Friday, January 28, 2011

Photograph Hunter/Jumper Horse Shows

Our newest ebook, "How to Photograph Hunter/Jumper Horse Shows," has been published. This book is focused specifically on capturing stunning images of horses in action at hunter/jumper shows and it draws on our many experiences at the show rings. Amateur photographers, especially the parents, relatives and friends of riders, can see what kinds of photographs are possible and how to take them. Abundant photographs taken at actual horse shows are used throughout the book to illustrate the many helpful tips. Learn about positioning, timing, camera settings and many other topics.
A sample of the book can be downloaded at no charge. Multiple formats for the various e-reader devices and computers are available for purchase at the bookstore.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Three Deer in Snow

This group of whitetail deer posed themselves very nicely and I was attracted to the composition. The heads of the three does are positioned in a triangle shape with the nearest head at the top. The horizontal tree branch would be mostly unnoticed if not for the snow on top. But that snow adds some natural framing, along with the vertical tree trunks on each side. The early morning sun was shining through the trees in scattered patches. How fortunate that these deer were laying in one of those patches!
The photograph was not just a snapshot, of course. I spotted the deer in the sunlight from some distance away and slowly moved within range. There were additional sideways adjustments until the three heads were composed and I shot from my knees to lower the angle.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Whitetail Deer Fight

These two ten-point bucks were not really fighting. They were gently sparring with their antlers and it only lasted 10 seconds or so. The picture is cool, though, as it certainly looks like it could be a real fight. These deer were together when I first saw them that morning and showed no signs of hostility. Fortunately, I was close enough to get a few shots when they started butting heads. I would have preferred to be more to my right side and a little lower but the show was over before I could risk moving and spooking them. The sun was still quite low so I was lucky that the deer were close to the little sunbeam. There were many areas of the woods that were still in deep shade. This was shot at 1/500 sec at f5.6, ISO 500, 400mm lens.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Buck Rubbing Antlers

This ten-point buck whitetail deer is rubbing his antlers on a tree trunk. This was taken in mid-November during the rut (mating season) and the buck had just finished mating with a doe. His antlers had been polished much earlier in the fall but his hormones were really raging this particular day! He raked this tree for about five minutes while I got a series of shots. The doe he was tending was laying just a few feet out of the picture.
The morning started very foggy but most of the fog had dissipated by 8:30 when this shot was taken. Nonetheless, the heavy overcast did not allow much light into the woods. The buck was moving his head pretty rapidly so I boosted the ISO to 2500 to get a shutter speed of 1/640 second to stop the motion. 400mm lens at f5.6.