Racing of a Different Sort! - Barrels!

[sgriggs2006]

Spent an enjoyable afternoon covering a barrel race for our local paper....By far the biggest challenge was the blaring white barrel..... :-)
And the cloud cover which was patchy and constantly going from start sunlight (w/ tree shadows) to total cloud cover.

[Jimmy B]

Susan nice captures, exposures look good. The expressions of the riders and the horses look great!
Jimmy B.

[Photo-John]

Thanks for sharing - these are great! I love seeing horse competition photos on this forum. We don't get much and there's no doubt that these are sports photos. You did a great job on them, too. Your timing is great and they're nice and sharp.

Why don't you tell us a little bit more about how you shot them? How far away were you? What lens did you use? What AF mode? Do you shoot bursts or just time your shots? Did you have special access?

Thanks!

[OldClicker]

Great series! - Terry

[SmartWombat]

Oooh yeah, I like this.
Knowing nothing about it, I can't really judge how you've caught the sport.
But I love the action in 2, 3, and 4.
I reckon #3 is the best, well caught action and the right framing for the horse's position.

[sgriggs2006]

I've been pondering the responses....setup:
I had access to the announcers booth which has a porch on it...It is probably 15-20 feet up in the air? And shady!! :-)
Barrels are so nice and predictable, so its really a delight to shoot...I mean, the horses are going to run the same pattern, and can run it from either direction....
Traditionally photographer shoot from ground level, but it makes things SO cluttered, and I personally don't like those shots...You have everyone and their grandma hanging on the fence, tractors, tents, etc...By being up in the air, it isolated the riders from all that garbage around them...
#2,4, 5 are my favorites...
The point of barrel racing is to get it done fast, so most people don't care what they look like....but if they have goofy faces, they won't buy a pic! :-) I chose these to post because the riders look relaxed, and the horses know their jobs...
Technical stuff was all over the board...Consistantcy was the Camera (D700 and a 70-200mm f/2.8)
I shot some manual exposure (in the direct sunlight, the barrels were throwing my meter off) and then some on the Shutter priority using the spot metering setting...
Then I had to follow the action continuously...There were bad shadows from poles on barrel #2, then had to be careful where I spotted the meter as they were going into the third barrel. I had to be sure I captured focus in a shady spot. That last barrel (pics 2-5) was in dappled shade, so as they were approaching they went from bright light, to dappled shadows and then back into the light as they were making their turn.
Probably WAY Too much info!!
Cheers, sue.

[sgriggs2006]

And to highlight what I mean by background clutter and the shadow from the pole...Obviously these weren't keepers, but they illustrate the advantage of being up on my perch... :-)

[splats]

Wow ! these are intense. It looks a lot more interesting exciting then the traditional horse how competition. not nearly as prim and proper.

[armando_m]

awesome shots ! congrats on the sticky

[Byron Lentz]

Good pics, have two granddaughters riding barrels, I've been shooting at a indoor arena, very challenging. You did a great job!

[Byron Lentz]

Good pics, have two granddaughters riding barrels, I've been shooting at a indoor arena, very challenging. You did a great job!:thumbsup:

[Harold Davis]

fantastic job, sue! and great point about shooting from above to keep the backgrounds cleaner.

i might crop a little off the top of the first one to do away with some of that clutter. you did really well handling the mixed light. these look great!!!