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.
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