Rodeo!

[Mumbo Jumbo]

I spent the Memorial Day weekend at the Winthrop Rodeo and had a blast. Lots of action and friendly people. C&C is always welcome.

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[zemlin]

You snagged some great action.
I would make two suggestions:
1) Larger aperture. Blur the background to help isolate the subjects.
2) Watch your exposure - On some of these the subject is dark - you're shooting their dark side in direct sun. Might need to go to manual exposure or some exposure compensation to balance the bright background.
2.1) Can you get to the sunny side? If you get the exposure on the subjects right, the backgrounds will be too bright or blown - which will still detract from the subject.

[Mumbo Jumbo]

Originally Posted by zemlin

You snagged some great action.
I would make two suggestions:
1) Larger aperture. Blur the background to help isolate the subjects.
2) Watch your exposure - On some of these the subject is dark - you're shooting their dark side in direct sun. Might need to go to manual exposure or some exposure compensation to balance the bright background.
2.1) Can you get to the sunny side? If you get the exposure on the subjects right, the backgrounds will be too bright or blown - which will still detract from the subject.

Thanks for the suggestions. You are absolutely right on the aperture suggestion. These were shot at 3.2. I should have taken advantage of the lens's 2.8 especially on #2 to isolate the fella being ejected off the front of the horse.

As for the dark side, I had a prime location (not counting the light) right in front of the shoots. The other side of the arena would have meant shooting through the fence or from up in the stands. I may have to do a bit of dodging to enhance these shots. The sun was, unfortunately, very harsh that day. Thanks for your comments

[poloman]

If you have photoshop, shadows and highlights carefully applied might help.

[zemlin]

f/3.2 to 2.8 won't change the DOF much at all. You must have been pretty darn close to the action!

[Mumbo Jumbo]

Originally Posted by zemlin

f/3.2 to 2.8 won't change the DOF much at all. You must have been pretty darn close to the action!

I was at the ambulance gate. The riders were about 10-15 yards away, but I would think the people in the stands on #2 (which were about 50 yards away) would have been more blurred.


Here is #3 with some adjustments.

[Steven G Webb]

I took a tour of your website and you have some really strong work in there. I looked at the full set from this rodeo and these are not the cream of that crop. I deal with some of the same concerns you had, the ugly backgrounds and shooting through obstacles. Sometimes the contrast issue out weighs the background. The majority of the time I go with shooting in the direction of the sun, or the highlight side of the action. No one but the photographer knows what the compromises are.

[Bobby Deal]

Great action, you might try to quick mask the underexposed areas on a duplicate layer then change the blending mode to screen, invert selection , feather by 1 pixel and delete all but the under exposed areas then lower the layer opacity until all blends nicely.

[Mumbo Jumbo]

Thanks Zemlin, Poloman, Steve and Bobby for the honest critique, suggestions and tips. I think I will have to rethink my shooting position next time. I do have some shots from other locations around the arena. Further C&C is always welcome.

[Steven G Webb]

Shooting rodeo is exciting and fun. That's about all I'd do with it, have a little fun and take some interesting pictures. Rodeo action photography isn't much of a business opportunity. The sales market is in youth markets. PRCA competitors are generally self-funded riders chasing points and buckles. Unless the rodeo is for some reason a memorable event there aren't many cowboys looking to buy a picture, even a good one. When the weekend is done, they'll be in the truck heading for the next stop. If they were really lucky, they picked up enough money at the last go around to make it to the next one. The sales are at the two extremes, the National Finals and the 4H.

In heavy stock, like saddle bronc or bull riding it's good to see the entire animal for the bulk of the shots, maybe a close-up of a rider now and then. There are also many photo ops behind the scenes. Back of the chutes you find some great character studies and detail shot material, such as boots and spurs, gloved hands cinched in the latigo and facial expressions.