Showjumping photography is an enjoyable challenge for photographers of every level of skill and If you are a horserider or you know someone that is, our showjumping photography course is a great introduction.
One of the challenges is that you can’t get very close to the horses as they compete so a telephoto zoom lens in the range of 70 to 200mm will help enormously.
If your camera has the ability to shoot at high=speed that will help to capture the action as the horse approaches the fences or is turning.
Although obviously horses are famously unpredictable the setting of the competition gives you predictability of where the horse will be and when, giving you the chance to prepare your shot to capture the shot as the horse prepares to make its jump.
Working with our friends at Birtle Riding Centre we can get into the best places to capture the horse head on or side on the camera to freeze the action mid-jump.
If your camera doesn’t have a fast auto-focus then it’s still possible to capture the shot you want by pre-focussing on the jump obstacle and releasing the shutter as the horse begins its jump.
For extra control, try this with the auto-focus off as this can sometimes create lag between the shutter button and the camera firing.
Of course you might want to focus on the rider rather than the horse. The concentration on a rider’s face can make an excellent study, but it is a challenge in a head on shot to have both the rider and the horse’s head in focus.
A shutter speed of 1/500th is generally fast enough to get the right crispness in your image and then work on your depth of field.
A horse rising is almost always a more appealing shot than landing but a rider’s face at this point can be very expressive!
All of these suggestions and techniques will hopefully be covered on showjumping photography course on 24th August which starts at 1pm and will last for about three hours. The price per person is £30.
