Settings Advice

[Photofarmer]

Going to a horse show tommorow.
Just a practice fun day for me.
F4.5 5.8 Shutter 1/1000 auto Iso i guess.
Sun will be behind me to start.
Rf 70/200 2.8L R6ii.

BBF of course Animal Eye focus or people presume animal or should i do both?
Look at images and decide presuming animal will be best.
Trotting occasional canter no galloping wildly.

Thanks for advice

 

[Kamoshika]

I've never shot horses with my R6ii, so just guessing, but I would keep my ISO on auto and see what you can get away with, light permitting. If you goal is to freeze the action and get both rider and horse (most of it, at least, depending on its angle), I'd go a little higher on shutter and F stop (but in M mode, those are both quick dial turns). Also, which eye are you going to focus on, rider or horse? I have my DOF button on the front customized to cycle through the AF focus areas and my Multi-function button set to cycle through the subject tracking modes. I find this helpful to make quick changes as needed. For example, whole AF area might go for the rider's eye instead of the horse's or vice versa, so I'd quickly change it to something smaller like Flexible Zone AF 1. Or with the other, I can quickly change from animal to people...or to none (when I want an static spot focus).

Anyway, I look forward to seeing your results here. Sounds like a fun day of shooting.

 

[AntonLargiader]

Sounds pretty reasonable but not so sure about the auto ISO. Horses can fill a lot of the frame, and there are nearly white ones and nearly black ones. I think I would go full manual and keep an eye out for blinkies. Drop the ISO as the day gets brighter.

 

[Rhino]

Going to a horse show tommorow.
Just a practice fun day for me.
F4.5 5.8 Shutter 1/1000 auto Iso i guess.
Sun will be behind me to start.
Rf 70/200 2.8L R6ii.

BBF of course Animal Eye focus or people presume animal or should i do both?
Look at images and decide presuming animal will be best.
Trotting occasional canter no galloping wildly.

Thanks for advice

This is no different than shoot any sport or even weddings. Your choice for settings will be based on lighting. Period. What time of day or evening are we talking about?

APERTURE: Let’s say you have an abundance of light. The most important subject in the shot is the human. Since this is practice, I might consider shooting with an aperture between f3.5 and 5 to see if f3.5 is enough. Maybe start with f5. The light will change if you’re there for a couple/few hours. That means shutter speeds may need to change, which also means your ISO will too.

ISO: I like to make things brainless when possible. If I have to remember to make changes along the way, then I want to only make a small amount. For that reason, I would shoot with auto ISO. In fact, I only set ISO for still shots like portraits.

SHUTTER SPEED: This one is most important. Well, they all are, but you’re taking action shots. If you have the other 2 exposure settings working out, but have too slow of a shutter speed, you’re wasting your time. You’ll have movement and blur.

For, sports shooting at well lit stadiums, my goal is to have a MINIMUM of 1/1000, but will not hesitate to shoot at higher speeds if I can get away with it. Preferably 1/1250 or more. Thats why shooting in the daytime is so easy. With that said, you don’t always have the luxury of lighting, which is when you start sacrificing the other 2 settings.

So if you’re outside and the day is perfect, see what you get at faster SS’s. The R6 will do quite well if the ISOs go up because a cloud rolls in or the sun is setting. Adjust for the LIGHTING. Your shots will look fine at ISO 4000-5000, though not preferred. Your R6 is a beast like that.

FV MODE: This is one thing Canon absolutely nailed! Make sure you check this out. It’s like a better and easier way to manage shooting manually. You must learn how to look through the lens while making these simple changes on the fly. No more looking away to change ISOs or whatever. My R5 never moves from that mode.

I love being able to make all exposure triangle changes while I’m shooting. Check it out!

I hope this helps.

 

[Photofarmer]

thanks for all advice main point question is animal eye or people eye

 

[Rhino]

thanks for all advice main point question is animal eye or people eye

Humans are your subjects…so people.

 

[AntonLargiader]

Depends who you are shooting for. Many riders would consider the horse the subject. If you're just shooting for yourself, what do YOU think the subject is?

 

[Rhino]

I’ve spent a great deal of time shooting sports. I’ve learned to do my best at seeing the eyes of subjects. I could understand if there was no rider on the horse, but when there is a rider, I believe it’s the rider. In my eyes the rider the should be crispest part of the photo.

When I shoot animal shows at rodeo, the money I make comes by capturing people doing what they do. Lighting is generally only okay, so I have to shoot between f3.2 and 3.5.

I don’t shoot for myself very often, but the same mindset applies when I do.

 

[Photofarmer]

Wife breeds horses we have 37.
This is what I will be shooting.

 

[Rhino]

I like. What were your settings?

 

[Photofarmer]

First lesson learnt jet black horses and shadows and shadows from other horses tad difficult

 

[Photofarmer]

heres a few can only improve

 

[Photofarmer]

Pic1 if that was F8 rather than F4 riders face may have been in focus?

 

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

Nice pics @Photofarmer ! FWIW I have found my favorite aperture for fast action to be F4. Still a good amount of light and the depth of field is a bit forgiving, yet it’ll still give you a nice background.