Bull Riding

[tirediron]

Flash is really not an option = bulls, even rodeo stock bulls are unpredictable and you do NOT want to attract their attention if you can avoid it, especially if you're in the ring. If you're outside the ring, it probably wouldn't do a lot of good anyway. Crank your ISO as high as you can and hope for a best. Before next year, get into a local camera club and make friends (You know, the good kind, lens-lending friends) with people who have nice glass!

 

[Steve5D]

Dismiss the idea of a flash, for two reasons.

First, it's unlikely you're going to be close enough for the flash to really do any good.

Second, those bulls are already pissed off enough. It's unlikely a flash going off is going to soothe them...

 

[CowgirlMama]

Tirediron, I wish I could find a photo club. I'm in the middle of nowhere. There's one real professional photographer and a few random wanna-bes who take awful pictures. Really not much in between. None seem at all interested in 1) helping each other out (competition, you know) or 2) sitting around talking about/working on techniques. They already know it all.

Robertwatcher, you were still working with better light than I have at rodeo. It starts at 7pm. Bulls start at 9pm. The lights in the arena might as well not be there. By the time the bulls start, I'm at minimum shooting ISO 3200, even with a slow shutter. (That was the highest I could go without destroying images with the amount of grain on that body.) The 6D can shoot decently at ISO 12800.

I know I've used flash in the distant past, but those are film pictures, so I have no idea what they look like. That was back when I had an automatic and didn't know how to flip off the "auto flash". Depending which shoot the bulls are coming from, the 200mm should about fill the frame (if it's the closest) and they usually move closer to the audience. It's a small rodeo, so seating only covers half the arena. The other side is cowboys/girls only. Everybody moves seats and crams into the spaces between bleachers before the bulls start because they never travel far during the ride. A few run victory laps after they lose the rider. We've had a few charge the fence because the audience seems to tick them off. My biggest concern is one sliding under the fence. Most from this company don't have horns, which is nice, but I've seen animals fall and sent their feet through fencing before. I hear a bull jumped this fence once (before I was born). That's a one in a million thing, though. It's a 7-8 foot fence.

I'm lucky because I get to go wherever I want. The rodeo guys usually leave me alone because I have a big camera. One apologized for going in front of me once. Everybody else gets chased away from the fence. They don't want anyone closer than the bleachers, which is 6ish feet from the fence.

 

[Robbo521]

i shoot a few rodeos a year.doing one this weekend.what lens do you have now?

 

[griffin86]

I started shooting rodeos this year. The thing is what you want in a picture and what they want are polar opposites... I have learned a lot so far. Go and ask a few cowboys what they like to see in a picture, they love their picture being taken. They actually prefer black and white or duotone, which makes things easier.

They will also pay a lot of money for photos. Photographers here set up Smugmug sites and sell them.












When I shoot in an arena, the lighting is horrible. F1.4 35mm 12800 ISO.

 

[CowgirlMama]

It's rodeo weekend. I'm actually shooting for the calendar, so the images have to stay color and uncropped for them. They do some funky dimensions, so that allows them to fit images wherever they want them. I'll probably convert some to black and white when I post them on Facebook and Flickr, but that's personal stuff.

Here's a shot from last night. I have two more nights to shoot, so the goal is to do even better. I'm barely started sorting pictures, but I jumped ahead to the bulls because I really wanted to see.

It's a Facebook picture that everyone who went to rodeo is sharing or it wouldn't have the annoying watermark. Just pretend it's not there.


Settings:
ISO: 12800
Shutter: 1/320
Aperture: 5 (max on this lens at the focal length, unfortunately. I wish I could open it up more.)

Oh, and this was shot about 9:15pm. The sun had already set behind the hills.