Sunday 13 April 2008

Not achieving (sorry, another photography bore post!)

I had in mind a specific shot that I wanted to capture today. I knew roughly what I needed to do but, never having tried it before, I wasn't sure if I'd pull it off. And I didn't.

I wanted to capture a horse goiong over a jump, but at a very slow shutter speed so that I could give the feeling of motion. I had wanted to capture the whole arc of the jump but when I tried, I just got a ghosting blur that was completely unrecognisable as a horse.

This was the best that I could do. It's OK but not what I wanted.

I would liked to have tried tracking as well so as to get the horse clean and in focus but with the background blurred to convey the motion. Unfortunately it started chucking it down with rain and we had to abandon the exercise. Definitely something I want to try again though.

11 comments:

  1. Well it looks quite good to me I have no idea how to capture movement. I keep trying but it doesn't really work on my little 'point and shoot'!

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  2. That looks fab. I love the black and whte, it makes the textures look amazing.

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  3. Mmmmm. Delightful! Do keep sharing, please!
    Patience

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  4. Your shutter speed was a tad too long. Next time try it with a faster speed.

    Panning can be tricky. Half the time I still don't get it right either. I would recommend:
    #1: A swivel head tripod
    #2: Start with a fast shutter speed and work your way to longer speeds

    I think you have done well though! :)

    Keep shooting!

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  5. Thank you IC!

    Why too long though? I wanted the blurring...in fact, I wanted a little more but it just wasn't achieving the effect I wanted. Surely a faster shutter speed would have frozen the action?

    Tripod - yep - have a swivel head but only had it a few months and not really had much chance to get out and use it yet.

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  6. Oh, my bad- maybe I misunderstood. I was thinking you were hoping to capture the horse fairly well preserved, but with crisp trailing of their movement.

    If so, with a horse, given their speed, you can still get away with a faster shutter speed without totally freezing the action.

    Now if you were looking for a rainbow arc effect of the horse and rider, or anything closer to that, then yes you are right. You would need a shutter speed even longer.

    You'll really come to appreciate the tripod with panning shots. What are you waiting for? Go out and play!!!!! :)

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  7. Rainbow arc is indeed what I was looking for!! I just couldn't get it no matter what shutter speed I tried though. One to try again when the horse is a little fitter methinks as I could only do so much with him.

    What might also work better would be a propert show jump so he is going higher in the air so would be in the frame longer. Maybe?

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  8. Fun! Hubby was telling me a couple of days ago how to achieve that whole arc look with a flash anyway. He said I needed to slow sync it, have it only go off at the end of the shot and it would freeze that last part and make the previous parts blur. Hope that makes sense. It's worth a shot right?

    I love this one! I know it's not exactly what one would want but it makes me giggle and the horse looks like he's sprouted wings and will fly soon. :)

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  9. I don't know a thing about horses and their jumping, but it sounds like you could very well be onto something.

    Keep shooting! You'll get it. :)

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  10. Very cool. My brother takes a lot of cycling photography and he's managed to do what you talk about, with the cyclist in focus, but the whole background blurred. My dad has done it with F1 car racing. It's an awesome effect. Keep working on it. I can't wait to see the results.

    oh - and if you don't want to haul out your paning tripod, my dad recommends finding something to brace your elbows on so you can create a steady swivel.

    ps - For the next couple of weeks I'll be lurking around, but won't always have time to comment...

    Later gater.

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  11. Definitely a tricky one. Good luck on the retries!

    One thing to look at is second-curtain-sync... a long exposure with a flash just as the shutter closes... you'll end up with a long arc leading up to a more defined still of the horse (assuming the flash is bright enough and the day dull enough!)

    Of course... that might spook the horse... not sure.

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