# How would yall shoot horse flag racing.



## jdramirez (Oct 16, 2013)

flag race at westeren horse show

So I got a job shooting this "sport" this weekend. The weather is supposed to be reasonably nice, partly cloudy. I'm not 100% sure that what you see in the video is exactly how the event will go down, but I don't think it is far off either. 

My settings and gear will be as follows: 5D mkiii, 70-200mm f/2.8L Is mkii, Canon 1.4 teleconvertor mkii. Maybe I'll need to the convertor... maybe not... 

When I shoot out in the sun and a cloud passes over head, I will shoot in Aperture priority. Yes... manual... but I really don't pay that much attention to whether the sun is bright or not... so aperture priority it is. I was also thinking 640 iso and f/4 with the teleconvertor. The other day when I was shooting football, my shutter speeds ranged from 1/3000 to 1/6000 give of take... so I think that is a good option at the moment. 

However... when I shoot football, I can keep my subject in focus using AI Servo and I don't lose them too often. But when I am shooting a person and a horse, I don't want a shallow depth of field with the horse in focus and the the person blurred. I'm not sure the Camera will be able to distinguish which subject I want actually in focus. Per the depth of field calculator, at f/4, 200mm, and 30ft away, I will have 1.61 feet of depth of field. I'm guessing, but I think I need at least 4 feet of DOF to definitely get both. If I shoot at f/8 with the 200/30... then I have 3.2 ft... and I think that might be my best bet. That will probably mean that I will have to kick the iso up to 2500... but maybe it will be sunny-ish... and I won't have to go that high.

I do plan on doing post in LR4, so I can remove the grain... though I am annoyed I have to. 

Now that that is figured out... where do I position myself. That circle was crazy boring to look at. I don't want to see the horses ass and the rider going away... so I was thinking of setting up initially to the left of the subject and getting the start, and then the first and 2nd turn... and I know I won't be able to run back to get the final ramming the stick in position... so... yeah. Where do I settle and move to. If they were jumping... ok... side and front... but this is going in a circle. 

And I was thinking... oh a low angle shot with me laying on the ground might work... but I not head on because all I would see is the horse... maybe at a side angle. But I think I will just need to get a step stool and shoot at near eye level to get the shot I want.

I also considered doing a 1/30 of a second pan shot so I can get the motion of the legs and hopefully the person nice and sharp... 

So if yall have any suggestions, I'm wiling to hear them. I'd like to do a shallow depth of field... blurring out the background and the patrons... but that would definitely have to be done at a 20ish degree angle.

Any help is much appreciated... even just talking it out will help me feel more confident on what I want to do at the event.


----------



## jdramirez (Oct 16, 2013)

I talked to a friend and she said that she prefers eye level images... so I need to add a step stool and s board so the ferry don't get sick down in the mud/ dirt.


----------

