General Photography Discussion 2

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General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Suzon » Fri Aug 26, 2016 2:02 am

Ok, I'm just gonna make an executive decision and start a new thread. :lol:

Here I'll make it horse related: This is from the last horse shoot I did. This was the horse who ended up being the model for the rainbow chorusline.

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This horse was great. At first I thought all he was going to do is eat grass and then he decided to really play up.

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Aaaaaannnyway...what are your thoughts on the just announced Canon 5D Mark IV? We have had a booming year in our business and I'm thinking I can afford a new toy. Right now I own a 7D and a 7D Mark II. It would be wonderful to finally shoot something with a little less noise. Don't get me wrong, they're good cameras but sometimes I feel like that scene in The Grinch going "All the noise, Noise, Noise, Noise, NOISE!" Soooooo....The price on the 5D Mark III just dropped $1000. Not sure if that's it, but I have a feeling that's as far as it's going this round. I like the Mark III. I've rented them off and on, so this might be the time to spring for the Mark III. I haven't seen any comparison shots with the Mark IV yet. Mark IV has a faster FPS and the much touted dual-RAW capability (whatever that's worth). Mark III because it has less pixels is going to have larger pixels, which means better low light performance. Mark IV has a more advanced focusing system, which sounds similar to the 7D Mark II.

OK. Thoughts?

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Spiritpaws » Fri Aug 26, 2016 10:35 am

I have the 7D and the 7D Mark II and got the 5D Mark III a couple of months ago. I use the Mark III mostly with prime lenses (300mm and 50mm) and I love it. I don't know that I would love the touch sensitivity on the new Mark IV, but I'd have to play with it to know if that would work for me; however I am not in the market for a new camera body!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Suzon » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:59 pm

I'm assuming the Mark IV knows the difference between your face smootched up against the screen when you're looking through the view finder and your finger. Otherwise, Dog knows what you'd be doing to your settings!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Fri Aug 26, 2016 6:20 pm

Love the B&W... nice contrast to pick up the action.

Canon... not so much as I am a Nikon bigot :lol:

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Fri Aug 26, 2016 7:47 pm

Suzon wrote:I'm assuming the Mark IV knows the difference between your face smootched up against the screen when you're looking through the view finder and your finger. Otherwise, Dog knows what you'd be doing to your settings!



The new Nikons have the touch screen and from using mine, i can confirm that yes, they can tell the difference..lol.

I love the black and white as well. I love well done black and whites in general.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Mon Sep 12, 2016 1:14 pm

I took some butterfly photos over the weekend, in my own yard. The first day I spent all of 15 minutes and took about 700 photos...lol. The 2nd day I spent a greater amount of time out, but the butterflies were harder to track and shoot that day, so I only shot around 200. I did NOT upload that many!! But, there are quite a lot. I'll post the link to the album here (on Facebook but public) for anyone that wants to see them all.

I wasn't trying to get the photobombers in the photos, but they were hard to avoid..lol.

https://www.facebook.com/johnnie.pierce ... nref=story

Thanks Suzon for your comments and help. I absolutely agree.

I've already sold a canvas and have a photo possibly being used as an add from this series. How funny for something spur of the moment!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Mon Sep 12, 2016 3:21 pm

Love the shot of the moth (it looks like).

Nicely done. Butterflies are so pretty and so elusive!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Suzon » Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:36 pm

I really like angles like the moth...and other atypical-for-photography stuff. I love the photobomb shots because so rarely does anyone show photos of butterflies in flight (probably because they're a PITA to shoot!)

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:41 pm

When I'm doing the hummers or butterflies (less commonly for me), I use the photobomb approach often :) They are so hard to get. I do, occasionally get a nice photo. I'll have to dig up a recent (well, before we turned into an oven) hummer photo that I really liked :)

Oh yes, and post it ;)

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Mon Oct 10, 2016 8:25 pm

It's my busy season now with play days and bull riding pretty much every weekend up to and into next year.

Here are a few from leadliners at the last playday, following up with bulls this Saturday.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Suzon » Mon Oct 10, 2016 9:55 pm

All fabulous! I've been clicking through all your facebook posts in recent weeks. However, #3 above should be some kind of ad for A Mighty Girl or something. What a great expression and beautiful photo!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Mon Oct 10, 2016 11:27 pm

Great photos... love the expression on the children as well as those chubby little ponies :D

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Tue Oct 11, 2016 2:08 pm

Thanks so much!!! I'm having a slight issue with my D500 and 70-200 2.8 combo. Occassionally, I'll get a few black images that have turned to basically be severely underexposed images. I'm not quite sure what's happening there. I've also had a few times when I have to turn the camera off and back on, to get the auto-focus to kick in. I'm going to have to get them both checked out very soon, but it's hard with so much going on. I do have my full frame and my other 70-200 to fall back on, but the other combo is so much better.

The red headed girl is my trainer's granddaughter, and the pony the ninja turtle kid is riding used to be her pony (Rainbow Dash), then the other little pony is ridden by the brother of the ninja turtle kid..lol.

I do have a question. After looking through some photos from a few other photographers who shoot playday events, I've noticed that my shots aren't exactly the "playday photographer" style. I do get a lot of positive feedback from the participants on my photos, but I wonder if I should alter my editing/shooting style to be more in line with that of the people who shoot way more of these events than I do.

Should I just shoot them how I like or maybe do something more traditional?

Here are a few samples of what I'm talking about as far as my style:

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I do have tons more barrel photos, I just didn't grab any to post. I like the coming home type photos because of the facial expressions. lol

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Tue Oct 11, 2016 4:08 pm

What would be a more "traditional" play day style?

Me? I like what you have. Good facial expressions (love some of them for sure!) and certainly impression of movement etc. Maybe some of what people like about yours is that they aren't "traditional".

I'd keep going in the direction you are. Or, shoot a few traditional and a few in your own style and see what gets the best feedback. IMO, hard to move away from your own personal style :)

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Tue Oct 11, 2016 4:45 pm

The pole photos that I've seen from other "local" photographers are typically a vertical photo with one pole, the end pole.

like this (these are google images so as not to point out any specific photographer)

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Also, a lot of the images are clearly not shot on the ground floor. I get in the arena to photograph everything, but that doesn't seem to be the standard either. They also usually only do 1-3 photos at each barrel and I shoot a lot more than that. Granted, I have a camera where it is almost impossible to fire off a single shot in high speed burst mode...lol.

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I like to get all of the poles in the frame if possible, I like to get the dirt flying up, etc. That doesn't seem to be a concern for others that I've looked through.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Kelo » Tue Oct 11, 2016 5:42 pm

Racetrackreject wrote:The pole photos that I've seen from other "local" photographers are typically a vertical photo with one pole, the end pole.

like this

I like to get all of the poles in the frame if possible, I like to get the dirt flying up, etc. That doesn't seem to be a concern for others that I've looked through.


I like your photos, they are great. And if they're selling well, that tells you what you need to know.

But I don't think it's necessary or desirable to have all the poles in the shot. One pole or barrel is enough. If they're going around the pole they know what event it is, and it uses up a lot of frame that could be filled with the horse and rider, which is the ultimate point of the photo. That's JMHO, though.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:02 pm

Perhaps a good comment on having too many poles in the photo but overall, I like yours much better than the "samples". Better facial expressions on the riders with good feeling of movement from both horse and rider.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Tue Oct 11, 2016 11:46 pm

I like your pics - they're well composed and they show great expressions.

For the pole pics I'd love to try a variation of what you're doing - line up with the poles so they're just barely separated from each other in a line. If the rider is on the right side of the pole, let the rest of the poles line up slightly to the left, and vice versa. I honestly don't know if it would work, but it's something I see in my mind.


That said - just having one barrel or one pole is fine - the beauty of it is you can experiment on different combos by moving so you have your main barrel in the pic, and another faded in the background, for example.
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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:55 pm

Thanks so much for the feedback! I can definitely see the argument for adding more 'stuff' to the photo, like poles and things.

Snowhorse- I did try lining up with the poles a few times, but I was almost run over every single time! A lot of these horses will run to the human at the end of the arena, but if I'm off to the side, the girls can usually get them aimed back for the alleyway. When I'm too close to the alley, I just can't get out of the way fast enough and the horses try to veer towards me. I agree though, and I like the idea. I'll have to look because I do have some photos from that perspective. I wonder if I can stand in the bucking chute closest to the alley. I'm going to have to check over some logistics..lol.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Wed Oct 12, 2016 8:40 pm

Racetrackreject wrote:I took some butterfly photos over the weekend, in my own yard. The first day I spent all of 15 minutes and took about 700 photos...lol. The 2nd day I spent a greater amount of time out, but the butterflies were harder to track and shoot that day, so I only shot around 200. I did NOT upload that many!! But, there are quite a lot. I'll post the link to the album here (on Facebook but public) for anyone that wants to see them all.

I wasn't trying to get the photobombers in the photos, but they were hard to avoid..lol.

https://www.facebook.com/johnnie.pierce ... nref=story

Thanks Suzon for your comments and help. I absolutely agree.

I've already sold a canvas and have a photo possibly being used as an add from this series. How funny for something spur of the moment!



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That's a Southern Cloudywing butterfly - a skipper, not a moth :)

Nice pics :)


Ohh wait -- I didn't see the "tail" on it - I take my words back and say it's some sort of longtail skipper - any pics of the dorsal side of it for the markings?

Maybe a Dorantes Longtail? http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/spec ... s-dorantes
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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:06 pm

Racetrackreject wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback! I can definitely see the argument for adding more 'stuff' to the photo, like poles and things.

Snowhorse- I did try lining up with the poles a few times, but I was almost run over every single time! A lot of these horses will run to the human at the end of the arena, but if I'm off to the side, the girls can usually get them aimed back for the alleyway. When I'm too close to the alley, I just can't get out of the way fast enough and the horses try to veer towards me. I agree though, and I like the idea. I'll have to look because I do have some photos from that perspective. I wonder if I can stand in the bucking chute closest to the alley. I'm going to have to check over some logistics..lol.



Of all things, I was pondering the position you'd have to be at last night when trying to fall asleep...LOL

If the rider is on the right side of the poles, maybe stand in a spot from about midway between the poles and the rider to the outside (to right) of the rider. See what works best for the angle AND your safety, and try the same on the opposite side of the poles, maybe you can find a safe enough place there?

Oh yeah, I meant to say that this would probably work best when they're doing the poles, not when they're "running home" :)
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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:43 pm

SnowHorse wrote:
Racetrackreject wrote:I took some butterfly photos over the weekend, in my own yard. The first day I spent all of 15 minutes and took about 700 photos...lol. The 2nd day I spent a greater amount of time out, but the butterflies were harder to track and shoot that day, so I only shot around 20



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That's a Southern Cloudywing butterfly - a skipper, not a moth :)

Nice pics :)


Ohh wait -- I didn't see the "tail" on it - I take my words back and say it's some sort of longtail skipper - any pics of the dorsal side of it for the markings?

Maybe a Dorantes Longtail? http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/spec ... s-dorantes


Thank you! I actually didn't think he was a moth, but everyone else thought that he was, so I just went with it..lol.

I do have a few other angles of him. (I may have gone overboard a little..lol)

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Flight » Thu Oct 13, 2016 1:31 am

Can I ask very basic/dumb photography questions?

I have tried to understand the whole shutter/ISO/aperture settings and played around with them, but I am still better off using the auto settings and then a bit of photoshop to adjust lighting etc. I just can't seem to get my head around understanding and getting a decent photo using manual settings.

Now my simple question is this, when you take a motion pic (ie jumping) , I have it on sports mode, and so its on continuous focus, I half press the shutter button (or whatever it's called to take the pic) then full press a moment later when I want the pic. I have the dots on the viewfinder over the horse but my camera at times, will still have the horse blurry, but the background in sharp focus. It is very annoying. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Thu Oct 13, 2016 1:45 am

Type of camera (manufacturer and model) and lens??

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Suzon » Thu Oct 13, 2016 1:48 am

Flight, sounds like your camera is focused on the background. You'll need to pre-focus where the horse will be when he jumps. I usually pick the top rail of the fence.

If there's motion blur, then your shutter speed isn't fast enough. Try shooting in shutter-speed priority with a chosen shutter speed of at least 1/1000.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Thu Oct 13, 2016 1:50 am

So is it a moth or a butterfly?

Usually moths rest with wings open while butterflies usually rest with them closed (tented) and occasionally opening and then closing them again.

RTR, where are you selling your photos (i.e., what web site)?

Yes, butterflies are annoying little buggers to try to shoot... I'd get the butterfly in focus and press the shutter for 3 photos then look and the butterfly had its wings open. But most of the photos didn't get that :( (and it was weird, when I loaded the images in (raw) to LR, it was like the order was "jumbled" my groups of 3 were not adjacent to each either. Most annoying and frustrating.

Kinda how annoying hummers are to shoot... or quail (Gambels to be specific) these don't hold still either :)

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Flight » Thu Oct 13, 2016 3:53 am

My camera is a Canon 550D and lenses are what came with it - an 18-55mm and 55 - 250. I usually have the 55- 250 on it.

Thanks, I will try both those tips!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Thu Oct 13, 2016 1:21 pm

Flight wrote:Can I ask very basic/dumb photography questions?

I have tried to understand the whole shutter/ISO/aperture settings and played around with them, but I am still better off using the auto settings and then a bit of photoshop to adjust lighting etc. I just can't seem to get my head around understanding and getting a decent photo using manual settings.

Now my simple question is this, when you take a motion pic (ie jumping) , I have it on sports mode, and so its on continuous focus, I half press the shutter button (or whatever it's called to take the pic) then full press a moment later when I want the pic. I have the dots on the viewfinder over the horse but my camera at times, will still have the horse blurry, but the background in sharp focus. It is very annoying. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?


To be completely honest, if the action is fast and furious and taking place in multiple locations, like a large arena, I shoot in RAW (I always shoot in RAW anyway) with shutter priority with auto iso and wb and continuous 3d tracking with the camera on continuous shooting HI. I fix what needs to be fixed later in Lightroom. You should be able to focus on the horse a few strides out and track it over the jump with little issue, I would think. Caveat- I know little about Canon products.

As Suzon said, I set the shutter at a minimum of 1000. If it's nice and bright out, I'll even go up to 2000 sometimes.

WMW- I had the same issue of burst shooting to get "the shot", but still missing it with my older FX camera, but now that I have the d500, forgetaboutit. That camera is so stinking fast and I could shoot a burst of over 200 without buffering if I wanted. It's ridiculous. People standing around me, other photographers even, all stop and stare when I fire that thing off. Then the questions start "OMG, what are you shooting with? How fast is that thing??", etc... Not that shooting in burst is always ideal, nor is spray and pray an effective style, but sometimes it's just fun to see what you can do and get...lol.

I just make galleries through PASS to sell my photos currently, and post them on my Facebook business page. Sometimes I'll post a few photos of something random I shot on my Facebook and someone will message asking if they can purchase a print. When that happens, I'll make a new PASS album and post the link so they can purchase whatever they want.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Thu Oct 13, 2016 2:37 pm

WMW -- it's a butterfly. Skippers are a type of butterflies that look a lot like moths because of their sturdy bodies. Some of them hold their wings open, some hold them closed. There are hundreds of different species (thousands worldwide) and some are really hard to ID because many of them look so similar to another.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skipper_(butterfly)

They're typically small or smaller, stout, and brown...LOL


I have only encountered a handful of butterfly species that I have NOT been able to shoot with their wings open :) The yellows and sulphurs seem to be the hardest (for me!) to get with their wings open!

Personally I find Hummingbirds and butterflies easy to shoot. With Hummers, you have to pick your spot and stay there, and let them come to you. After they get used to the shooting sound, they won't even flinch.

Butterflies need to be slowly stalked if you have a lot of space where they roam (like my garden, they have hundreds of flowers to pick from, and they do roam...LOL). Sure, some species are more flighty than others, and even some individual butterflies are flightier than others in an otherwise "docile" species, but you can generally tell pretty quick if it's worth stalking them or not.


Flight -- make sure you only have set it to one single focus point and not several, and like others said, pre-focus on the obstacle, or where the horse is going to be.



RTR -- thanks for the new angles, that's definitely a Long-tailed Skipper - that iridescent blue-green gives it away :)
Poor thing has had a hard life, and the wings are torn up, that's why I didn't see the long tail at first!

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/spec ... us-proteus

BTW, there is no such thing as going overboard with shooting butterflies :)
I have some 700 butterflies on Shutterstock alone, and the amount on my hard drive that will never see the daylight, is multiplied in tens - how many - I couldn't tell you, LOL!

Nowadays my criteria is A) to get a better shot than the old one of a species or B) shoot a species I don't have already. The latter is hard, very hard, as I basically only shoot in my yard, and my species count is 50+ :) I don't think the other ones will readily show up....


Back when I started shooting stock I had NO clue what I would be shooting, I was grasping for straws. It was early summer, and then the butterflies showed up! I love shooting them, and I love learning about each new species I shoot. I don't claim to be an expert on any level, but in these six years I have grown to absolutely love them, and I guess I could say I'm half-way obsessed by them :) They're awesome :)
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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Thu Oct 13, 2016 3:45 pm

Racetrackreject wrote:[WMW- I had the same issue of burst shooting to get "the shot", but still missing it with my older FX camera, but now that I have the d500, forgetaboutit. That camera is so stinking fast and I could shoot a burst of over 200 without buffering if I wanted.
...
I just make galleries through PASS to sell my photos currently, and post them on my Facebook business page. Sometimes I'll post a few photos of something random I shot on my Facebook and someone will message asking if they can purchase a print. When that happens, I'll make a new PASS album and post the link so they can purchase whatever they want.


My challenge is having the lens pointed in the right direction at the right time, not the speed of shooting :) Got everything else, single focal point, focus, multiple exposures, check exposure compensation etc :) I do occasionally struggle with "moving around" that 70-200 as it is heavy and those hummers are fast :)

I have occasionally filled my D750's buffer so it won't take the shot for a second or two but if I wait long enough between bursts, I am usually ok.

I will look into PASS. I go through phases where I think my photos (well some anyway) are "good enough" to sell and then other phases where I think just not hardly :)

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Suzon » Thu Oct 13, 2016 3:57 pm

Racetrackreject wrote: To be completely honest, if the action is fast and furious and taking place in multiple locations, like a large arena, I shoot in RAW (I always shoot in RAW anyway) with shutter priority with auto iso and wb and continuous 3d tracking with the camera on continuous shooting HI. I fix what needs to be fixed later in Lightroom. You should be able to focus on the horse a few strides out and track it over the jump with little issue, I would think. Caveat- I know little about Canon products.


One of the problems with tracking the horse a few strides out is the camera often mistakes the jump standard for the horse right at the critical point. Shooting horses over fences is pretty predicable, so setting the focus point beforehand can really make things simple. Focus, watch the knees, click. Maybe take a landing photo. It's actually a good starting subject to learn to take action.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Thu Oct 13, 2016 4:57 pm

Suzon wrote:
Racetrackreject wrote: To be completely honest, if the action is fast and furious and taking place in multiple locations, like a large arena, I shoot in RAW (I always shoot in RAW anyway) with shutter priority with auto iso and wb and continuous 3d tracking with the camera on continuous shooting HI. I fix what needs to be fixed later in Lightroom. You should be able to focus on the horse a few strides out and track it over the jump with little issue, I would think. Caveat- I know little about Canon products.


One of the problems with tracking the horse a few strides out is the camera often mistakes the jump standard for the horse right at the critical point. Shooting horses over fences is pretty predicable, so setting the focus point beforehand can really make things simple. Focus, watch the knees, click. Maybe take a landing photo. It's actually a good starting subject to learn to take action.



Absolutely true, but I usually position myself where the standard doesn't factor in, or try to anyway. My hand eye coordination is not the greatest, so I don't trust it much. Like all of us, I've ridden, so I know about striding and when horses should take off, so I use that knowledge to help me. I also listen, I have an idea in my head o f when the arc will be once I hear the pat of a horse taking off. Of course I"m far from being a real pro or fantastic sports photographer!!!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Wed Oct 19, 2016 9:02 pm

We're having one of the biggest butterfly invasions in my garden that I've ever seen! They must be doing their last mad dash before the warm weather ends.

I spent most of this morning trying to catch them on video as well as pics - there are Monarchs, two species of Fritillaries, dozens of Skippers, Painted Ladies, Common Buckeyes, several species of yellows / sulphurs, some Hairstreaks, and several species of small moths on top.

Sadly, it's partly cloudy, so the sun is in/out of the clouds all the time and that makes getting decent video clips really hard, because the lighting changes a lot really quickly.

But, I got at least one new species I didn't have before, so that's a bonus! :)
Face masks! Bandanas! Posters, mugs, cards etc - http://www.zazzle.com/okiepony/products -- Horses, cats, butterflies, Hummingbirds, quotes, sillies, patterns - everything!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Flight » Thu Oct 20, 2016 12:19 am

Just want to say thanks for the tips! I've been away for work and haven't had a chance to have a go with the camera and see what happens, but when I do I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Thu Oct 20, 2016 7:26 pm

Oooh, I want to see butterfly pics!! =P

How does one go about pricing commercial work? I have a company that wants to put one of my photos on the side of their truck. I have no idea how to even go about pricing such a thing. It's not a typical company that would have branches or more then local exposure really, more like if a barn wanted to put an image you took on one of their show trucks type of deal. Not the same, but similar. Any suggestions?

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Thu Oct 20, 2016 9:43 pm

I really have not a clue but if it was me (I?), I'd probably do a bit of mutual "circling"... just one truck or more trucks or more than trucks (business cards, business sign, etc. Do they want the digital rights to the image or just this one copy?

Have a price in your mind of what you think you'd like and ask them what they were thinking to pay and see how far apart you are and who's $$ figure is higher. If they are higher, yippee! If they are lower, I might drop my mental price a bit and give them that as "this is what I was thinking" and see how they react. I'd try to get them to make the first actual $ figure.

How badly do you want to get your art on the side of a truck?? Makes a difference too. If you're meh about it, stand firm on the price. If you want the "free'" advertising then might be worth it to drop your price a bit if your mental price was way over their "offer".

Just how I'd do it... YMMV :)

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Fri Oct 21, 2016 7:47 pm

RTR - I'm *really* bad nowadays with lacking the motivation for editing any pics - I just shoot and then move them on my PC, and then promptly leave them. Lots of times I don't even bother to look through them to cull the out-of-focus ones... :|


As far as pricing pics for different purposes - you could always sign up for a buyer's acct at Alamy or Shutterstock, and see what they charge for similar use, and go from there. It would give you a good idea for a fair market price.
Face masks! Bandanas! Posters, mugs, cards etc - http://www.zazzle.com/okiepony/products -- Horses, cats, butterflies, Hummingbirds, quotes, sillies, patterns - everything!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Sat Oct 22, 2016 10:03 pm

Here is a link to my port at Shutterstock, with just butterflies selected and newest pics first. The first eight rows are from this year, the ones after that are from last year's pics.

The newest were submitted about a month ago - I haven't added (or worked on) any butterflies since. I think I need to do something to find my motivation, whatever rock it is hiding under... :(
Face masks! Bandanas! Posters, mugs, cards etc - http://www.zazzle.com/okiepony/products -- Horses, cats, butterflies, Hummingbirds, quotes, sillies, patterns - everything!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Mon Oct 24, 2016 4:11 pm

Video (GoPro, so no closeups ) of the butterflies the other day - starting with two little moths --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti_LElBwqXY
Face masks! Bandanas! Posters, mugs, cards etc - http://www.zazzle.com/okiepony/products -- Horses, cats, butterflies, Hummingbirds, quotes, sillies, patterns - everything!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Mon Oct 24, 2016 4:49 pm

SnowHorse wrote:Here is a link to my port at Shutterstock, with just butterflies selected and newest pics first. The first eight rows are from this year, the ones after that are from last year's pics.

The newest were submitted about a month ago - I haven't added (or worked on) any butterflies since. I think I need to do something to find my motivation, whatever rock it is hiding under... :(



I've only managed to look at the first page, but really lovely!

I keep saying that I'm going to get into trying some photos for stock photography, but I just haven't made myself get around to it yet.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Mon Oct 24, 2016 4:56 pm

I sponsored a costume contest at the playday this week and we had some really fun costumes. Way more participants than I could have imagined!

Some of our winners- Runaway Bride (my watermarks went funky for some reason. that is the whole picture so not sure why it's cut off!!)
Image

Lady Guinevere
Image

Called herself Pink Tutu..lol
Image

Grand prize winner- Indian
Image

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby SnowHorse » Mon Oct 24, 2016 7:34 pm

Racetrackreject wrote:
I've only managed to look at the first page, but really lovely!

I keep saying that I'm going to get into trying some photos for stock photography, but I just haven't made myself get around to it yet.


I don't expect anyone to browse through them all, haha :) It was more like - "yeah, I sometimes actually do get them presentable, and here are the latest ones" :)


Stock is certainly not something one needs to do - and a lot of headaches and work without any returns can be avoided by neglecting it completely - LOL.

Yeah, some people can do well, but it's a rarity at best, and for most it's just a hobby that pays them a dime or two every now and then.

The real players are the ones with either solid, and I mean SOLID background in graphic design or related work, where they know how to produce absolute top notch work, OR image factories that push hundreds of pics every day. The market is so saturated it's hard to slip in any more. Yeah, most agencies prioritize new people - but that's ONLY because they profit more for selling their pics - and once you become an "older face" it's a serious uphill battle that you can't win.




The costume contest pics are great - and I love the winner. In Cowboy Country, the Natives must win :P :D
Face masks! Bandanas! Posters, mugs, cards etc - http://www.zazzle.com/okiepony/products -- Horses, cats, butterflies, Hummingbirds, quotes, sillies, patterns - everything!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Mon Oct 24, 2016 11:09 pm

Me? I liked Pink Tutu the best :)

And great photos!

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Mon Nov 14, 2016 2:06 pm

Thanks WMW!!

I did a photoshoot for one of the girls I met while shooting playdays. She's a teenager and had some pinteresty type stuff she wanted to try and we also played around a bit just to see how different stuff would work out. It was a lot of fun and she and her horses were good sports. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few of the shots we took. I don't shoot portraits often (just not my thing really), but once I posted this girl's sneak peek, I received massive requests for portraits, so I may have to rethink that philosophy. lol

These are not final edits, but just a 5 sec RAW to JPG conversion with slight cropping.

Image


Image

Image

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:31 pm

Love the joy in her face in the first one... :)

Sounds like a good exercise for you to mess around with. I hear you on portraits but maybe a little extra income would be nice :D

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Tue Nov 15, 2016 3:27 pm

WheresMyWhite wrote:Love the joy in her face in the first one... :)

Sounds like a good exercise for you to mess around with. I hear you on portraits but maybe a little extra income would be nice :D



Oh yes, she loves her horses. She was telling me that the more she's around her horses, the less she likes people. lol I think that may be true for a lot of us.

Typically, if I want to buy a new piece of gear or pay off something I charged, I release a limited number of sessions that have to be booked before X date. The base price will cover whatever I need it to, and the additional product purchases are just gravy. I only release 10 digitals from these sessions, but I take a hundreds and clients always end up buying more. Not bad for a 30 minute session.

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby WheresMyWhite » Tue Nov 15, 2016 3:32 pm

I like that business model :)

Maybe I need to get on your Christmas list :D

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby Racetrackreject » Wed Nov 16, 2016 4:52 pm

WheresMyWhite wrote:I like that business model :)

Maybe I need to get on your Christmas list :D


Whatever works right? lol

Doing a shoot with a mom, dad, 2 teenage kids, and horses and dogs this weekend. Should be interesting..lol

These were outtakes, but the girl wants to them anyway

Image

Image

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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby viscountessleftfield » Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:42 pm

I haven't been around much this fall - it's the busiest we've ever been, throw in a baby, an auto immune flare, a case of pneumonia (me), the flu (hubby), tummy surgery (baby), a car accident, and that's where we are.

Here's a few of my little man, I'll post a few of our recent clients, too.
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Re: General Photography Discussion 2

Postby viscountessleftfield » Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:45 pm

It's only letting me add three at a time today - wonder why?
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