New Lens- I think "we" did ok today!

Saddlebreds4me · Feb 8, 2009

Here are two photos I shot at the horse show today - I'm all about C & C so bring it on if you've got it. The most challenging situation was the natural light which was coming in from the top of the indoor arena (small windows at the top line the whole indoor).

These two were shot with my D700, and Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, shutter speed was 1/250 and ISO was 3200. There were SO many instances where the light would change in seconds - it made it challenging to say the least.

Let me know what you think - NOTHING has been done to either of these PP. I do understand that both of them are underexposed - but how do you compensate for that so quickly especially shooting in Manual Mode? Which is what I did all day! Yipee! I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it.

Overall the show went really well! I'm glad I got the first one "under my belt" so to speak.

LuckySo-n-So · Feb 8, 2009

Very nice. I think if I tried to take that picture it would have turned out pretty bad.
Good work!

That's one helluva lens you got there (compared to mine). I'm having a hard time thinking that once I learn how to use this thing, I'm going to be spending that kind of money on a lens (which I will... :lol:

).

Bigpopa · Feb 8, 2009

They look good to me but I would have shot them in sutter priority to keep up with the changing conditions..

Saddlebreds4me · Feb 8, 2009

Thank you to both of you for your kind words. It's funny because from a leg position, this is exactly what we "Morgan/Saddlebred" breed people look for - very high and square trotting horses. That part I actually get! Yahoo! I've been working on that for not less than two years. The lighting changes is what is throwing me off now - so you are saying if I change it to aperture priority that should fix my underexposed problem in this case? Please forgive me, I am a.) a noob and b.) exhausted beyond belief - it was a loooooong day today.

Anyway, thanks much for the feedback!! I will give it a shot!

Saddlebreds4me · Feb 8, 2009

LuckySo-n-So said:
Very nice. I think if I tried to take that picture it would have turned out pretty bad.
Good work!

That's one helluva lens you got there (compared to mine). I'm having a hard time thinking that once I learn how to use this thing, I'm going to be spending that kind of money on a lens (which I will...).

I LOVE both of my lenses but this new one I just bought two nights ago is the bomb. It's a Nikkor 24 -70mm f/2.8 - I needed that low aperture number for the amount of light I needed, but my 80 - 200mm f/2.8 was simply too long for the area I had to work in - and holy s*it! I am LOVING this new shorter, yet amazingly clear and wonderful lens!

Bigpopa · Feb 8, 2009

Well if you were to shoot in A mode you would have to do alot of hand panning . If you shoot in S mode and added some speed to your shutter it would stop the motion and would be alittle sharper.......

gsgary · Feb 9, 2009

Why didn't you shoot at 70mm ?

gsgary · Feb 9, 2009

Saddlebreds4me said:
Thank you to both of you for your kind words. It's funny because from a leg position, this is exactly what we "Morgan/Saddlbred" breed people look for - very high and square trotting horses. That part I actually get! Yahoo! I've been working on that for not less than two years. The lighting changes is what is throwing me off now - so you are saying if I change it to aperture priority that should fix my underexposed problem in this case? Please forgive me, I am a.) a noob and b.) exhausted beyond belief - it was a loooooong day today.

Anyway, thanks much for the feedback!! I will give it a shot!

Don't shoot this in shutter prority, aperture will always give you the fastest shutter speed for given aperture

gsgary · Feb 9, 2009

Saddlebreds4me said:
I LOVE both of my lenses but this new one I just bought two nights ago is the bomb. It's a Nikkor 24 -70mm f/2.8 - I needed that low aperture number for the amount of light I needed, but my 80 - 200mm f/2.8 was simply too long for the area I had to work in - and holy s*it! I am LOVING this new shorter, yet amazingly clear and wonderful lens!

I would have used the 80-200 to much dead space with the 24-70

Saddlebreds4me · Feb 9, 2009

gsgary said:
I would have used the 80-200 to much dead space with the 24-70

I understand, but if you saw the size of the ring I had to work in, it wasn't very large at all - maybe 70' X 65' give or take? I just thought I would have been in trouble with too many kids riding in that small of a space, and being in the center of the ring - I needed to be aware of where I was and where they were.

Not sure if that makes sense, but it was cramped. And I'm not sure why I didn't shoot those photos at 70mm - I'd like to think it was because it was my first time with that lens and I had no practice with it. So yes, these are all things I can improve on to be sure - thank you for the help!

gsgary · Feb 9, 2009

Saddlebreds4me said:
I understand, but if you saw the size of the ring I had to work in, it wasn't very large at all - maybe 70' X 65' give or take? I just thought I would have been in trouble with too many kids riding in that small of a space, and being in the center of the ring - I needed to be aware of where I was and where they were.

Not sure if that makes sense, but it was cramped. And I'm not sure why I didn't shoot those photos at 70mm - I'd like to think it was because it was my first time with that lens and I had no practice with it. So yes, these are all things I can improve on to be sure - thank you for the help!

Do you have to shoot from inside the ring ?

Saddlebreds4me · Feb 9, 2009

In this particular case yes - because when you are deemed the "official" photographer it is protocol that you are shooting from center ring. Had I not been, I could have shot "over the rail" so to speak but again because of this setup (inside), it would have been a challenge. Many in-ring photographers contract with 'over the rail' photographers because customers want a different angle/perspective.

bigtwinky · Feb 9, 2009

I was at an indoor Morgan ring over the holidays in Maine. It can be a helluva challenge shooting in there, nice job on your exposure. Cropping and zooming in would help with composition, but like you said, practice is what is needed.

You are off to a great start! I'm jelous at that image quality.

And what a gorgeous horse!

Saddlebreds4me · Feb 9, 2009

bigtwinky said:
I was at an indoor Morgan ring over the holidays in Maine. It can be a helluva challenge shooting in there, nice job on your exposure. Cropping and zooming in would help with composition, but like you said, practice is what is needed.

You are off to a great start! I'm jelous at that image quality.

And what a gorgeous horse!

Thank you very much! It's kind of hard to describe the challenges and issues that come up shooting in an indoor, with moving horses all around you, kids that may be riding in their first practice show, and you and them staying safe all the same time LOL! I can definitely do some PP on both of these - but I do admit, I like to see them as natural as possible.

And thank you for your compliment on HVK Latin Wild, also know as "Latte". This Morgan gelding has about as big of a trot as I've seen on a Morgan, and his rider just finished her last year in equitation - she used to ride that trot without stirrups! It makes me hurt just thinking about it!

rubbertree · Feb 9, 2009

Saddlebreds4me said:
Here are two photos I shot at the horse

These two were shot with my D700, and Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, shutter speed was 1/250 and ISO was 3200. There were SO many instances where the light would change in seconds - it made it challenging to say the least.

Let me know what you think - NOTHING has been done to either of these PP. I do understand that both of them are underexposed - but how do you compensate for that so quickly especially shooting in Manual Mode? Which is what I did all day! Yipee! I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it.

While it is commendable that you wanted to shoot in Manual, this type of situation would be difficult to achieve proper results (fast action, changing lighting).