Horse Show Jumping Photography

Hello!

 

As a long time equestrian, I recently discovered my love for photographing show jumping horses. It all started when my father gave me his old camera, an Olympus E-P2. I have been using a 40-150mm lens with it. After reading what I could find online as well as the users manual I have adjusted my camera settings to the best of my ability. Shutter speed is 1000, aperture f/9, ISO 640 Forgive me if I make an error in describing my camera or setting as this is all new to me. While I am enjoying this new hobby of mine, and I am actually really good at getting the timing down, I do see that I get a lot of photos that are just not clear. I just want to improve the quality of my pictures. I know this will come with time, but Id love to know if possibly I should adjust my settings, and I am guessing upgrading my camera would help. I would love suggestions for a camera that I could move up to. I attached a picture from this summer that I took. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Actually your picture above looks pretty good with key elements in focus. A couple of thoughts come to mind. If you are using autofocus (I assume you are) the trick is to set your focus spot on the rider's head, preferably the eyes.Your f/9 setting should allow sufficient depth of field (DOF)for the horse's head to likewise be in focus. Although 1/1000 sec of shutter speed seems quite fast and able to stop motion, there will always be a slight motion blur. You can minimize this usually in 2 ways. The first is to pan the camera (using above picture as an example) following the horse as it moves left to right and trying to capture the ideal moment of the jump. You would have better success using the continuous shooting mode capturing several sequential images and choosing the best of them. The other approach, used by many people is to shoot not parallel to the horse but rather ahead about 45 degrees. The reason this works is that the movement of the horse in the camera frame is less(approximately 30% less) than shooting parallel (simple math). Using longer focal length lenses is great at getting a subject located some distance away in focus, but either side of the point of focus will increasingly be less in focus as a function of depth of field. In the picture above f/11 instead of f/9 would have increased the DOF by several feet. Although you are shooting in daylight, a powerful external flash attached to the camera could also help "freeze: the motion, as its duration is ususally considerably shorter than your shutter speed (usually about 1/10,000 sec or less). Hopefully some of these hints will be helpful to you. You have a very capable camera (I use the same model all the time). Edited August 26, 2019 by William Michael

Everything looks sharpp to me and colorful. Some comments. The flowers in the front and plants pull my eye away from the horse and rider, There's too much clutter in the picture overall especially in the foreground and background. The guy in the background under the bar distracts from the subject as does the other rider in the background on the right. The bar and vertical support blocks the back of the horse distracting as well. The vertical bar in front shouldn't touch the horse mouth. The white awning should not cut the horses head in half. You might want to change your position to get the horse and rider as the main subject and to avoid distractions. You have to isolate the rider and horse and get rid of clutter. Decreasing the Depth of Field by reducing the aperture will help.

 

I realize my suggestions might be hard to do. But it would make for better shots. Viewers don't care what our difficulties are in getting the shots. They only look at the shots from their viewpoint and either it works for them or it doesn;t. Good luck.

All I did here is crop it to eliminate some of the clutter and focus in on the subject. You could do this in camera assuming you use a bigger tele,

 

Perhaps a little more space in front of the horse would also be beneficial to the story and picture, a sense of where the horse and rider are going, if only to show a little more in front of the horse while quickly composing. However, if you just wanted a portrait of the horse and rider, the picture is fine. For a real action shot though, it could be something quite different, some motion blur of the hooves and the background slightly blurred, achievable with a slower shutter speed and panning the camera at the speed the horse is moving at. I would change to "landscape" format and not zoom so close, include some extra image space for cropping in post processing

You've attached a picture that is good. I suspect that you chose it to display because it is one of the better photos that you've made, that's a natural reaction. However if you're asking for assistance, or more precisely for technical assistance, then you'd need to post an example (with EXIF details) of a photo that falls into the category of: "I do see that I get a lot of photos that are just not clear."

 

That stated, addressing the photo that you have posted, which is good - here a few comments that you might consider

 

The shot is almost side-on (‘Full Profile’ i.e. 90° to the Lens).

 

This is neither good nor bad in itself, but as already mentioned the flowers in the front are distracting. On the other hand, cropping out the flowers removes the element of the HEIGHT of the horse and rider, from the ground.

 

Typically, Sports Photography aims to capture the elements of: battle, skill, overcoming fear, power, action, drama . . . etc.

 

With these matters in mind it arguably would have been better to make this shot in Half Profile or closer to Half Profile, thus eliminating the harsh effect of the flowers in the foreground.

 

Another way of lessening the effect of the distracting element of the Flowers, would be to shoot from an higher Camera Viewpoint.

 

Also note that as you move farther away from the Subject (increase the Subject Distance) – AND – you use a longer Focal Length Lens, you can maximize the effect of moving only slightly higher and slightly more Profile to the Subject.

 

In simple terms, you used your zoom lens set at FL =78mm and it appears that you were crouching down when you made that shot. And if we agree that the flowers are a distraction, then that distraction could have been minimized by you stepping back a bit, using FL = 150mm, standing up, and moving to Camera Right a few steps.

 

Obviously that does NOT mean that you never take a shot of an horse jumping from a low camera angle – that’s a great idea to shot low: you'll often get more drama and you often get to see more of the rider's facial expression (more-so if it is NOT Profile shot). But the salient point is, you’ve to look through the viewfinder at the Composition of the “Final Image” and when looking at Composition, the Foreground and the Background are usually just as important as the Subject being crisp and the overall image having drama, etc.

 

One key element to Sports Photography (actually to most Photography) is to be in the BEST shooting position, and the best shooting position is often dictated by: the lighting and the 'props' that you can't move or remove.

 

This all comes with practice and experience, yet as an example, when you are sizing up how to shoot a jump at a gate similarly adorned with lots of flowers at ground level, you now should be aware of how those flowers (and other stuff) can be distracting, and even if you don't remember the technical jargon, I'll bet a Mars Bar that you will definitely look more closely in your Viewfinder while your getting to a really good Camera Position.

 

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Buy new gear is a big question. I'd advise you find out what is/are the cause(s) of your not so good photos, before you buy anything.

 

WW

. . . Although you are shooting in daylight, a powerful external flash attached to the camera could also help "freeze: the motion, as its duration is ususally considerably shorter than your shutter speed (usually about 1/10,000 sec or less).

 

I think this would be impossible.

 

The Max Flash Sync of the E-P2 is 1/180th second. The camera has a Focal Plane Shutter.

 

IF the flash were powerful enough to have effect over the Sunlight at F/9 and ISO640, using the shutter set at 1/1000th second would result in there only be a very small bar of flash exposure, in the image.

 

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Additionally, at any Equestrian Jump and Dressage Events I have covered, the use of Flash has been prohibited. There may be different rules elsewhere.

 

WW

I've been allowed to use flash when photographing jumping in indoor rings and frequently shot both my wife and daughter in their dressage practices. At that time I was using a Leica M4 and had no problems with a focal plane shutter at 1/50 sec and my electronic flash units at full power. If I recall correctly, the 1/180 flash synch on the E-Pl2 is for the tiny internal flash...I routinely use a powerful external strobe and have no problems synching at other speeds. Edited August 26, 2019 by SCL

Well Done

That is a pretty nice frame IMHO.

Alan cropped your photo a bit, and it made a big difference. It was an improvement in my opinion.

I am NOT a sports guy, i am just a hack street photographer, but....... these types of photos always look a bit odd to me.

Dragging the shutter And/Or just a bit of panning can add some life to the picture.

Athletes, Dancers, Animals, when they are stopped in action like that, just hanging there. It is not always the best look.........

Thanks for noting that there are, indeed, different rules, in different regions, apropos use of Flash. The OP should check what is allowed at the venues where she shoots.

 

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. . . If I recall correctly, the 1/180 flash synch on the E-Pl2 is for the tiny internal flash...I routinely use a powerful external strobe and have no problems synching at other speeds.

 

As you wish, but I do sincerely reckon you should check that as being an accurate statement. If the Technical specs in the User Manual are correct, then the camera has a FP Shutter. Max Flash Sync Speed, is the maximum flash sync speed, if anything it may be slower when using exterior Flash Units .

 

I suspect that, when using your flash, it did fire - BUT - the Shutter Speed was so fast that there was a very small area of Flash Exposure in the image, so small that went unnoticed.

 

Perhaps I misunderstood the the Olympus' User Manual - I'd be happy to take advice on that point.

 

WW

Edited August 26, 2019 by William Michael

Thanks for noting that there are, indeed, different rules, in different regions, apropos use of Flash. The OP should check what is allowed at the venues where she shoots.

 

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As you wish, but I do sincerely reckon you should check that as being an accurate statement. If the Technical specs in the User Manual are correct, then the camera has a FP Shutter. Max Flash Sync Speed, is the maximum flash sync speed, if anything it may be slower when using exterior Flash Units .

 

I suspect that, when using your flash, it did fire - BUT - the Shutter Speed was so fast that there was a very small area of Flash Exposure in the image, so small that went unnoticed.

 

Perhaps I misunderstood the the Olympus' User Manual - I'd be happy to take advice on that point.

 

WW

Wm -you might be correct,..atvery fast shutter speeds. When I use the external flash I dial in a slow manual shutter speed, usually 1/100 or less to ensure I get full benefit of the flash and its "image freezing" power, and if using a powerful enough one or being close enough to the rider that they do likewise. Usually a good compromse can be found, even if one has to stop down the aperture even further, but not to the point of diffraction.

Wm -you might be correct,..atvery fast shutter speeds.

 

Yes. Maybe there was a misunderstanding.

For clarity now - I was always only commenting about shutter speeds faster than 1/180th second.

 

REF Post#7

 

"IF the flash were powerful enough to have effect over the Sunlight at F/9 and ISO640, using the shutter set at 1/1000th second would result in there only be a very small bar of flash exposure, in the image."

 

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Additionally and just some quick mental maths to illustrate the message that was meant in the first underlined section above: because the OP is shooting in full sun, the Flash would need to be powerful enough to over-power that sunlight to have any noticeable freezing effect.

 

Taking the OP’s exposure parameters as an example, F/9 @ 1/1000s @ ISO 640, this is about EV14.

 

A Flash to overpower that Ambient (by let’s say 2 stops) and shooting at about 20ft Subject Distance as a maximum, would need to have a GN of at least about 440ft (iso100).

 

That’s about two and a half times the GN of most modern Speedlites.

 

And then of course it couldn't work anyway, without a Leaf Shutter to allow the Shutter speed of 1/1000s for the Ambient Exposure.

 

WW

Edited August 26, 2019 by William Michael

a powerful external flash attached to the camera

I recommend against using any flash, or even a camera with a loud shutter around horses. There is a very high risk of distracting or frightening the animal, with potentially horrific results. It would not surprise me if the venue has strict rules against use of any flash whatsoever.

Wow, thank you to everyone who took the time to respond and explain the things I should be doing in so much detail. This is very helpful.

 

William, you are correct, I should have included a blurry shot as an example. I have attached one now. I have tried following the horse to the jump, as well as focusing on the jump before the horse gets to it. I think the problem then is that the jump itself is in focus and the horse is not. Also I have the same problem in this as many of you have pointed out, the distracting flowers and the same angle unfortunately.

Ignoring the discussion about flash above (it's not practical for outdoor work and it's far from optimal for sports anyway) looking at this image, I would suggest that you try 1/2000 second for the shutter and open the lens to f8 or so. This should provide the same exposure but give you more sharpness.

 

You need to remember just how fast portions of the animal are moving. The hair in the tail and mane are moving quickly indeed but the forelegs, in this last shot, have to move far faster than the horses forward speed in order to mover from the "folded back" position they are in now to the forward position required for the landing. If you look at many NFL action photographs, you will sometimes see a runner's feet slightly blurred just like this.

In the above photo, given that pretty much everything stationary is in focus, I think that indeed the problem is motion blur. At 1/320, that's not too much of a stretch.

 

I'd aim-if possible-for a 1/1000 minimum, and higher if possible. I would not be shy about raising the ISO higher than I customarily would outdoors to get both the shutter speed and DOF I needed. Way back in the day, when Nikon was advertising the new FE2, the brochure was full of photos of equestrian sports among other things bits of action-the reason for that was that it offered a higher max shutter speed(1/4000) than its immediate predecessor(1/1000).

Regarding the second image that you've posted - I concur with the analyses of ed and ben: the Shutter Speed is too slow. 1/320s is too slow to arrest the motion of the horse jumping. as already pointed out the middle of the gate, where the horse is jumping, is in sharp focus, this shows that you nailed the focus OK, it is Subject Motion Blur that makes the horse and rider appeared blurry.

 

WW

I just want to improve the quality of my pictures. I know this will come with time, but Id love to know if possibly I should adjust my settings, and I am guessing upgrading my camera would help. I would love suggestions for a camera that I could move up to. I attached a picture from this summer that I took. Any advice is appreciated.

Jen, you've asked some good questions and received some excellent advice, most of which I agree with wholeheartedly. I have a few comments regarding how you use your current camera, and then what it might mean to move up to a more capable camera.

 

First, I find it very difficult to track moving subjects using an LCD screen. Putting my eye against a viewfinder and moving my whole upper body works far better, at least for me. If you're not using the accessory viewfinder you might consider doing so. This would help you track your moving subjects more effectively (making allowances for parallax, etc.) I want to reinforce the other comments regarding tracking. Particularly when your subject is moving parallel with the focal plane it is useful to track the primary subject, rather than locking in one position on the point of interest and attempting to catch the subject moving through your frame. I recommend you combine the camera's continuous focus option (C-AF) with subject tracking. The result should be more consistently sharp subjects, but with the surrounding objects being more subject to blur. Using the continuous focus function will diminish the delay between when you push the shutter release and when the exposure is made. Another helpful feature of your camera is the 3-frames-per-second continuous exposure mode. Now, 3-frames-per-second is pretty tame for sports photography, but using it effectively should increase your total fraction of "keepers". Your own experience as an equestrian is certainly a big contributor to finding just the right moment, and adding continuous exposures will enhance your effectiveness. A third recommendation would be to shoot in RAW format, so as to capture as much data as possible, and then post process to correct aberrations such as high ISO noise, crop, etc. This only applies, of course, if your're willing to obtain and apply the software. You should seriously consider shooting at higher ISO's and faster shutter speeds, and experimenting with the effects of panning/tracking versus a fixed camera. Keep in mind that your shutter will go as fast as 1/4,000th of a second, though something between 1/1,200th and 1/2,000th should work. I think you'll find the effects very interesting. One other step that might shorten response time would be to set your exposure manually for the conditions you are shooting so the camera needn't think it through for every shot. Shooting in RAW will give you that added latitude for post processing adjustment if conditions then change slightly.

 

Now, as regards a camera upgrade: Your current camera and lens kit were excellent 4/3 equipment 10 years ago. Today they are a bit long in the tooth and not optimized for sports photography. That is not to diminish your equipment in any way. It is what it is and is capable of excellent images. However, successful sports photographers will use a camera with excellent high ISO performance, fast and accurate autofocus, and, most of all, very fast continuous exposures with a large buffer. I'm a Nikon guy, so the most affordable Nikon in this category is the D500, at 10 fps. You can also go all-in with the most expensive, pro-grade gear, but that's many thousands of dollars. Others will need to address options from other manufacturers. In any case, the critical characteristics are frame rate, buffer size, fast & accurate autofocus, and good high ISO performance. Any resolution north of 16 MP is probably sufficient to your needs. I'd want 8 fps minimum (faster is better), but 6 fps continuous can work. Almost everything else is just frosting when it comes to shooting moving subjects.

When I shot horse shows (as an amateur) the real pros in that field told me to stand at a 45-degree angle to the jump gate and pre-focus about two feet closer.

I rather like the pic. It defies the panning technique but the small amount of blurring of the horse and rider really gives the impression of flight through the air and subsequently holds your interest. Needless to say, if it was blurred to a greater degree, it would be nothing more than a reject frame.

 

I did a quick rough sharpening of the horse's head attempting to improve it. I think it did a little but motion blur of the head still shows. A higher shutter speed would have helped there, but may also have eliminated the nice "action" blur of the front hooves. It all depends on what you want, freeze the action dead in it's tracks, or capture some blurriness in the right places to enhance the action.

 

But again, this pic is the opposite of the panning method that we've been going on about. Everything in this pic is nice and sharp except the horse and rider, but still to a certain extent is effective from a viewer's perspective IMO, but it needs some post processing.

 

If you would like to see an example of panning, which is not easy to do and takes practice, look at the motorbikes below

 

 

 

 

Shutter button pressed while panning. I can't remember the camera settings but not a terribly fast shutter speed if I recall. The near bike and rider are in sharp focus while the moderate shutter speed allowed for blurring of the bike spokes and everything else around. Panning must be such that it keeps up with the moving subject, no faster and no slower.

Edited August 27, 2019 by kmac

Here's my suggestions, don't think of these as 'right', rather 'there's more than one way of doing things'.

 

My wife has a Panasonic GF-1, which is a very, very similar camera to your EP-2 and she uses the same 40-150 lens. I'm going to try to exploit the strengths of your kit.

 

The biggest weakness of all the early micro 4/3 cameras is noise, so it pays to keep the ISO as low as possible, above 800 things are going to start to look bad. However, you're going to have to strike a balance between keeping the ISO low and keeping a high enough shutter speed to stop motion. I think I'd be prepared to sacrifice a little depth of field, as it's the one thing micro 4/3 cameras have to spare, so open the aperture a little (I know, f5.6 is as wide as it'll go) and see if you still have sufficient depth of field.

 

If you stand at 45 degrees to the fence, apparant motion is reduced, making life a little easier, but this may not be the shot you want.

 

I'm not great with autofocus, so I'd switch to manual focus and focus on the fence, or just a little in front of it. In fact, I'd go full manual, the exposure isn't going to change when there's a horse in the frame, so set everything up with a few test shots beforehand, say f5.6, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400 (adjust to suite). With manual focus and exposure, the camera will be at it's most responsive.

 

Ok, now to play to the strengths of the camera. As others have said, the rear screen is poor for panning (though by all means try it), but what it does give you is the ability to stand back a little from the camera and observe the wider scene, you can't do that with your eye up to a viewfinder. So you can see what is happening, you can see the horse approaching, you know the camera is pointed where you want it, just wait for the right moment and shoot. You could even use a tripod.

 

Try setting continuous drive mode and taking a burst of shots, I'd suggest sticking to jpeg for this, as RAW is slow, won't allow many shots and will lock the camera for a time while it writes the images.

 

Try all the other suggestions too.

 

Above all, have fun.

Good on you for putting up a blurry one so quickly. I guess as an athlete yourself, you understand that you've got to know what's wrong before the coaches can help you remedy it. I also guess, if you can ride an horse with skill and jump over fences, you can prioritize nit picking comments into an order of execution that is suitable to your Photography Journey.

 

In no particular order, here is some more stuff you might consider –

 

(I used to shoot Swimming and Field Hockey - at elite athlete level: I didn’t have all those athletes around for tea, but I do know a bit about each them) . . .

 

So, I expect that if you don’t know Annie personally, you know something of her. Do you know enough of her to know that she always drops her head to the Left side for a jump, or does she do that for that type of jump, or only when approaching a jump from that angle, or out of a particular the jump before, or only when riding Cloudbreak? Does she have a different technique when she's riding Sundance? Etc.

 

All these answers you probably know, or could find out really easily – especially because you already know the Sport.

 

Knowing the Sport and the nuances of the Sport, is essential.

Knowing the (individual) Choreographies of the Athletes, is essential.

 

Both these are essential for many reasons, the main TWO being:

 

so you can be in the BEST camera position for the shot;

so you can TIME the shot perfectly.

 

To be a good Photographer, good research, is important.

 

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I think that you’re a quick study. Probably already seriously considering a new camera is a logical progression if you want to make a good fist of winning at this Sport of Photography. Probably thinking that a different camera will make things a bit easier and the results better: you’re probably correct. On this aspect I suggest you go slowly – for you a week thinking and researching might be slow, I have no idea, you might need a month, what I do think is that you will do due diligence and you will know when to buy.

 

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I have a set of ‘safe’ (minimum) Shutter Speeds. I know them all by rote. For a National Level Backstroke Start and Profile-shot I need to be at 1/500s, for a Breaststroke head-on Shot, athlete’s head at peak of stroke, I need 1/320, and if the light is dim I can squeeze 1/250s…etc.

 

You need to know, what are the ‘safe’ technical parameters for your sport: my suggestion is 1/2000s for a profile shot of a jump is ‘safe’, even though you have shown you can squeeze 1/1000s.

 

Safer, is always better. That does NOT mean that every image need be clinically sharp without any motion blur: Artistic Motion Blur is good if that’s what you want. Panning has already been mentioned. It is a skill to acquire, and worthwhile acquiring it.

 

As already mentioned as you get more to an Head-on shot of the moving subject the safe Shutter Speed is usually slower, but not always.

 

You will find with any sport (and dance) that there is always a pattern to each particular motion (rhythm) and also a point of least Subject Movement, sometimes, not often, a point of freeze.

 

You need to know the rhythm and you need to know the point of least motion, as usually, (but not always) the point of least motion is the climax to that particular movement. This is all part of the Choreography that you need to know.

 

Also, within any one motion, any one Subject may have different parts moving differently – you need to know which ones move what way and (importantly) which parts are to be the most dominate for the shot that you want.

 

(for example: Breaststroke Head-on shot, most important part is the Head/Facial Expression, Peak of stroke, the Head is momentarily stationary – that’s “The Shot”. So before ‘that shot’ I am in the same rhythm for three or four ‘strokes’ before I make ‘that Shot’.)

 

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Aperture and (shallow) Depth of Field, and their relationship will certainly be raised as being important matters for consideration, if you get involved in this gig. Suffice to say that wonderful Out of Focus Backgrounds and very nice.

 

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Just so you know that the above is not a load of hot air:

 

 

 

Good luck with your journey

 

WW

As an aside, try not to spend the entire event looking at the viewfinder/screen of the camera, take time out to enjoy it for yourself, put the camera down sometimes. Otherwise, the photography becomes the 'thing' and you lose the enjoyment of the event itself. Which is fine if you're getting paid for it...

 

I say this from experience, I love to shoot concerts, mostly free gigs by local groups, but I've learned that sometimes I need to put the camera away and just enjoy the show for myself. Otherwise I come home with a thousand photos, but no memory of the event or the music.

 

Don't lose sight of what it is that you enjoy about the event.

. . . Which is fine if you're getting paid for it...

 

I sometimes go to some events and ONLY just shoot, no pay - that's my thing and I get joy doing it: but yes, I totally agree with your advice.

 

WW

I think you have received some excellent advice here, and since I never shot horse jumping, I do not have anything to add on that subject. I do know Olympus M43 cameras though and would not recommend using continuous AF (C-AF) on any Olympus M43 camera because it is not reliable. The exceptions to this would be the EM-1 series, which have much better C-AF and tracking performance. With all other Olympus M43 cameras, you need to either prefocus on where the horse will be when you take the image or rely on the extremely quick single AF (S-AF) performance. I have successfully used the quick S-AF in my Olympus EM-5 to capture moving animals (in zoos and in the wild), though there are usually a number of miss focus images. I have also found that the cheap Olympus 40-150mm lens (if that is what you are using), is sharper than it has a right to be for something that inexpensive and lightweight. Best of luck.