Taking Pictures of Horses?

Question

I am going to a horse show tomorrow with my Sony A300 and two lenses: a 18-70mm [which I probably won't use much] and a 75-300mm. I have a 60 inch tripod which I plan on using. This is my first time with a serious camera trying to take pictures. It will be outdoors. Any tips on shutter speed/anything else I should know? =) I'm concerned about missing shots with using the tripod or getting blurred shots from trying to move it and follow the action. I really don't want to use flash, but if it would make a big difference, I will. I just need lots of tips.

Answer 1

My digital camera has a special setting called sports which doesnt let it blur. Does ur camera have that?

Goodluck

p.s. major trouble if you have the flash on, judt double check that your flash is off

Answer 2

I would just suggest not using the flash. You probably wont need it and it will really freak some horses out. If you think you need to get permission from the show office first. Are you covering jumping or flat stuff?

Answer 3

I disagree with using the flash...put it on a setting that if it isn't needed, it won't go off...most horses that are at the level of show that you are referring to are used to just about anything...now...more important than anything else in the world when it comes to photographing horses...TIMING is everything!   You will find that at least one place on the rail there will be a sign that denotes the horse show....place yourself opposite to this sign, most people want their photos taken in front of that sign...now, remember, if the horse if moving, take the photo with his fore front foot on the ground...furthermore, try to take the photo just a hair in back of center, that way, the head does not overtake the photo and it makes the horses look more balanced...if you notice, riders will get ready for photos when they come in front of those signs...good luck..oh yes, as soon as you can get your proofs on a board for the riders to view, the better...that way, they will order, otherwise, they may already be on the road.

Answer 4

If your shutter speed is FAST, then blurred images shouldn't be a problem.  I'm an amature and some of my best shots have been with an old instamatic as a kid/young adult.  I REALLY miss it (Kid took it on a trail ride about 24 years ago and dropped it off a cliff, when they retrieved it, it was beyond fixable.).  I then moved to a high falutin Minolta, with the lenses the whole shootin' match.  Then to my current Cyber Shot (Only a 3X) but have still managed to get some good action shots.  I believe with Andalusians and Lusitanos that your best shots are going to be SIDE shots, for Quarter Horses, I try to shoot them from the point of their hip, other breeds like Arabians, you shoot from the point of their shoulder and so on.  I'd take the camera off the tri pod and shoot your pictures holding the camera so that you don't miss any GREAT shots.

Best of luck.

Answer 5

Is it indoors or outdoors?

If it's outdoors and the weather is nice, you probably won't even need a tripod. Any shutter speed above 200 should do a good job about keeping images clear. Also, the lower your f-stop (aperature is) the higher your shutter speed will have to be (the lower the f-stop, the wider the aperature opens. So an f-stop of 4 is a very wide opening meaning that your shutter can be set higher). And the faster (higher) your shutter speed, the clearer anything moving will be.

But also, the lower your f-stop, the lower your field of focus will be-so with a low f-stop, you will have selective focus (clear horse/rider, fuzzy background) and with a higher f-stop you will have bigger focus (clear horse/rider AND background).

If you're indoors, and the lighting isn't that great but you still want clearer images, lower your f-stop to the lowest possible setting, that way you can get a higher shutter speed. But you will have to be careful about focusing because with a low fstop you will have selective focus. Also keep a close eye on your light meter in your camera-should look somthing like this

2---1---0---+1---+2

You want the cursor to be over the 0, generally. Depending kn the lighting situation, it can be a bit tricky to get the right meter reading-such as if you have a white background and a black horse, then you'll want the cursor to be a little bit toward +1 in order to still be able to get light off of that black horse (the meter will be reading off of the white wall).

I know that's a lot, but I hope it helped a bit =]

Have fun and enjoy the show!

-also, instead of focusing on the fence, focus a few feet in front of it. If you focus on the fence, then anything in front of it will be blurry/fuzzy but the fence will be clear-so you want to focus wherever the horse is, not the fence.

Answer 6

when i take photos of jumping (just assuming that's what ur doing) i focus my camera (a regular digital one) one the jump that is in the best position for me to take the photo of... then i just wait for the horse to take off and right before that i take the pic... it usually works great!

also with the flash it might scare the horses... so definitely dont use it since ull be outside anyway and wont really need it...

Answer 7

I just bought today a Nikon D80, I am learning the ropes about photography and hope to get enough to take pics at horse shows (amateur) to sell on CD and make a little extra money.

I will be using a 18-135mm lens and I think, from what I have read so far, it's probably best to keep the ISO on 100 or maybe 200, as the higher that number goes, the more "noise" or "grain" to the image there is going to be.  An f stop of 4 is probably what I will be going with, and shutter speed of at least 1/1000, if not 1/4000.  We'll see how that works out.  

It's my very first DSLR, my very first SLR, and I just got it today so I am terribly excited, eager to learn, and very much in the same boat as you, although you have a much nicer lens!  

I don't know much, but I would probably use the 18-70 or at least if you use the bigger lens, keep it zoomed out, so you get a nice picture of the whole scene (like the entire jump, or the whole turn around a barrel or whatever you're shooting).

If you're outside, I would definetly venture that you do not need a flash. If you are inside, you might find that the flash drains out the image so you might want a higher f stop but I am not sure if doing that will make a bright enough image and keep blur out of the picture.

Don't know what you're shooting (competition wise), but if it is a hunter/jumper show or dressage, pick one spot and set up there.  A good place, I've found in the past, is at a corner post at any end of the arena, so you can get a clean shot of the horses as they come around, come over jumps, and come across diagonals.  

If you're trying to follow something like polo, you might want to set up in a long side spot and use the massive zoom you've got to take some awesome close ups.

If you're shooting an event, we'll... you'll exhaust yourself trying to run around the event course taking pictures.  Set yourself up at a good jump, take some shots, and then maybe go move to a different jump.

This is just my $.02 as a beginner photographer.  Good luck!

Answer 8

I don't know anything about camera settings,  but I've gotten some very good pictures with my digital camera with a 10x zoom.  I usually look for a background without a lot of clutter or a pole seeming to stick up out of the horse.  Make sure the ears are forward.   In bright daylight the auto setting does a good job of stopping the speed without a blur, and cropping the photo has given me some really great shots.