ole vignette to tone it down, but that might be kinda cheezy)

Overall, I think you've done very well for a first try!

Btw, for LOADS of discussion of equestrian shots, search dgrin for the user "hoofclix" - there were several threads when he was still around. He's a fulltim profesional equestrian shooter in the US and offers excellent insight and commentary.

bluesman graham

Thank you very much Guys ,
you've all included some excellent advise & tips & is just what I need.

I was very limited to where I could stand due to the nature of the layout, (multiple areas split with that godawful orange "fencing" for different age groups), but I should really have known to get low .
Thanks again all. Kind regards Graham.

puzzledpaul

Remembered this thread whilst looking at these pics.
Thought the third from last might be of interest...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-23159002

pp

DonFischer

have you tried setting the camera on con. servo and focus? Start the shot just before the horse get's to the jump and continue it just past the jump. Pretty open lense and fast shutter speed to stop the horse every time the shutter clicks. I found shooting bird dogs that I can't time shots at all of moving dogs and get anything worth a darn other than by blind luck. Started shooting continuous servo, machine gun mode, and letting the dog's run into the photo. Worked a lot better for me.

Something like this dog comes and goes to fast. Timing is by blind luck only. I would think the same thing would work on jumping horse's. I heard someone say, I'd rather be lucky than good!