Burghley 2006 cross country pics! (nmf)

[Taq]

Here's some pics from the Burghley cross country event yesterday - enjoy!
Having just started doing showjumping myself I'm full of admiration for anyone who has the bottle to do this...

http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_5013-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_4969-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_4982-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_4986-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_5006-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_5069-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_5150-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_5192-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_5194-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_5197-01_800.jpg
http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/burghley_2006/IMG_5090-01_800.jpg

Taq

[littletreasure]

Some good pics there Taq. :thumbs:

[emeyedeejay]

Fantastic action shot there ... # 7 is the pick of the bunch for me :thumbs:

[wseed]

There must be a magazine out there ready to buy some of those. Some fine shots with great timing. Only criticism would be the backgrounds in some which you probably have no choice in due to access restrictions. Maybe shooting for a publication would get round that and more access.

[John C]

Great stuff - the ones where you've captured the looks of concentration on the riders' faces are my favourites.

[downhillbiker]

The only issue that I have, and believe me, they are good photos, is with the backgrounds.

I never saw this as an issue, but from reading articles on Sport Shooter, it's pretty apparent that the pros see a good photo as one where your eye is not drawn to anything but the subject - usually very easy for them, as they're shooting with big primes and zooms that are usually no more than F/2.8, which narrows the depth of field. Overcast days make skies look white in photos, but there's not much you can do without introducing a speedlight into the equation.

Just my thoughts.

Number 6 pretty much nails it all though :thumbs:

[Taq]

Many thanks for the comments.

As with most events you are restricted to certain places and distances but it is coming clear to me that my f/4 is going to be upgraded to the 2.8 at some stage. Oddly though from reading several horsey mags is that dof seems less of an issue as lots of 'side on' jumping pics seem to have been taken at about f/8 by the looks of it. I guess horse people have their own filters as they are usually only interested in a) how the horse looks and b) how the rider looks (position-wise) :) Still, it's best to get it looking as good as possible to start with though.

I was going to apply for press accredidation (which gives you much better course access and the downside of a higher chance of getting flattened) this year but missed the deadline unfortunatelty - still there's always next year!

Taq

[wseed]

It's only on a few of the pics that there's distracting people or objects in the out of focus areas.

I would deffo make sure you get the press access for next year. You're done well without it but I imagine you could get some more consistently great shots with better positioning.

[downhillbiker]

Taq - I didn't mean to seem harsh, I was just conveying what I've been told about some of my photos of sports events - you know more about horsey stuff than me! They really are good photos, with great timing and great composition.

I'd recommend joining over at Fred Miranda's forums if you're looking for a really good crit of your work - there are a load of pros on there who really don't hang back when they're giving their opinion!

[lticket]

What's this all about then.. pics 5 + 6.. if the horse is **** and doesn't make the jump it's punishment is death or broken legs right?! thought this sorta thing was illegal cause of all the hippies + animal lovers!!

Ignoring the fact that i aint got a clue about the "sport" i think the shots are awesome! I might be tempted to up the contrast/vibrance in a few of them but you've done an excellent job!

One quick question... you posted your best shots/faves presumably... how many shots did you take... how many did you think were keepers and how many did you bin? I'm going through a stage at the moment of deciding whether to take loads of shots and hopefully get a good few keepers or take a bit longer and take less shots but with more being keepers :)

[GreyJackal]

Another thing to think about with regard to selling shots to publications is looser crops. So that text can be placed on the image. Either just a caption for the photo, or even swathes of copy from the actual article.

[Taq]

I took about 200 photos (which seems a lot but spread over about 70 horses isn't really) and decided to keep about 100. See the whole lot at http://www.flyseq.org.uk/ed/gallery/2006-09-09_burghley

Lticket, I don't want to change this into a horse wellfare thread but be assured that these horses are the absolute best of the best (think F1 or WRC equiv) riden by riders who are the best in the world at eventing, otherwise there's no way they would even qualify for this level of event (Burghley is a 4-star event, one of only 3 in the world along with Kentucky and Badminton (oh and the olympics and world equstrian games) ). The horses love doing what they do otherwise they just wouldn't do it.
The more fierce-looking fences are actually pretty straightforward for the horse whereas the more complicated combinations are a bit nicer and have alternative routes.
There are vets at every fence and one horse was stopped halfway round as the vet thought it looked a bit lame. Any horse fall (where the shoulder touches the ground) is instant elimination from the competition even though the horse is usually fine a couple of minutes afterwards.

Horse riding at any level however is potentially dangerous and accidents do occur, although usually it's the rider who comes off worst (having had lots of skin ripped off the base of my fingers by a friction burn from reins when I fell off and landed on a jump filler a few weeks back I can attest to this!)

Taq