Dressage

[Bambi]

so I've been working on taking photos at horse shows. it provides some unique challenges in regards to lighting, backgrounds, motion, etc.,. Here's one from Sunday:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4996824241_9663d2f336_b.jpg

[Iguanasan]

I wouldn't change a thing. I'm sure you already know it would have been nice not to lose the detail in the highlights but shooting around 1:00pm in the afternoon makes it pretty hard. I think you have an excellent image here.

[asnow]

WOW. Another beautiful horse. Except for the small blown out highlights its perfect.

[MoinMoin]

Except for the small blown out highlights its perfect That's what I thought too, Bambi. You catched a very concentrated moment from both.

[Marko]

i like the sharpness here and it shows off the horse's movement very well!

[Bambi]

thank you all! I appreciate the comments. Do you have any suggestions about dealing with the blown highlights?

[Iguanasan]

Well, your settings were:

Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 116 mm
ISO Speed 200

So, if you had jumped to f8 or the next higher shutter speed you might have avoided the clipping. It depends on how blown it was. The problem is, however, that you may have had to go to f11 or higher. Once you start doing that you run the risk of losing the darks and her black jacket may have become a dark mass. It's a tough balancing act. What I do is meter off the whites and increase the shutter speed (or aperture) until I have the exposure I want and then check the blacks and choose the one I want to lose. It's very hard to do with a moving subject :)

[Bambi]

thanks for the help. it was hard to do a smaller aperture and keep the shutter speed up to get the movement. At least it was a cloudy day which helped. I was hoping that there would be some nice post processing method I could try :)

[Iguanasan]

Maybe someone else has a miracle cure up their sleeve but basically when you blow highlights or when you underexpose darks the detail is gone (or actually never captured). I'm afraid it ain't comin' back :(

[asnow]

When you have too much dynamic range it is is definetely a balancing act in metering for the highlights or shadows. It is my understanding (correct me if I am wrong) that in general you can recover more detail in underexposed than in overexposed. That's the term "meter to the right" (ie dont clip on the right in the histogram)

[Cadellin]

A good descriptive photo of a horse and rider. The main problem I find is that the rider doesn't stand out against the trees very well. They're both dark. If the background were blurred it might help.

[edbayani11]

since some areas are blown out, there is no other way but to 'cheat' by getting details from the nearby surrounding areas.
sorry i posted the photo without asking you first.