IDguy Loc: Idaho

Attended the Caldwell Night Rodeo this week. This is one image I've worked on. This is to share a few learnings and ask for suggestions as to further editing and what to do next time.

Equipment: Nikon Z50 w 50-250
Settings: M, f7, shutter 1/2000, auto ISO w limit of 8000 (which it used on this photo)

Processing: Lightroom plus Topaz Denoise (older version). Had to increase exposure in Lightroom to get this.

Learning so far:
Shutter speed too high, causing it to use auto ISO max. Others, to process later, set to A model used much lower shutter speed (e.g. 1/200) and lower ISO.

I noticed as night came on my viewfinder was looking dark. I didn't know why. It was showing the exposure used! The shutter speed of 1/2000 (which I use for birds and left as is) and ISO limit of 8000 caused underexposure.

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Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

uhaas2009

Maybe you post the original because your main subject color just don’t fit to the rest of the pics. Looks like there is a big flood light on your subject.
I’m myself not fit with PP but I’m sure some one can give you the right direction to adjust your pics. It’s a great shoot

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Your image was shot at 1/200.... not 1/2000.

When I first looked at it I thought the camera had focused behind the bull and rider. However, it is subject movement blur making them unsharp... not missed focus. There should have been plenty of depth of field at f/7.1.

You need a faster shutter speed. I don't know why you stopped down to f/7.1. You were at around 115mm with your zoom, so probably could have used f/5.6 (it's variable max aperture is f/4.5 at 50mm and f/6.3 at 250mm). That's 2/3 stop more light, which would have allowed around 1/320 shutter speed.

That's better, but still not fast enough. You should have used an even higher ISO. 1/12800 would have been another 2/3 stop increase, allowing shutter speed of at least 1/500.

Even better, but faster would be better. I might increase ISO another 1/3 stop to allow 1/620. However your image is 1/3 to 2/3 stop over-exposed, so probably could have been shot at 1/720 or even 1/800 with ISO 16000.

You will see digital "noise" with such high iSOs... but better that than blurred subjects!

Another challenge at events like this is separating the subject from the background. For this particular shot, right out of the chute the scene composition is nice and there's some appeal to having all the people in the background too. But if you study a lot of sports shots, it's more common to try to blur down the background. Iif you follow the action away further into the arena you may be able to get some background blur... though it will be limited with a zoom that maxes out around f/5.6. A longer focal length with f/4 or even f/2.8 would give better separation too. (I might have used my 135mm f/2 or 85mm f/1.8 lens!)

Or try shooting from a different angle where the background is less busy.

But mix it up... Some shots like yours, with a lot of background detail, can be nice too.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Thanks for the inputs.

Yes, also should have used f5.6. The various critters move all around the arena requiring different zoom so upped it a bit to get the needed dof.

Pretty sure this was at 1/2000. I’ll check. I did do a fee at that and lower and they show motion blur.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Great action capture.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I checked the embedded EXIF data two different ways and this was definitely shot at 1/200. That's why the bull and rider are blurred.

1/2000 is nearly impossible to shoot at night, under the lights, as this appears to have been done.

Below was shot in daylight, which made it possible to use a reasonably fast shutter speed of 1/800. Subject size, speed and lens focal length are all similar to your image. 2/3 stop larger f/5.6 was more than adequate depth of field, even though my subjects were much closer where DoF will naturally be shallower at any given aperture.



Also notice that I oriented the camera vertically. Probably half my shots are vertical, half horizontal. Don't be afraid to rotate the camera, then use your zoom to better "fill the viewfinder" with your subject. (I don't fill the viewfinder too tight, so I can crop to standard sizes like 5:4 to make 8x10 prints, if needed.)

Boris77

Picture too light now to look good. If you lightened the original then it should be easy to Start Over and bring it up carefully observing when your main subject looks best. However I usually stop when most of the image looks OK, duplicate to a new layer, modify until the rest is properly exposed, then erase back to the first layer to combine effects before flattening the image. Once I have the overall exposure looking good, I draw in edges to "sharpen" key elements needing improvement.
This ignores two things that may be important to you: I never care about all the background faces being clear, and I value the overall impression of the picture over noise degradation.
Boris

IDguy Loc: Idaho

I use the chart to guide the white and black points.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

You are right! Posted one after I went to A mode. Used AFC to help with movement but didn't quite get there.

Here is one of the many at 1/2000...and ISO 8000. Noise reduction, including Topaz, not so hot on these.

1/500 would have frozen most movement and reduced ISO (auto) to 2000, which the Z50 is pretty good at. Maybe next year.

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IDguy Loc: Idaho

Yes. The 1/2000 was left over from my previous BIF work in good light.

Bubalola Loc: Big Apple, NY

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Couple more

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joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Outstanding capture 💛🧡❤️💚💜💙