gessman Loc: Colorado

I would just add that if you're at an event where you know what is going to happen next, you have the best of all worlds available to you. You can pre-focus in manual mode on the precise spot where your subject will be soon, for whatever benefit that gives you, shoot a rehearsal shot checking it, indeed enlarging it on your lcd for inspection, and then shoot for the "peak of the action" moment when it arrives - that precise moment when the action you want to depict is happening. If you aren't confident with only one shot, put the camera in burst mode and shoot a sequence. I captured your shot and cropped it in a variety of ways and frankly, I'm not all that convinced it can be improved on all that much. I think the blue canopy only shows that the event was done before some kind of crowd, just another part of the story. I like it and think it's done very well and if it was indeed a candid shot, as it appears to be, I think you did very well. If you chose to crop it into a square shot, you could crop out everything left of about half the barrel which would also get rid of the blue canopy and leave enough of the barrel to show its relative position without destroying that you were definitely watching a rider running a barrel course by leaving a little for the imagination. You cannot crop it top or bottom without losing key parts like the hat or the horses hooves which, in this case, means that if you are going to crop it, you will have to change the format to something more square. You did very well. Never underestimate the value of rehearsal shots in sports photography when time permits so that all you have to do to get a perfect action shot when the time is right is press the shutter button.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

This is how I would do it. I would open the lens as wide as it would go. Set ISO to 1600. This way I would have a fast shutter speed and the background would out of focus. Then I wuold focus on the barrell and the wait action to get to the focus spot and hit the shutter. I would also try all the hints above and then see what worked best for me. Dave

TTKBJR Loc: Kansas

Nice Shot...I probably would have used manual mode with a faster shutter speed to get the stop in the air kind of look. Might have helped the hind legs not look so blurry and get the dirt being kicked up to look sharper.

mljphoto Loc: Bigfork, MN

I am writing all these tips down!!! They are wonderful ideas, and I will be trying them at the horse shows next year!! Seeing as winter is upon us and I live in northern Minnesota, no more shows now! I really do appreciate all the feedback keep it coming!!!