Assateague Ponies

countrylifephoto · Dec 5, 2013

I got this image on a shoot to Assateague island national seashore. Shot with a D7000 F/11 1/1250 at ISO 800. Just wanting a little critique if I could have done anything better. Thanks.

Overread · Dec 5, 2013

Good framing of the scene and well done avoiding the temptation to crop closer in the camera (ergo get closer or zoom in); something that can plague many wildlife shooters as they try to get close and then end up with ears/bodies/tails being clipped by the edge of the frame. (although given the watery divide between you and the ponies I'm not sure if getting/zooming closer was possible in this instance)

If I were to suggest a weakness in the photo it would be the aperture choice. Typically f11 is quite small aperture for this kind of shot and you could likely have gotten a good depth of field on the subject and blurred the background areas more with a wider aperture. f8 might have been all you needed or even f5.6.
That said if the aperture was intentional so that you got that clearer background to give context to the subject then you did right for that need.

ISO 800 is not too high and a good working ISO for this kind of photography where fast shutter speeds are important. 1/500sec is the guidline minimum; whilst at 1/1250sec you've had the shutter speed to really capture those fast flicking tails with sharp hair lines.

Braineack · Dec 5, 2013

good shot. I was there this summer and couldnt get any keepers; they were simply too far away.

countrylifephoto · Dec 5, 2013

Thanks guys. I got sent there about 1.5 yrs ago just to photograph these ponies for about 4 days. It was actually really cool. Took roughly 800 shots while there and had a nice vacation doing it lol.

Stevepwns · Dec 5, 2013

I was there this summer as well, had a great time and got some good shots. Now that my skills are little more equipped, I plan on going back this coming summer.

vintagesnaps · Dec 5, 2013

Nice composition and framing, lovely photo. It looks like it was a little hazy; I usually wouldn't use that high an ISO outdoors but a fast shutter speed helps of course if there's movement.