Thanks again everyone. I went down to the races as a bit of a break from everything. They only had 4 races that day, but because I had 3 kids in tow I only stayed for 3 races. This was about my third shot into the first race as they past the finishing line of which I was standing right in front of. I am lucky that I am allowed to stand in the Marshalling yard during the race.
I had a couple of others that I really liked which I will add here.
And one from just before the race.
I have been asked many times for some tips on panning. It is pretty easy. I use different lens depending on the subject. In this case the 50-500mm which combined with the 5D body is quite weighty but nevertheless, these images were handheld...so it can be done.
Your background is essential. You MUST have backgroundmatter...or there is nothing to blur out. In this case I was uncertain how much blur I would get. It is the blur that determines the streaking and therefore the speed of the subject. Foliage is the most commonly used matter. For these shots I had the different colours of the background grasses, the training sand, the railings, the distant trees and clouds.
Next step are your settings. I drop my ISO all the way down. For the 5D that is 100. I know that I want my shutter slow..usually around 1/80 or 1/50. That is a lot of extra light coming in. Whatever you give, you must take. It is always a balancing act. So whilst my ISO is low...my shutter is bringing in loads of light...so I need to counteract that with a narrow aperture (high number). This will help cut out the excessive light. For this shot I used an Aperture of 29. I also ensured I used continuous shooting mode.
I then prefocused using Autofocus on a spot on the ground where I knew the horses would be hitting in front of the finishing post. I flicked the lens over to Manual Focus and waited.
As the sound of the hooves came closer, I lifted the camera to the right of the finishing post. I watched the horses come nearer and as they entered my viewfinder, I started to follow them. That gives me the initial speed of following the sujbect. I then closed the shutter down. Because I was on continuous shooting mode I was then able to continue following the horses while firing off the shots. Even after my last shot was taken I still moved the camera with the horses to keep that flow happening.
As I said...this was my third shot of this burst....the horse had just past the finishing post. So it doesn't take much to get the speed happening. They were only a few meters from me....a focal length of 116mm on this shot was used.
I hope that helps.
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Congratulations, Ms. Judi! Magnificent animal! Great shot! :)
My last foot race was run on a horsetrack in Florida...5K as I recall to benefit Breast Cancer Research (i.e. called "Race for The Cure".)
An amazing circumstance with excellent scenery, but hooo, Boy! I am soooooo out-of-shape! I posted a shot I took there in the last Minimal Edit Challenge I entered here...Sure gives a sense of accomplishment to do something great for others! :)
I haven't tried any sort of panning shot, but your success and this beautiful shot so full of motion inspires me to try! Big congratulations on winning this race :)
OK Judi this is getting out of hand. Is there any way I could slip you some $$$ and get you to slow down a little so I can catch up to you in the ribbon race?? You're amazing and I hope you never stop. Great image Judi and in basic at that. Not that you can't take a great shot without PP but just think of what this would have looked like if you had been able to work a little magic on it.
Great work again Judi, keep it coming and don't worry about little Ole me someday I'll score a ribbon, I hear the Brown ones are nice and scented too. What ever that means.!?
Top Shot Judi, Realy like the aperture to shutter speed to bring the colors together, I didn't vote on this challenge, sure would have given this a good score.
Judi, congratulation on another ribbon - very well deserved.
You are an extremely good and versatile photographer – you are always original and different.
Very refreshing compare to all those “one tricked dog” kind of photographers that are around...
Great that the horse is in motion but the jockey is not (and really sharp which is great). Shame the second horse is in view. Fat border, whats going on there?
Nice motion and subject sharpness. It seems like you used a longer exposure than some of the other horse shots which really accentuates the speed here.
Very good use of panning, but (and this is just me) maybe you could've focused more on the horse instead of the jockey since your title is "Heart of a Thoroughbred"
The Heart of a Thoroughbred
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