A Day at the Rodeo

[malechi]

Here are a couple of shots I took at a roping event in San Angelo, TX this past weekend. CC is always welcome.

Shot #1 1/1000sec @ f/5.6, ISO 200
70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110mm

Shot #2 Shot #1 1/1000sec @ f/5.6, ISO 200
70-200mm f/2.8 @ 180mm

[Ben H]

The first one is a great action shot - it's framed well, good contrast. I'd probably true to blue out the background (the crowd) as it's a litle distracting, and it would shift focus to the subject.

Not keen on the second pic at all - for me it looks more like a snapshot - the framing is scrappy, and it just is not in the same league as the first pic.

[malechi]

Thanks. For the second picture, I really like the look of the horse. I can understand how it looks like a snapshot though.

[PaulaLynn]

Hi, I'm only critiquing here in hopes someone can critique my critique... LOL... as in "I'm just learning myself, and want to test my own knowledge"... here goes, I think the first may not be "metered" properly? It looks to me like the crowd is exposed properly while the focus of the image, (they cowboy) is under-exposed. Am I right in thinking this? What metering mode would have been the best to use for this shot or am I completely off the mark and need to hit the books again?

[Ben H]

From what I can see, the highlights are Ok, so the exposure is good. The camera was probably in evaluative mode, so it was picking the exposure for the overall image.

(If the exposure was in spot metering mode, and with the horses as the spot source, then the shadow side would be lighter, but with the risk of the highlights elsewhere in the image blowing out.)

The subject itself is backlit, so the foreground side of the horses are in shadow. Typically, on the shoot, some fill flash might have evened those out a bit, but you can dodge them in post to bring up the shadows.

[malechi]

Evaluative is correct. I'll do some dodging and post the results. I was too far away to use fill flash.

[malechi]

Here's what I've done so far.