This past weekend I had the opportunity to photograph some horse jumping at a local event in the Hamilton area. This was my first experience with this type of subject matter so some intensive, on-site planning was required.
This is a very extensive article, so you may want to grab a cup of coffee or tea before diving into it. 🙂
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.
Penelope, the granddaughter of Gary… a long-time friend… was participating in the horse jumping event… and I had volunteered to do some photography for him.
My first challenge was deciding what lenses to bring with me. Initially I thought the M.Zuiko 12-100 mm f/4 PRO IS along with the M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS would be a good pairing. My plan was to mount the 100-400 on an E-M1X, and the 12-100 on my wife’s E-M1 Mark III… and use my Cotton Carrier G3 Harness for Two Cameras with this gear.
When I woke up on the morning of the event I reconsidered that decision. I had some reservations that the focal length range of the 12-100 would not be broad enough, so I decided to take my wife’s M.Zuiko 14-150 mm f/4-5.6 II zoom instead. I then replaced my 100-400 with the 150-600, as I had some concerns that I may need more reach than the 100-400 provided, depending on the size of the riding field.
Once I arrived at the facility I met up with my friend Gary so I could ask him about the competition, the number of rides Penelope would be doing, and the approximate duration of a horse jumping competitive ride.
I quickly discovered that the 150-600 was far too much lens for this particular event. As it turned out my concerns about the 12-100 were well founded… and the 14-150 ended up being the right choice.
After investigating the terrain and the competition field, I spent quite a bit of time studying the physical layout of the jump course as well as the route that the riders would follow. It became evident that my best physical position was along the fence line adjacent to jump number 8. This would enable me to quickly adjust my physical shooting position up and down the fence line as Penelope progressed through the horse jumping course.
I asked Gary how long it would take for Penelope to ride through the jump course. His reply was “It all happens pretty quickly.” When I asked him exactly what that meant he replied, “Likely less than one minute.” Then I discovered that she would not be doing any practice jumping on the course. Penelope would only get one opportunity to ride the jumping course. The pressure was on to get it right the first time as there was no second chance!
After memorizing the jump course sequence I studied the physical layout as I walked along the fence line. Jumps 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 were my best opportunities to get good jumping sequences. Jumps 6 and 9 represented the least promising opportunities, with jumps 5 and 7 having moderate potential in my mind.
I carefully checked all of my shooting angles as I would not be able to move very much during this fast paced horse jumping ride. This meant that I had to find very precise positions that would allow me to shoot around, over, or through the jumping structures. And, in some cases… ‘thread the needle’ with my shooting angles.
Once my shooting plan was firmly etched in my old brain, I needed to determine my camera settings. I decided to use Pro Capture L with my Pre-Shutter Frames set to 10, and the Frame Limiter turned off. I used a frame rate of 10 frames per second, with Continuous Auto-Focus (without tracking) and a single, small AF point. ISO was set to Auto. I used an aperture of f/8 to help ensure sufficient depth-of-field.
I was quite confident that these settings would give me the responsiveness and accuracy I would need given some of the very tight shooting angles I was facing.
What follows are consecutive groups of photographs from the 9 jumps on the course. These are separated by titles to give readers an opportunity to review where the jump was in relation to my shooting position near jump number 8. The diagram of the jump course is at the start of each section.
Jump Number 1
I moved up along the fence line to be positioned roughly parallel to Jump 2 before the horse jumping began. The last photograph in the Jump Number 1 series illustrates how tight the shooting angle was for these images.
Jump Number 2
This series of consecutive images was captured with me standing on the fence line roughly parallel to Jump 2. The first photograph shows the extreme tightness of the shooting angle used.
Jump Number 3
As soon as Penelope completed Jump 2 she had to wheel her horse “Bear” around to her left (more than 180-degrees) in order to make Jump 3. While she was doing that ‘wheel around’ motion I turned my back to the action and ran down the fence line a few steps and quickly positioned myself parallel to Jump 4. Then I turned around and was able to acquire focus on Penelope as she was approaching Jump 3. My shooting angle was between Jump 4 and Jump 8.
Jump Number 4
Since I was already positioned parallel to Jump 4 all I had to do was rotate my body about 45-degrees to my left in order to get a good shooting angle on Jump 4.
Jump Number 5
As Penelope turned “Bear” to her right and wheeled around to approach Jump 5 head-on, I moved very slightly down the fence line towards Jump 9 so I could get a clear shooting angle on Jump 5. This involved shooting just in front of Jump 1 and Jump 4 and over to the other side of the competition field.
Jump Number 6
I realized from the outset that given the speed of the action, and the distances between the jumps, that the best I could do with Jump 6 was to capture some back quarter shots of “Bear” rising up to jump. To get this shooting angle all I had to do was take a step or two forward towards Jump 8. This allowed me to ‘thread the needle’ between Jump 4 and Jump 3… and get my shooting angle on Jump 6.
Jump Number 7
By turning slightly to my right, and moving a step or two, I was able to ‘thread the needle’ between Jumps 4 and 8, and Jumps 3 and 2… to get a good shooting angle on Jump 7.
Jump Number 8
I had planned from the outset that the best chance of getting some close-up action shots was with Jump 8. All I had to do was adjust my focal length as Penelope and “Bear” made this jump.
Jump Number 9
To capture images of Penelope and “Bear” rising up to clear Jump 9… I had to pivot to my left, spool images into temporary memory using Pro Capture L… then fully depress my shutter release once the jump was almost completed.
9 Jumps in 43 Seconds
Well… Gary was right… it took less than a minute for Penelope and “Bear” to complete the jumping circuit. They did the 9 jumps in 43 seconds.
I really enjoyed this outing, even though my actual photographic shooting time was extremely limited. This experience reinforced in my mind the critical importance of setting photographic priorities, understanding the strengths of our camera equipment, and taking the time to properly plan.
As photographers it is easy for us to get wrapped up in the specifications of our camera gear, or reading reviews of the latest and greatest equipment that is coming down the pipe. Those actions stimulate our GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) reflexes… but do nothing to improve our photographic chops.
We can invest a ton of money in the ‘best’ gear out there… but it can all be for naught if we are unable to visualize our images in our mind. Or, fail to properly assess the photographic environment around us. We need to figure out how to use our available camera gear to its best effect given the challenges in front of us. That’s true success… regardless what kind of camera gear that we may own and use.
Technical Note
Photographs were captured handheld with the camera equipment noted in the EXIF data, and using single point auto-focus, and Pro Capture L. A frame rate of 10 frames-per-second was used, with Continuous Auto Focus (no subject tracking). Pre-Shutter Frames was set to 10, and Frame Limiter was switched off. All images were created from RAW using my standard process in post. This is the 1,405 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.
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2 thoughts on “Photographing Horse Jumping”
Congratulations Tom. I would not have done as well at my first try with new subject matter with no chance to repeat shots. Your careful and meticulous preparation and planning really paid off. Had you not “confessed” it, I would never have guessed this was your first try. Very educative and inspirational.
Regardless of what camera gear we may use, I think it is also very important to understand how our gear performs under different circumstances. I don’t use my wife’s E-M1 Mark III very often, but I have come know that Continuous Auto-Focus with Tracking isn’t as effective as Continuous Auto-Focus alone. I lowered my frame rate to 10 frames-per-second as it gave the E-M1 Mark III a bit more time between shots to re-acquire focus, while still giving me a sufficient number of images to capture the action reasonably well.
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Congratulations Tom. I would not have done as well at my first try with new subject matter with no chance to repeat shots. Your careful and meticulous preparation and planning really paid off. Had you not “confessed” it, I would never have guessed this was your first try. Very educative and inspirational.
Thanks Jon… I appreciate your supportive comment!
Regardless of what camera gear we may use, I think it is also very important to understand how our gear performs under different circumstances. I don’t use my wife’s E-M1 Mark III very often, but I have come know that Continuous Auto-Focus with Tracking isn’t as effective as Continuous Auto-Focus alone. I lowered my frame rate to 10 frames-per-second as it gave the E-M1 Mark III a bit more time between shots to re-acquire focus, while still giving me a sufficient number of images to capture the action reasonably well.
Tom