My wife and I went to the Eugene Pro Rodeo for the Fourth of July, and I couldn’t resist bringing along my camera. The final day was bull riding only, and I was excited to take a crack at shooting the event. The snarling, 1,500-pound bulls and a little bit of pre-dusk light made for some cool opportunities, but I’m afraid I missed out on most of them.
For starters, I was sitting in the stands, in the middle of the arena, second row. The wannabe photographer in me really wanted to cruise behind the bleachers over to the gates to get a better vantage point. The husband in me stayed put and made do.
My vantage point made it difficult to avoid annoying background noise, such as all the signage around the inside of the arena. I am, however, starting to get a better feel for my Canon Rebel XS and understanding both its limitations and mine. That’s been a big learning curve, on both accounts. These are all shot at the max 1/4000 shutter speed and with auto focus. I continue struggling with the auto focus, because the camera tends to lock on to something behind the subject and, since I’m firing continuously, I end up with a series of photos with semi-blurry subjects (such as the face of the bull rider in the shot below). I don’t trust myself enough yet to use manual focus on things like this, but I’ll continue practicing with it. Photogs — if you’ve got any tips on this front, drop me a comment below.
The other thing I struggle mightily with while shooting live action is keeping my horizon straight. I’m guessing a lot of beginning photographers have difficulty with this one while shooting live action, but I thought I was being mindful of it until I got my pictures up on my computer and saw how crooked some of them were. I was able to fix most of them with the Free Transform tool and some cropping, but others were so crooked I didn’t bother posting them. Again, I’d appreciate any tips at all from those of you who know what you’re doing.
I also took photos of the pre-rodeo motorcycle jumping and cow hide racing.
I dunno Adam, I think you got some pretty good action shots here. For me (someone who knows nothing about photography other than, what to me, looks great) these photos are pretty darn good! I think you are both a very good photographer and a very good husband:) Lucky lady she is who’s hubby stayed there and enjoyed all this with her:) xoxo
Hey Adam,
Those are pretty good shots for being in the stands. Dunno what kind of lens you're using, but I suspect it doesn't open very wide. Not a problem when starting out… we all started somewhere. First thing is don't be afraid to crop (maybe you already have?). A lot of the extra stuff can be cropped out. As with most sports (and other pix for that matter), faces tell the story so cropping in close to the cowboy and bull would be an idea (shot #5 could be really cut in tight). Having all the bull in all the shots isn't necessary. Also, I noticed all of them are horiz. Maybe look to see how you could crop to vertical?
The light in the pix is real nice, and despite being the good husband, getting up and poking around for backlight, other angles, etc. would also be a big help. But I'd look at this as being practice for when you're stuck in one position and have to make do with what you have.
Keep it up, and keep in touch!
Thanks Rich, I appreciate it, man. Lens is a Canon EFS 55-250, f/4-5.6…I wanted to give myself a little bit of zoom but start off small(ish) and cheap(ish).
Yeah, I have cropped all of these, at least a little bit, but I think sometimes I'm a little too conservative with my cropping. And now that you mention it, I do have a tendency to crop shots into horizontal rectangles…not sure what that's all about, but I'm definitely gonna go back and take another look at some of these crops.
Thanks again, dude…I really appreciate it!
Thanks. I was kinda happy with a couple of ’em, but there are technical things that I really want to improve on. I’ve been spoiled, working with top-notch photographers throughout my career, and there are things that they do that I want to be able to do. I’m aware that having a DSLR camera (albeit a bottom-line one) ensures that a certain amount of my shots are gonna come out looking pretty good…or at the very least, better than those taken with a point-and-shoot or cell phone camera. But I’m looking to get to the next level of photography, so that’s why I’m always trying to solicit advice from photographers in these posts.
Hey Adam,
Those are pretty good shots for being in the stands. Dunno what kind of lens you’re using, but I suspect it doesn’t open very wide. Not a problem when starting out… we all started somewhere. First thing is don’t be afraid to crop (maybe you already have?). A lot of the extra stuff can be cropped out. As with most sports (and other pix for that matter), faces tell the story so cropping in close to the cowboy and bull would be an idea (shot #5 could be really cut in tight). Having all the bull in all the shots isn’t necessary. Also, I noticed all of them are horiz. Maybe look to see how you could crop to vertical?
The light in the pix is real nice, and despite being the good husband, getting up and poking around for backlight, other angles, etc. would also be a big help. But I’d look at this as being practice for when you’re stuck in one position and have to make do with what you have.
Keep it up, and keep in touch!
Thanks Rich, I appreciate it, man. Lens is a Canon EFS 55-250, f/4-5.6…I wanted to give myself a little bit of zoom but start off small(ish) and cheap(ish).
Yeah, I have cropped all of these, at least a little bit, but I think sometimes I’m a little too conservative with my cropping. And now that you mention it, I do have a tendency to crop shots into horizontal rectangles…not sure what that’s all about, but I’m definitely gonna go back and take another look at some of these crops.
Thanks again, dude…I really appreciate it!
Adam,
Phenomenal peak action stuff, dude! Rich’s suggestions on crops were spot on. I’d like to add that on the image slugged “bull_1” you can even go in tighter than that for an artsier approach. What really grabs me in that image is the rope of snot coming from the animal’s nostrils backdropped against a clean, black background. It really pops and epitomizes the power of the animal. Maybe crop in to take out the the wrangler in blue on the left. Just my two cents on that one.
You know as well as any of us that clean backgrounds are always strived for in sports photography. That being said, I recommend investing in a faster lens (i.e. 70-200 f2.8). When shooting all sports, I always shoot at 2.8, even in broad daylight. The depth of field is greater, and isolates your subject. Also, I know it’s difficult from where you were situated, but try to shoot full frame in camera. What I mean by this is that try to pre-visualize the image cropped and edited within the viewfinder. This takes a lot, I mean, A LOT of patience and trial and error, but it’s a good habit to have, and will push your shooting skills to the max.
You’re definitely on the way, buddy. You’ve always had the eye for color, composition, and form even when we worked together. That’s one aspect that you capitalize on, because not every photographer has that. With this in mind, you can concentrate on making your photos say to the viewer “This is an Adam Sparks photo,” because it’s really your vision that creates that. I’ll definitely be visiting your blog regularly!! 🙂 Keep in touch, bud!
Thanks for the feedback, Jamm…great stuff. I added a tighter crop on the image you suggested, and you’re right, it looks much better…draws more focus to the bull and that snot rope. I’m noticing in cropping I have a tendency to do one of two things: center my subject or have the subject off to the far left or the far right if there’s negative space to take advantage of. I need to not restrict myself with those things, and in this case, I think I was trying too hard to center both bull and rider, forcing myself into those boundaries. It’s a good lesson that I’ll remember, both when cropping and shooting.
A faster lens…definitely on the list. Probably will be the next “toy” I spend money on, but might not be able to do it for a while.
I definitely appreciate you taking the time, bro…this is really helpful.