taking jumping pictures

[laura jeanne]

I am going to be taking pictures of some of my instructor's students while they are jumping. She asked me because I have a digital camera.

I've seen lots of jumping pictures, but any suggestions on how to get the best shots? I would hate to have a lot of pictures that just weren't quite right!

My camera does have a Sports Mode which takes 3 pics every 2 seconds (or something like that), so maybe I should just start taking them at the beginning of the jump and hope for the best? Also, not sure of the angle to take them at.

Thanks!

[Ryoko]

just test it out first see how they turn out from different angles and effects etc. does your camera have a delay? my digicam does so maybe u should take it as they are coming up to the jump. i've not had a chance to test out that idea as i'm the only one in my family who jumps and i cant get any pictures of myself can i :rolleyes: oh well! good luck and tell us how it goes :D...post them up here too please :D hehe

[shaka]

I do 'Event' photography at my yard so hopefully I can help!
I've never been one for digitals, but I'll try my best!
What I would advise is to put your camera on Sports. Try and get a reasonably high shutter speed and wide appeture if you can control it. Taking 3 pics every 2 seconds isn't going to do asnything for you, cos in 2 seconds the horse will usually be over the fence. I personally always take the photo when I want it. I never take the photo 'on the approach and hope for the best' because then thats what you get, a picture of the approach. If you have a video camera, try practicing on that. If you are taking a jumping shot from the side, the best pic is when they are in mid air, or are quite far in the take off.
This is a pretty good 'side on' shot. (it's a bit dark but anyway) The horse is in the right stage of take off, all the horse and rider is in shot, and the pic is in focus

[shaka]

You must also make sure you have your fence in the right place, so there isn't to much space in front or behind. Always take the photo with the sun behind you, or you get 'splashes'. Taking photos from a frontways sideways on angle looks good as well. If you are taking a photo from the front, hold the camera portrait way up. Like the pic below. Make sure the light is good. Make sure you don't have a rubbish background where the horse is blended in, as that looks terrible.

[shaka]

Soz the above is blurry cos I had to resize it.
A good angle is like the one below. It's taken diagonally, so from the side, frontways on. This always looks good, you can see the horse clearly and the rider. The timing is good as well, but it is taken under a tree so the light isnt so great. The branch is across the riders hat.
happy snapping!

[kedwards]

I agree that you'll get the best jump shots if you work on taking one "great" photo rather than using the Sports Mode. After you take a couple, you'll get a better sense of when you need to push the shutter to get that perfect shot.

That said, as a riding student, I would still like to have some of the "sports mode" shots. Even if the shots aren't of a quality worthy of framing, having a series of shots showing approach, take-off, and landing would be very helpful for analyzing the rider's position.

[galadriel]

If your camera is at all like mine, then you may be able to get precisely the right picture. With mine you can push and hold the button halfway to get a focus, then push the rest of the way to take the picture. That way there is no delay while the camera focuses.

A nice pic is towards the top of the bascule, as the horse's forelegs are really tucked. This is a good position for the horse in the pic whatever the angle.

Be aware of what the horse is doing and try not to cross his path in order to get a better shot. At a horse trial recently, I saw a horse refuse at an up-stride-down bank, because the photographer moved in front of him as he was approaching it. She went from the side to the front to get an angled picture, and ended up directly opposite him briefly. The rider was penalized for the refusal.

[G.Gracious]

I'm getting a good camera for my birthday in July and i was wondering what i should get? I want something really quite good for taking action shots as well as stills. At the moment i have a really bad camera that cost about £12.99 from the Chemist :o Shaka, your pictures are amazing!! My aim is to take pics like that :D Which camera do you have? Does the camera even make a difference?

[Tangle]

G.Gracious - the camera will make a difference to a degree, but how you use it will be more important ;). Are you thinking of film or digital? Compact or SLR?

[G.Gracious]

Definately film :) What are SPL and compact cameras? My grandpa was an amazing photographer and i think his camera was an SPL, not sure what they mean though.

:confused:

[shaka]

It's SLR, it stands for Single Light Reflex. It means that the camera is used with film, not memory card and the appeture can be controlled, and the camera is like the one Galadriel and I have, where it has an auto and manual focus (where you push the bottom halfway down till it beeps or a circle appears). These are very good cameras if you want to take photos of good quality.
A compact camera is a basic 35mm camera. It's not digital or SLR, it's like the Disposable ones you can get.
Thanks G.Gracious, I have an EOS Cannon Rebel 2000 300/300 date SLR. The camera doesn't make all the difference, but it does make some. You can't take good sports photos on a compact camera as the shutter speed is not high enough. Having an SLR is good as you can control shutter speed and appeture. It's no good however, getting an SLR or high tec Digi if you can't use it though, so it works both ways. You still have to be able to camera very still, and allow headroom and legroom when you take the pic, or you end up with pics like the one below! It's not so much the camera really, now thinking about it, just thwe shutter speed. Get a good camera with a good shutter speed and appeture, preferably one you can control, and you'll get good shots!
SOz for the essay!

[sallym]

Shaka, your pictures are great - really professional.

[Charlie_Farlie]

Originally posted by sallym
Shaka, your pictures are great - really professional.

I agree :D :D They look very professional !!!!

[K&K]

Hey there :)

My mom is a professional photographer with a digital. When she's taking jumping shots, she sets her camera on "continuous mode" - basically, you focus on the fence, and when the horse enters the frame you press the button, and it rapidly takes a set of photos. You end up with a photo of the horse taking off, one in mid-bascule, one of the descent and one of the landing. That way, she can choose which one looks the best.

It works out especially well when she's taking photos of me - I can see my position at all stages of the jump.

Works great for getting that perfect canter shot as well.

[laura jeanne]

Shaka and everyone, thanks for all your help. My camera is a Nikon Coolpix 3200. I really have not figured out how to use it and I know that will be my biggest problem. I will study the manual and do some practicing.

Those are such great pictures- the scenery, the horses, the darling girls riding! I have not done any jumping but they look great to me.

I like all the angles these pics were taken at so I'll try everything and see what I get. I think she just needs a few good shots to put on a web site. The good thing about a digital camera is that you can immediately see the shot you took so you can figure out what to do differently is you don't like the ones you took. My camera seems to sometimes actually snap the picture way after I push the button, so maybe the light isn't good, or the battery is low or something.

It is very rainy here this weekend and I will be taking the pictures on Monday so I don't know how many practice shots I can get in this weekend.

Thanks again so much

[G.Gracious]

My friend's dad used to be a semi-proffesional photographer and he is going to give me a few photography lessons when i get my camera :) His pictures are amazing. The best picture of his that i've ever seen is a black sillouette of my friend leading her highland pony with the dog walking next to her (the shot was taken from behind them so you see their backs) and all you can see is this black sillouette with a gorgeous amber sun setting in the background...words can't explain it!!

[elise]

Just a note, SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. And you can buy Digital SLR cameras. The difference between regular digital and SLR is the digital SLR has a shutter like a normal film camera. And you can get very professional digital SLRs that take gorgeous photos.

[shaka]

I'd imagine it's slow due to bad light:)
Elise, really? I've enevr really like digitals to much, so pay no attention to what goes on with them. But the digital SLR's as far as I know, are very expensive? I do like the whole 'red room in a box' feature with digitals though!

[Tangle]

I agree with Elise - SLR = Single Lens Reflex, so called because the image you see through the view finder comes through the same lens as the image that goes to record (digital or film) - it's all done with mirrors :D . The other main feature about SLR's is that they tend to have interchangeable lenses. I have a Canon EOS 50E with 3 lenses (the number relates to the focal length, which relates to the amount of zoom) - a 28-80mm, 70-300mm and 50-500mm (which is a fantastic lens but really heavy). It is possible to get digital SLR's (DSLRs - inspired or what?) - although I think they're so called because they share the lens rather than because they retain a physical shutter (not totally sure - I think it's an "electronic shutter").

SLR's tend to have more options for manual control (aperture priority, shutter priority, full manual) but also now tend to come with preset "programme" modes - sport, landscape, portrait, etc, where the aperture &/or shutter speed are pre-set based on subject. Assuming the camera does auto-focus (and you can take extremely good photos without :)) it's relatively easy to avoid using it if you want to.

Compact cameras are exactly what they say on the tin - compact, ie much smaller and lighter than your average SLR. They almost alway have a built-on lens, and they will have a secondary view-finder that is usually towards the top of the camera body. If you look at the front you'll be able to see the second lens - this means that what you see in the view finder will differ to some degree from what will be recorded (but it's likely to be a fairly minor difference). However, don't assume that because they're compact they aren't sophisticated. I think it is possible to get compact cameras that allow you to do pretty well everything an SLR will bar change the lens, including manual focus. If you want to go this route dig out all the data you can. The web is a mine of info :).

Compact's have the advantage of being easy to transport and cheaper, but are limited to the zoom lens length that the manufacturer decided to build in (which will usually be relatively small - less than 150mm). SLR's tend to have added flexibility in how you take the picture (mine also has a continuous shoot mode at 3 frames per second for as much film as you have) faster shutter speeds, and allow you to change the lens. I think you can pre-focus both compacts and SLRs (depending on the model) by half-pressing the shutter and waiting for the beep.

You can take good pictures with a compact, but you can learn more about photography (and thereby hopefully achieve better images) with an SLR.

Laura Jeanne - you've found my main problem with most "cheap" digital cameras (where "cheap" is less than about 1500 pounds! - above this they use a different type of sensor that is more instantaneous, like in the Canon 1DS, at a mere 6kpounds :eek: ). The technology used to capture the image does result in a delay between the time you push the shutter and the time the image is actually captured. You might find that part of this time is related to focus and, as galadriel suggest, half-pressing the shutter while pointing at the jump may solve this. The rest is unavoidable and you'll just have to get good at anticipating by the right amount :(. If you want to know which it's likely to be try looking for your camera on either Steve's digicams (http://www.steves-digicams.com/) or DP review (http://www.dpreview.com) .

Shaka - by the way - I agree your photos are fantastic :D!

oh - and sorry for the long post - I think I got carried away :o

[FreedomStar]

I take pictures a lot of other people's lessons, just ofr fun, and to test my photography skills :D I have a digital camera, an olympus model to be exact. It's like galadriel's, I can press it down halfway, then just press the button down the rest of the way for the picture.