I learned a lot this last weekend.

Not sure where to start or go with this, so it may be all over the place.  My blog, my rules.
RAW vs. JPG.  I took over 600 shots.  All RAW.  How long did t take me to get to 250 ish Kurt ready shots?  Not as long as one would think.  Saturday night took me two to go through all the shots and rate them.  Maybe could have been faster, but was also watching Svengoulie.  Also managed to get a blog post out.  Sunday morning batched the colors on the 250, less than 30 minutes.  Then had to level, crop to 1920x1080 or 1920x1280, save as JPG the 250 shots.  About two hours.  Again, not that bad.  Even if I had taken JPGs, I'd still have to do the finishing part.  Multiple saves on the JPGs.  I would listen to an argument on the file size.  In the D780 I use 32 gig cards in each slot where I can I get 650 shots per card or about 1300 shots.  I do carry extra cards.  I had one day at Reno taking 1700.  First time there and yep, probably should have taken a movie camera.  Two years ago, I was much younger.  Anyway, at this time - no reason to go JPG.
Auto-Focus.

Yep, that 70 is spot on.  Too bad.  Anyway, I used a larger center point for AF.  That works well for wide open spots and birds who move around a lot.  Overthinking this, I left it alone.  On purpose.  Clearly I could have done better.  There were two main arenas in play.  This one had a number of posts that were clearly jumping in the way.  The other arena is a little more open.  If/when I go back, I'll probably tighten up the AF area.
Frames per second:  I don't know why I always hold back on the FPS.  That's like leaving 2 cylinders in the truck when you're passing slower traffic.  Use 'em.  Sure, it eats up card space but I carry extra.  In this case I'll take only 2-4 per sequence.  And for the top of the jump, it would be worth it.  The D780 will do 7 FPS.  The D500 will do 10 FPS.  I did that once at the air races.  It was worth it.  My problem on Saturday was thinking that horses are slower than airplanes, and I should be able to get the job done at 3 FPS.  Bad thinking.  With the horses, I am trying to get an object in a specific place at a specific time.  Less room for error.  Faster frame cycle rate.  I had a much better success rate a 7 PFS.
Camera/Lens combo:  I started with the D500 and the 70-300.  I got off a few shots, but thought it was too much lens.  I did an in the filed lens swap, which I don't like to do.  And finished the day with the D780 on the business end of the 70-300.  As the day developed, I could have used the D500.  Most of my shots were over 105 mm which would be the short end of that combo.  This event was built for the D500 - and next time I'll flex it.  The vast majority of my shots were at 300 mm, which would tell me it was maxxed out and I could have used more reach.  The monster lens would be too much to lug around, but maybe some time later in the year.  When it is cooler.
When to put all this together?  Saturday is a Barrel Racing Event about 45 minutes away.  Can't think of a better time.

Woodbine Farms Hunter Jumper

Fun day out of the house today.  Since March, I've probably been out of the house for more than an hour less than ten times, and at least half of those times I just took a road trip and stayed in the car.  I've been looking forward to today for a few weeks.  And it didn't disappoint.
I'm doing a slow suffer as my air shows are cancelling.  The Reno Air Races officially cancelled their event yesterday.  Thunder over Michigan is still on, but my guess is it will cancel in the next few weeks.  The Refuge is flooded, still closed since the heavy rains and dam failures last month.  I won't be doing any indoor events like hockey for a while.
But today I was able to get out of the house, somewhere to go.  
Time to give the D780 a 600+ shot day.
My horse subject expert from the camera club told me of today's event a few weeks ago.  Hunter Jumpers.  I have no idea what this means, but I'm going to learn.  Essentially its a horse and rider combo where at some point the horse will jump, land and move to the next gate.  I'm good with that.  Some form of action.  I need this.
The morning was severely overcast.  The sun came out in the afternoon.  Big difference in the shots.
As to the camera set up, I guessed I could get close to the action.  I started with the D500 and the 70-300 lens.  With the crop factor, too much lens.  The D780 and 70-300 was a good set up.  I started with a set up of 3 frames per second, went to 5 FPS and eventually went to 7 FPS.  At 7 FPS, I could catch more of the desired shots - horse and rider at the top of the jump.  Yea, there are more throw aways, but that part is easy.  I shot at 1/1000 sec.  Apertures were either at f/8  and f/5.6.  ISOs went between 100 to one shot at 5600.  I also used the EV function more than usual.  I think this helped out a bit.  With the day being overcast, I didn't have to concern myself with whites burning out so this helped out with getting more of all the light in the shot.
One other thing I was able to do with these shots that I can't do with aircraft or bird shots is avoid the aggressive cropping.  The subjects were big enough to fill the frame.  I have a few good shots that are missing some hoofs.  Got in a bit too close.  Yep, it's a journey.
So much for the technical stuff.
There were fours types of shots I was looking for.
First, the support shots.  What goes on outside the arena.  People watching.  
Next, in the arena area but not competing.  Yet.  Horses and riders getting ready to enter the course.  Warm up.
Then, my favorite shots which is the horse and rider in lift off mode.
Then, everyone else's favorite, horse and rider at the top of the jump.
It was a 600+ shot day.  I'm down to about 250 good shots.  Technically all came out good.  And we'll define 'good' as something was in focus.  (That's just plain funny.)  Sometimes the auto-focus would go it's own way.

That center post, perfect focus.  If there were a fly walking on it, we could see the color of the eyes.  Too bad the post is not the star of the show.  Not sure if this should be a point of pride, but I'm getting better at telling when the AF is not where I need it to be, and I can correct it on the next shot.  I'm still laughing at these mis-focused shots.  It's a journey.
Now to the good shots.
Most of the time when I take 100s of shots in one day, it is hard to pick one that defines my day.  Today is not one of those days.  I lucked into what I consider to be one of my better shots.  Got it right away.
But this one isn't it. 
This one made it to the best finals on the rider's facial expression.  Most of today's shots shave facial expressions that may be flattering, and some not so much.  But fact of life, we all have them.  But this one is good.  Concentration and determination.  The angle at about 45 degrees works for me.  These are my favorite shots, launching.

Jumper 01

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

270 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2800 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

This shot made it to the favorites, well, not sure why yet.  Just struck me.  Just looks like the rider and the horse are on the same page, effortless.  Been there, done that.  I have more than a few of this combo, they are good.

Jumper 03

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

195 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 500 (AUTO)

EV +0.67, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

As I mentioned before, few shots get the 5 star treatment on the first round of shot triage.  Last shots to move me were the inverted F4U,  the F/A 18 with the sonic clouds and the horse in the stall from last year.  
I found a shot location that worked well, looking down an area with two jumps in line.  All that framing photography stuff.  If the horse and rider stayed in the middle, perfect.  If they drifted to either side, well, just perfect -.

Jumper 02

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

300 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 560 (AUTO)

EV +0.67, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

OK, maybe not down the direct center, but it works.  The horse is 4 off the floor, head slightly off center.  And as much as the horse's head is off the center line, the rider's body is off.  Of all the shots I took today with this scene, nothing like it.
If this gets best horse shot of 2020, don't tell me it was an off year.  It's good, I like it.  This is an early favorite, maybe for shot of the year.  Certainly on the short list.
It was a good day.  Got some good natural vitamin D.  I did sort of say I'd have some photos to the event available to the farm some time after next weekend.  Looks like there will be just over 250.  And that's another story - but a good one.

Storm Front

When the paying job takes up most of your time, you look forward to time off as hopefully good weather.  And when you take some time off from the paying job, you really don't look forward to 'crappy' weather.  Unless....
Today was the perfect storm.  Pun intended.  Low 90s, high humidity and a cold front courtesy of tropical storm.  Entirely predictable.
So I went on the road to get out of the subdivision and get some visibility.  I went to the parking lot for the Nature Refuge.  It is closed due to flooding, more on that later, but the lot was dry.  Just barely.  But as I arrived, a thought struck me.  (Note the word, struck.)  I was just about the tallest thing for yards around me.  I know from the previous life, that lightning can lead the front by up to 20 miles.  Photography from a distance.  Time to move.
So, I spent some time in the lot, taking a few wildlife photos but keeping an eye on the sky.  It was getting darker by the minute.
The front was not what I had hoped for.  I wanted a big wall, lots of lightning.  This was a normal Michigan front.  Not that it sneaks up on you, but it does.  This part of the storm was not a large front, that would come later.  So, If I could get get to the side of the action......
And I did.

Storm Front

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/24-70mm f/2.8

27 mm, 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

Aperture Priority, Size FX

This is the first week out with the new lens, 24-70mm f/2.8.  I needed to get a lens for the D780 to go more wide angle.  I have a 50mm f/1.8, but the next useful lens is the 70-300 f/4.5 to f/5.6.  To be fair, I don't see landscape shots as well as I see other subjects.  But I can see the cloud formations.  This is a start.  Again, it could be more dynamic, some strategically placed lightning.  Maybe a more defined front?  For a mid-Michigan defined front, I'll take it.