Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

evil4blue · **Wednesday Night at The Races (Lone Star Park) -** 05-10-2006, 09:42 PM

Met up with Joe_Lorenzini and PeteQ at the park tonight to get in a little practice before Abel's arrival to Big D this Saturday. I was just playin around tonight with different setups and ideas. Here's a couple IR photos of the horses and a couple that are back-lit by the setting sun. The last 2 I actually hopped the fence and kept my fingers crossed I wouldn't get caught.

jeffkohn · 05-10-2006, 10:10 PM

Not crazy about the IR shots honestly, doesn't really suit the subject matter IMHO. The last shot is a great capture though, you caught that horse at the perfect moment, all four hooves are in the air. A slightly tighter crop to remove the pair of butts at the front of the frame might improve it even more though. :)

evil4blue · 05-10-2006, 10:19 PM

The last one is my favorite of the night, and funny enough, I never even noticed the butts.

PeteQ · 05-10-2006, 10:25 PM

At the risk of posting before Joe does.... Here are a few of mine from tonight.

evil4blue · 05-10-2006, 10:25 PM

Here's a slightly different edit, sans butts.

jeffkohn · 05-10-2006, 10:41 PM

Quote:

The last one is my favorite of the night, and funny enough, I never even noticed the butts.

In my defense, it was a tonality issue, those damned white pants.

I like the second crop better, that's a great shot.

BTW a bit off-topic, but I posted a followup to the rag paper thread with some feedback after evaluating a couple of these new papers.

Joe_Lorenzini · 05-10-2006, 11:02 PM

Steve, that last shot is terrific! What timing! I also like the Turn 1 shot. Yours came out much better than mine (will post my sad results).

Pete, glad to see SOMEONE got the horses out of the gate. I still can't believe I spent all that time setting up that shot only to blow it. I got one picture of the last horses tail. groan.

Abel, Lisa and the gang are going to have a lot of fun come Saturday!

_/oe

Roy · 05-10-2006, 11:08 PM

Y'all did good. Especially like the last cropped one from Steve and Pete, I really like the third one in your post.

I know y'all use Nikon and I don't know how Nikon's are set up in regard to my question. I'll ask in Canon terms, y'all probably know what I'm talking about. With Canon I can shoot One Shot, AI Focus or AI Servo. Which one of these did you use on the Nikon equivalent?

Joe_Lorenzini · 05-10-2006, 11:10 PM

Ok, here's mine...

First race: I have been experimenting with different focus types and found one I really like for horse racing...

Second race: This was a mistake as it was supposed to be focused on the front horses. When I reviewed the pics, this is the one that stood out the most (go figure)...

Fourth race: This was tough. I wanted a shot of the horses rounding the corner in a blur while the sunset was happening. The combo of the sky, the reflection and the dirt was just too much for my brain to figure out in time. Next time I'll adjust my EV to +2 or maybe try bracketing. I used a polarizer for this shot:

_/oe

PeteQ · 05-10-2006, 11:17 PM

For these I was shooting Continuous High Speed mode with Manual or Shutter Priority depending on the sun angle and the AF set to AF-C (continuous servo) and the Custom AF-C setting to FPS rate + AF which may slow the frame rate to help achieve focus if needed.

PeteQ · 05-10-2006, 11:50 PM

I knew I shouldn't have posted before Joe... Nice shots Joe, and I really like how your frames complement the pics.

I'm going to throw my close-up out there and steal a frame similar to yours. What's that saying, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Something like that....

Joe_Lorenzini · 05-11-2006, 12:02 AM

Sweet closeup! Gotta love those extra MP's + that 400/2.8 of yours.

I love the jockey pursing his lips, nice shot.

As for the frame, if you or anyone wants the PSD file, let me know, you can have it.

_/oe

evil4blue · 05-11-2006, 06:21 AM

Egads, talk about lens envy...

(I know, I know, Pete, thanks for offering but I'd have to give you may car if I dropped the 400mm)

I was screwing around this morning and stitched together the last run I shot. Wow, I love hi-speed advance.