TTU Ranch Horse Team (National Champs!)

[rexbobcat]

I was asked by my university's alumni magazine to photograph the Ranch Horse team, which won the national competition this year. They basically just needed some portraits of the team leader, and one of the members whose father would not stop bugging the editor until she placed his daughter in the magazine lol

The first shoot with the guy went well. Pretty generic stuff. That's the what alumni love.

The next shoot, however, was a bit more difficult because we met kind of late (the equestrian center is nowhere near the college), and it started raining. Plus, I didn't have any assistant or anything so I had to improvise weights to keep the lights from falling over using rusty steel pipe lying around.

I really wanted to get the action shots outside in the arena, but because of the rain and the time restraints we just had to settle with the indoor arena. I wouldn't have minded it as much if I hadn't already shot the team leader dude inside. :/

Not too proud of this set. I was so busy trying to make the backgrounds and ambient lighting work that I let the compositions slip a bit in terms of variety and quality of light (I had to basically balance the color of the ambient light in PS. It was a disgusting green color thanks to the overhead fluorescent lights.

Just gotta learn and continue living lol.







They wanted to show the detail of their bitchin' team shirts. Seriously, they're pretty sleek.



And the disappointing action shot. Just looking at this shot makes me angry.

At this point we had been photographing fro about 2 hours and it was about 9 pm, so we both were a bit tired lol. Ugh, this shot pisses me off. Without the context of the rest of the set, its an OK shot. Mediocre but...usable. However, when you look at it with the others it's so similar to the photos of the guy in terms of composition, lens, positioning. Plus, it seems so...empty. The ranch horse team wrangles cattle in their competitions. They don't barrel race, so it seems a bit odd to have a horse and its rider sprinting without a rope or a calf. Ugh. At this point, however, it'll have to do, since it took so much coordination to even get the shoot with this girl, I figure it's as good as I can get for publication.



This is my personal favorite. It probably won't get published - even with all that sexy copy space along the left side - because it is more of a...conceptual shot (mysterious cowboy trope) than one that says "Hi, I'm the team captain", but I'm a sucker for the lone, mysterious cowboy, so it strikes a chord with me.

 

[texkam]

Um ........ the rope.

 

[rexbobcat]

Um ........ the rope.

Yeah, that's another thing that I noticed after the fact. not really sure how I could fix that though other than reshoot, which unfortunately isn't an option at this point.

I'm wondering if I have the Photoshop skillz to rearrange it.

 

[Braineack]

I love the riding shot.


btw, you have your images tagged as unsafe.

 

[rexbobcat]

I love the riding shot.

btw, you have your images tagged as unsafe.

Oh thanks, lol. I must have checked them as unsafe by mistake.

I don't mind the riding shot on its own. It's just with the other photos that it bugs me.

 

[amolitor]

I think the riding shot is better, and fits better with the rest, than you think it is/does. I think it's really quite striking, in fact.

I do agree that as content it's a little ambiguous: Is this a moving portrait, or is it of a drill/competition?

Adding a couple pictures of competition or training -- with cows and ropes -- would clarify that, I think.

 

[rexbobcat]

I think the riding shot is better, and fits better with the rest, than you think it is/does. I think it's really quite striking, in fact.

I do agree that as content it's a little ambiguous: Is this a moving portrait, or is it of a drill/competition?

Adding a couple pictures of competition or training -- with cows and ropes -- would clarify that, I think.

Yeah, I was thinking that a competition shot would be better. This magazine is weird though. It uses the photos to say "this is who we're talking about" and uses the word to say "this is what they do" instead of incorporating both aspects into the photos (which is what good editorial photography does).

The editor was really not even wanting to so this story, so she's kind of just like w/e when it comes to the types of photos she's asking for. I think she would be better off asking the national organization for official competition photos from he bent to make the story feel complete.

Otherwise, with just my photos it just feels lazy.

What about the rope? Is it too...distracting? Do I need toPhotoshop it over away from his crotch?

 

[amolitor]

The rope is pretty funny, and I would probably avoid using the more dong-shaped loops It caught my eye, but it's not obscene or anything. I don't think it matters that much.

You might try just burning the rope down, make it a little less eye catching along a lot of its length, see if that helps.

 

[rexbobcat]

The rope is pretty funny, and I would probably avoid using the more dong-shaped loops It caught my eye, but it's not obscene or anything. I don't think it matters that much.

You might try just burning the rope down, make it a little less eye catching along a lot of its length, see if that helps.

Okay, I'll see if that brings some attention away from it. I'm thinking that I might be able to Liquify the less dong shaped rope in the wide shot to be more flat.

 

[Granddad]

If it's any consolation I didn't notice the rope problem till Texcam pointed it out... too much clean living?

On the whole and in the circumstances these are far from bad. You obviously learned some lessons for the future from the experience so what's to complain about?

 

[rexbobcat]

If it's any consolation I didn't notice the rope problem till Texcam pointed it out... too much clean living?

On the whole and in the circumstances these are far from bad. You obviously learned some lessons for the future from the experience so what's to complain about?

Thank you. Yeah, it was a learning experience. Generally, I get caught up "how can I light this effectively without it looking stupid", so I begin to disregard other aspects (like the rope). It's a terrible habit that I'm going to have to overcome in order to be successful. The really good photogs (at least that I've seen work) are really good at picking up on every little thing in a scene and everything has a purpose. That clarity is kind of the holy grail of editorial photography, I believe. lol

Just gotta keep pushing to get better at creating the overall scene, instead of having great lighting but a pose that sucks, or terrible lighting with a very telling expression.