AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I went to a horse show and photographed mostly the cow classes. Many years ago I did this quite successfully and made a lot of money at it. I was using my "iffy" camera - the one that Canon couldn't ever fix after 4 tries. But it shoots very fast and supposedly handles darks well. The classes were in a covered arena with lights. There was quite a bit of brilliant daylight above the "walls." The dirt was dark. The arena walls were dark. A lot of the horses and calves were dark. The only place I could stand and see the action well, I was shooting toward the extremely light out of doors area. I tried several different settings. Actually, the ones I thought would be best were the worst - high shutter speed and high ISO. I took about 150 shots and only got a few that after serious PP work were even discernible! I was so discouraged! I'm bearing my soul here, so be kind. How could I have done this better?

In a reining class

(Download)

Cutting class

(Download)

Cutting class

(Download)

This was my "redemption" effort - a trip to the Arboretum and got a LOT of butterflies!

(Download)

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Beautiful butterflies, Kathy! It is very tough shooting into the sun.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Thanks, Mike. I knew it was a loosing battle, but I had to try. There just isn't anywhere in that arena that really works. I'm sure glad they weren't paying me!!!!!

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Your did well considering the conditions. The butterflies more than make up for any shortcomings of the horse show.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Thanks, Carol. I'm accustomed to getting a high percentage of keepers. Only getting a handfull and having to work very hard to get them isn't my norm. You should see all the horrids I tossed! And butterflies always lift my spirits!

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

I was completely unaware --before now-- that anybody held 'cow classes.' Where does one go to sign up to take a cow class? Before answering that, though, maybe you could provide a little guidance to this wannabe cow.... is learning how to be a cow expensive?

[hoping you'll forgive any perceived 'snark' in the proffering above. you know I don't really mean it. however much I yearn to learn to be a cow. and while I'm about it... is it possible to attain professional cowdom? not having been born a cow, I mean? such that one derives their sole income by being a cow? and has worth apart from being merely 'on the hoof' or 'worthy of lasso-ing' so to speak? I have soooo many questions!!!!1!! i'm hoping you'll be able to answer to my --and doubtfully, countless others questions as well-- $ati$faction!!!]

Other than that, I'm not sure what you're going on about. Given the conditions, everything looks fine. Could some particular processing procedures 'improve' any of your cow shots? Yeah, probably. But your butterflies wouldn't care a whit about that, not being cows and all.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I love your comments!!!!! Actually, learning to be a cow horse is very expensive!!!

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

It's possible to learn how to be a cow AND a horse simultaneously? Or are those two separate courses one has to sign up for?

Of the hundreds (thousands? yeah, probably thousands...) of psychiatric patients I ever worked with, only one was certifiably a 'split-[or multiple] personality' type. He (or she, since ethically I cannot disclose any of the prurient details) exhibited neither a 'cow' nor a 'horse' side among their other various personas. They (or their family) were pretty well heeled (well hoofed? well shod?) though, so the patient received excellent care due no doubt to having premium+++ insurance coverage. However well provided they were though, I'd guess that they didn't have coverage enough to allow both cow and horse training. Such a pity!

JD750 Loc: SoCal

When you ask “ How could I have done this better?” I think what you are asking is how could I have made the images brighter? Two things. First shooting a dark subject against a bright background will “fool” the exposure meter. I suggest spot metering in that case. Second, looking at the settings I see F11 and f14 for apertures. Next time if it is a dim venue, I suggest you might consider using a lower f-number. For example changing from f11 to f5.6 brings in almost 4 times as much light. Changing form f14 to f5.6 brings in 5.3x as much light.

Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

Under the circumstances I think you did an admirable job. If there was a place higher to shoot from maybe it would have been better but then with everyone wearing cowboy hats the brim would cover more of the face from that higher angle. I know it was frustrating from the beginning seeing your original setting weren't working, it's easy to panic.
I shot a Christmas party last Friday night with 65 people in a poorly lit room. It took me several shots before I could figure out what was needed to just get pleasing photos.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

It was interesting that my settings changed so dramatically. I started out at 1000 shutter speed and f 5.6. They were awful. So I changed the ISO to higher. They were REALLY grainy looking and no amount of "fixing" fixed them. I realized that at 5.6 I couldn't get all of the horse and cow in focus because of lack of DOF, so I started upping the f-stop, which then lowered the shutter speed. Finally, in frustration I put it on full auto (P) to see what the camera itself would do. That's when I got the higher f-stops, but the shutter speed went down to 100. That was too slow for most of the action. And, I did go up higher to shoot down on the action. From that distance, you can't see faces very well anyway, so that part was OK. But, I just don't like that angle because you don't get the horse's foot movement, which can be really important in reining patterns.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Thanks, Jim. During the cow work, they had solid fences up, and I really couldn't get a lot of the action. And, I know from shooting this activity before, the best images are on the level of the action and getting the face-to-face interaction between the cow and horse. Part of my problem is that things look pretty good on a little 3" screen, so it took me awhile to figure out it was really bad!

Stephan G

Especially when you want a pretty cow for the shots.

And you know how cows can be.



[editor's note: Apologies to any cow that might take offense.]

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

I think you have done well considering what you had to work with. I've been in places where the lighting was low and I didn't have much choice as to be in a better place, just had to work what I had. I'm not a professional, but was mentored by one for such situations and this is what I do in these situations. Since you must have certain shutter speed and aperture settings to stop motion and get the needed DOF, then the only thing left to adjust is the ISO. Therefore, I would jack up the ISO till you the faces or features of importance are correct or a little to the right on the histogram (shooting to the right as it's called), then when you are in PP, you can turn it down a little if needed.
If you shoot a little dark and then try to turn it up, the graininess gets amplified. If you, on the other hand, shoot to the right (a little bright) you are then turning down the graininess in PP or at least not starting off with more.
As it is, I think you aren't at a loss other than you didn't get as many as you might normally expect.
Low light, artificial, different kinds (colors) of lights, it's all part of the game that those outside of photography don't realize is a problem.