How to Photograph Eventing (Dressage, Show Jumping & Cross Country)

How to Photograph Eventing

(Dressage, Show Jumping & Cross Country)

(All images copyright Michael Berkeley Photography - no reproduction without permission)

I was brought up in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and most years we would go to the Badminton Horse Trials nearby to enjoy the Cross Country day.  This was a long time before I started taking sport photography more seriously, but my two recent visits to the Wilton Horse Trials near Salisbury, Wiltshire (where I now live) brought back some very happy memories.

The benefit of Eventing is that you get three sports for the price of one, and all in one day!  

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 200mm; f/2.8; 1/1250th sec; ISO 400)

As always, I used the camera settings that I explained in my blog Getting into Sport and Music Photography, the general principle being to blur backgrounds with a wide open aperture; a fast shutter speed to compensate and freeze the action; and an Auto ISO setting within parameters.  It’s always important to ensure that the rider is recognisable, so that meant taking the photographs from in front.

I use Continuous Shooting High, so that I have a better chance of capturing the decisive moment; and use a focus tracking mode (3D Tracking on Nikon) so that the main subject stays in focus while moving across the viewfinder.

Both days were bright and this led to some very fast shutter speeds. Looking at the camera settings in hindsight, some shutter speeds were unnecessarily high - if I had reduced them, the ISO setting would have reduced also, which would have been beneficial.

Dressage

I arrived early in order to capture the dressage stage, which was first on.

While I thought I knew something about the show jumping and the cross country elements, I confess that I knew – and still know – absolutely nothing about dressage.  And I suspect I never will, because it seems to be a mystery to anybody outside the sport.

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 102mm; f/2.8; 1/1250th sec; ISO 250)

This is very significant, because it is difficult to photograph a sport about which you know very little.  My aim is always to show the participant in as good a light as possible, and the arcane subtleties of dressage mean that there is every likelihood that you will inadvertently take a photograph of a technical flaw in the performance that the rider would prefer you not to publish.

Against this background, I tried to take images that showed the dressage in the wider environment of elegant Wilton House and its grounds.  The image above, with the Palladian Bridge behind, shows the concentration on the rider’s face and the head on view minimises the risk on showing the horse’s legs in a less than perfect position.

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 110mm; f/2.8; 1/1250th sec; ISO 200)

The picture above shows the rider with Wilton House in the background.  In both these photos, the shallow depth of field blurs the background slightly and makes the rider stand out from it.

If you would like to know more about the technicalities of dressage and how to photograph it successfully, I would recommend an article written by Alice Collins for Horse and Hound in March 2017 entitled Photographing dressage horses: how to show your horse off to the max.

Show Jumping

Next stop: show jumping.  Some of the jumps were by the edge of the arena, which meant that I could get extremely close to them.  Others were in the centre, so I used a combination of a longer lens (70-200mm f/2.8) for the jumps that were further away and a wide-angle lens (24-70 f/2.8) for those close by.

(Nikon D500; 24-70mm at 32mm; f/2.8; 1/2000th sec; ISO 160)

I tried to get as low to the ground as possible in order to add drama to the images and also to make the horse and rider appear more ‘heroic’ through that perspective.  The shot above includes the whole of the fence and this usefully provides a good impression of how high it is.

This approach does, however, introduce quite a lot of the background – tents, stalls etc.  This could either be considered good environmental context or, less charitably, to distract from the main action.  To get over this, the photo below is framed much more closely on the rider and horse, still from a low perspective.  While providing a good shot of the rider and horse, there is now nothing to show that it was taken at Wilton Horse Trial, so it has lost its context.

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 70mm; f/2.8; 1/2000th sec; ISO 280)

You will see that the rider is already thinking of the next jump and is looking in that direction.  The image might have been stronger if the next fence had been to her left rather than to her right, as she would then have been looking more directly towards me.

The photo below is taken ‘front on’, so you get a good view of both the rider and the horse.  As in all the images I have shown, the horse is fully off the ground and the front legs are tucked up as they launch themselves across the fence.

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 150mm; f/2.8; 1/8000th sec; ISO 900)

Cross Country

Walking the cross country course is hugely enjoyable and gives a chance to photograph riders negotiating each of the jumps.  This provides more variety than the show jumping and plenty of opportunities to try something new.  As the course at Wilton was not taped off all around the course, it was essential to pay attention to the stewards’ whistle to avoid getting in the way when the riders and horses come through. Health and safety come first!

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 140mm; f/2.8; 1/2000th sec; ISO 720)

Each jump has its own challenge for the rider and for the photographer alike.  The fence above was in a small copse, which meant that the rider and horse were in deep shadow.  Setting the exposure for them led the background to be burnt out (much too bright) but it was more important that the main subject was correctly exposed.

This photo tries to provide the context of the fence, as does the image below.  In this one, the main focus is on the jump itself, with the horse and rider becoming incidental, albeit standing out against the blue sky.  Taking this from a low perspective provides some idea of how steep the drop in height was from top to bottom. 

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 102mm; f/2.8; 1/2000th sec; ISO 100)

The disadvantage of having the rider in the distance is that you cannot see their face so well.  In the image below, however, where the rider is clinging on for her life, the expression is everything.  Moreover, it introduces an element of emotion and tension – it ‘tells a story’.  Will she or won’t she fall off? (She didn’t!)

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 200mm; f/2.8; 1/4000th sec; ISO 400)

I always remember the water jump at Badminton being a great favourite with both the crowd and photographers.  The equivalent jump at Wilton may have been modest in comparison, but there were still opportunities to get some great shots, including a ‘reflection image’ and the spray as the rider and horse emerged from the water – see below.  It was unfortunate that the fence was in shadow when I was there, and it may have been sensible to have seen if it would have been in brighter light at other times of the day.

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 70mm; f/3.2; 1/5000th sec; ISO 1400)

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 70mm; f/2.8; 1/8000th sec; ISO 900)

It is always worth trying something a bit different to make your photography stand out from the crowd.  During the cross country I had a go at ‘panning’ as the horse and rider moved from fence to fence.  I discuss this technique in more detail in my blogs on How to Photograph Motorsports and How to Photograph Speedway, but it involves using a show shutter speed and moving the camera with the subject in order to blur the background (note how different the camera settings are).  I am not convinced that this is wholly successful, but it was certainly worth trying.

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 112mm; f/13; 1/80th sec; ISO 160)

I also had a go at just picking out a detail, as in the image below where a horse is crossing a track with all 4 hooves off the ground, throwing up dirt and dust.  Taken into the sun, the light helps to focus the eye on the dust, while making the horse secondary as it is in the shadows.  Again, it’s an experiment, so it’s a matter of taste whether this sort of photograph works for you or not.

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 200mm; f/3.2; 1/5000th sec; ISO 140)

All in all, I had 2 great days at the Wilton Horse Trials – plenty of variety, a fabulous location and exciting photography.  Sadly, it has been announced that there will be no further Horse Trials at Wilton, which is a huge shame – but it was fun while it lasted.

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How to Photograph Motorsports

 How to Photograph Motorsports

(All images copyright Michael Berkeley Photography - no reproduction without permission)

My experience of photographing motorsports comes from a couple of days spent at Thruxton Motorsport Centre in Hampshire back in 2017.  This blog complements the one I have already written on How to Photograph Speedway.

Both days at Thruxton were practice – not racing – days, and the first involved touring cars, the second superbikes.  The ‘supporting’ races involved different types of car, so there was plenty of excitement and variety, even if there wasn’t the edge that racing provides.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 500mm; f/5.6; 1/3200th sec; ISO 280)

Having never been to Thruxton circuit before, my first task was to recce the available positions from which to take photos.  Not having a press pass, I was limited to the public areas, so I walked alongside the track as far I was allowed.  I found some good spots, some where the cars or bikes were slowing down for a corner, others where there was a good straight – with uncluttered backgrounds – to take ‘panned’ shots of the cars and bikes at full speed.

It became clear that the best location was at the chicane, which involved a sharp left-hand bend followed closely by a sharp right-hand bend.  One of the reasons I knew that this was a good location was the number of photographers there – which gave the game away!  I wondered how easy it would have been to find a suitable spot here on a crowded race day, and it also meant that I had to jockey for position (politely of course!) to get an uninterrupted view of the track.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 360mm; f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 200)

Particularly with the bikes, the chicane allowed images of the riders leaning a long way over in one direction and then immediately back over in the other direction, which produced dramatic images – see above. 

As I had not photographed motorsports before, I was unsure what I would find, and I therefore took most of my kit with me.  I was using a Nikon D500 at the time and I used the 200-500mm f/5.6 lens (equivalent to 300-750mm on the crop-sensor camera) most of the time, although I did also use the 70-200mm f/2.8 (105-300mm equivalent) lens for variety. 

This meant that I was using a monopod much of the time, because the 200-500mm is heavy and difficult to keep steady when hand held.  Using the monopod also helped hugely with panning shots (discussed in more detail below).

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 500mm; f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 360)

I set out my ‘standard’ camera settings in my blog on Getting into Sport & Music Photography.  I always use Manual and set the Shutter Speed and Aperture, while setting the ISO to Auto within suitable parameters. My ‘default’ settings involve freezing the action, so I would normally open the shutter wide (to give a shallow depth of field) and use a fast shutter speed – see above and below.  A ‘wide open’ shutter also helps in being able to shoot through any safety fences.

It was bright and sunny when I visited Thruxton, so I was using shutter speeds of 1/2000th sec and faster for images where I wanted to freeze the action (but see below where I discuss conveying the idea of speed by intentionally blurring the image).  With the aperture wide open (f/5.6 on the 200-500mm lens), this meant that the ISO Auto Setting was producing an ISO in the region of 300.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 420mm; f/5.6; 1/2500th sec; ISO 400)

Having said that, motorsport is all about speed and the overriding imperative is to ensure that the photographs reflect this, while trying to tell a story and describing what is going on. It’s possible to convey speed by capturing a car with 2 wheels off the ground, or the angle of the bike leaning right over, or by showing smoke coming from the car’s locked brakes (see the two images above). The fact that the fast shutter speed has frozen the action does not matter so much when the photos are ‘front on’ or from behind, because it is not obvious that the wheels are frozen.

This does, however, become a problem when the photograph is taken from the side, as a ‘frozen’ car or bike will appear unnatural and static. In these instances, it is best to convey the idea of speed by showing that the wheels are turning and blurring the background by ‘panning’, as shown in the image of the car below. This is much more dramatic and full of emotion.

(Nikon D500; 70-200mm at 70mm; f/22; 1/50th sec; ISO 180)

As you will see, the camera setting for this image are completely different.  In addition to the slow shutter speed, the camera needs to be set to continuous shooting and a tracking autofocus setting.  On my Nikon D500, I used 3D tracking which, when locked on, meant that I didn’t need to worry about the focus – just the motion blur.

The technique of ‘locking’ the focus onto the part of the image that you want in focus, and then moving the camera in a smooth arc to track the object, takes some practice (I discuss this also in my blog on How to Photograph Speedway).  I confess to being disappointed at how few usable images I managed to capture at the start, but in the end you only need a few good images to make it worthwhile.  The joy of digital cameras is that you can take as many images as you want without worrying about the cost of film – and practice makes perfect!

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 410mm; f/8; 1/2000th sec; ISO 450)

Otherwise, the normal rules of composition apply.  As a generalisation, it’s good not to have the car or bike right in the middle of the frame (a rule broken in the photo below!), and you should allow it ‘space to move into’. The picture above uses the rule of thirds to give a pleasing view, but it also demonstrates the sort of photograph that is needed in order to ‘tell a story’ with a single image, which is so important with sports photography.  It is straightforward to take record or stock shots of individuals drivers or riders but taking a photograph that explains what is going on during the racing is more of a challenge.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 500mm; f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 280)

In terms of composition, the image above uses the colourful leading line of the bend to draw the eye towards the bike on the corner.  I am never sure that taking a photo of somebody’s back – or in the case of equestrian sports, of a horse’s backside – makes for the most attractive of images, but it is always worth trying something different.

It’s important to exploit the lighting conditions, and this may dictate where you want to position yourself in order to get the light coming from the most effective direction.  In the image below, the bright sunlight is being reflected back up onto the underside of the bike and the rider, adding also a strong band of light on the rider’s visor.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 500mm; f/5.6; 1/1600th sec; ISO 180)

In almost all my blogs I conclude by saying how much I enjoyed photographing that particular sport and that I can’t wait to get back to do it again.  This may just be a personal thing, but I wouldn’t rush back to photograph motorsports.  While I do enjoy motorsports – and I thoroughly enjoyed the first half hour of photographing the cars and bikes – I found that it become very repetitive very quickly.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 410mm; f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 160)

As an example, I enjoyed taking the photograph above, with the car cornering on two wheels.  But I soon realised that I was taking the same photograph time and again but just with different cars – see below.  This may be fine if you are a ‘petrolhead’ and you want a photograph of every car or bike but, as a photographer, I was wanting something different.  The images earlier in this blog where the cars’ brakes have locked and created smoke provide something out of the ordinary.

The other – and even bigger – issue for me is that you cannot normally see the drivers’/riders’ face, because they are (obviously!) wearing helmets.  This means that you do not get any of the emotional response that can be achieved with other sports.  You can just about make out the face of the rider below, but his expression does not tell a story in the same way that, say, somebody with arms aloft after winning an athletics race would.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 500mm; f/11; 1/100th sec; ISO 100)

Having said all that, I would not wish to put anybody off – give it a go and I am sure that you will have a fantastic time!   

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How to Photograph Surfing and Windsurfing

(All images copyright Michael Berkeley Photography - no reproduction without permission)

Surfing and windsurfing offer fantastic opportunities for dramatic action images.

I have photographed windsurfing on a couple of occasions at Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset and at Daymer Bay on the Camel Estuary in Cornwall; and have photographed surfing at Polzeath and at Praa Sands in Cornwall – and briefly on Bondi Beach in Sydney, where wetsuits weren’t needed (see below).

(Nikon D500; 70-210mm at 210mm - f/8; 1/1250th sec; ISO 100)

Every trip to the beach for photographing surfing and windsurfing starts with good planning - and for that you need to know when the wind and the waves are going to provide the best conditions. While I am sure there are others, I am told that the website Surf Reports is good for surfing conditions, and a friend of mine who frequently photographs windsurfers uses big salty.com before heading down to Avon and Southbourne beaches near Bournemouth. These websites give a detailed forecast for the next 7 days for all the main surfing and windsurfing beaches in the UK and are designed for the practitioners. Tideschart.com has also been highly recommended for both the UK and around the world – it provides a lot of information about tides and includes water temperature, weather and the best fishing times.

(Nikon D80; 300mm f/4 at 300mm - f/4.5; 1/1250th sec; ISO 200)

When you get to the beach, the first issue to address is where to stand to take the pictures.  The windsurfers at Kimmeridge and Daymer Bay were sailing across the bay and back, parallel to the beach; whereas the surfers were catching the waves as they came into the beach.

This meant that I positioned myself on the rocks at one end of the bay for the windsurfing, so that the windsurfers were coming directly towards me.  For the surfing, I stood on the beach directly opposite the surfers for most of the time, but also moved to the rocks at one side of Polzeath beach to get an oblique angle as the surfers came in.

(Nikon D700; 200-500mm f/5.6 at 500mm - f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 200)

The light of course had a bearing on this.  Taking photographs directly into the sun can lead to dramatic images but, more likely, the glare of the light will distract from the surfers, who will be in silhouette (see photo above).

(Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 600mm - f/6.3; 1/640th sec; ISO 125)

I have found that a sunny day is better – the colours just pop, making the images more dramatic.  In terms of action, the photo above has more impact, but the colours transform the photo below.

(Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 594mm - f/7.1; 1/1250th sec; ISO 125)

Photographing in the ‘golden hour’ – that time before sunset when the light is softer (I don’t get up early enough for the golden hour after sunrise!) – can also give good results.  The image below was taken just after 5:00pm in the middle of October.  As well as highlighting the windsurfer’s face, the angle of the sun has darkened the background, making the windsurfer stand out.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 500mm - f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 560)

I set out my ‘standard’ camera settings in my first blog: Getting into Sport and Music Photography.  For surfing and windsurfing, I normally set the aperture wide-open, to create a shallow depth of field; a fast shutter speed (around 1/1000th second) to freeze the action (particularly the water); and the ISO set to Auto, all the time ensuring that the exposure is right for the face.

I use continuous focus and tracking, and Continuous (High) for frame rate, so that there is a choice of images when selecting the ‘decisive moment’.  

As with all my sport photography, I endeavour to ensure that the surfer/windsurfer’s face is visible in the picture, so that they are recognisable – it’s better still if they are showing some emotion, but in most cases they are simply concentrating.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 320mm - f/5.6; 1/2500th sec; ISO 320)

A long lens is essential.  When photographing the surfers from Polzeath beach  – and trying to keep my feet dry – the surfers were a good 100m offshore.  Moreover, I had to shoot through the body boarders and novices having surf lessons, so the long lens was normally at its longest focal point.  I used a 200-500mm on the first occasion (on my Nikon D500), and a 200-600mm on the second (when I had changed to a Sony A9II). When windsurfers are closer to the beach, I would be able to use the 200mm end of the zoom.

(Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 600mm - f/6.3; 1/1000th sec; ISO 125)

The other surfers were not the only problem.  Shooting from this level meant that sometimes the closer waves obscured the surfers further out and also the horizon was visible (see above).  This could be considered distracting, particularly when part of the surfer breaks the horizon.  If the horizon is in the picture, it is essential that it is level – it’s the first thing I check when I get the photos into Lightroom.

(Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 588mm - f/7.1; 1/1250th sec; ISO 125)

By moving to the rocks to one side of the beach, I was able to get higher and therefore – comparatively speaking – almost look down on the surfers, removing the distraction of the horizon (see above).  Normally, with sport photography, I advocate getting down as low as possible, as this makes the athlete look more ‘heroic’, but this is an exception to the rule.

(Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 600mm - f/6.3; 1/2500th sec; ISO 500)

As with all sport, the more you understand what is going on, the easier it is to capture the essence of the sport and the easier it is to anticipate what is going to happen.  I can’t claim to be an expert in surfing or windsurfing, having done neither myself, so I use my instincts to capture the key moments of drama.  I find that this is often when the surfer is on the crest of the wave or the windsurfer airborne (see above). For the windsurfer, this is often as they hit a wave on their way out …

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 380mm - f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 360)

The normal rules of photographic composition apply and the shapes in the water and spray should be exploited to create dramatic images (see above).  Where possible, it is useful to show the height of the waves to set the action into its natural environment, even though the waves in Cornwall may not be the scale of those in places like Hawaii…

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 500mm - f/5.6; 1/2500th sec; ISO 200)

It is also possible to use groups of windsurfers to produce patterns.  In the photo below, the focus in on the windsurfer in front, with the other two blurred – the receding perspective provides shape to the image.

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 500mm - f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 500)

It is fun to try something a bit different and produce an image that is almost abstract, where the waves obscure the surfer and only give a glimpse of their face - breaking the ‘rules’ I have set out above. I love the movement in the image below, with the hint of the board and the hand hanging down. The surf itself provides the drama …

(Nikon D500; 200-500mm at 460mm - f/5.6; 1/2000th sec; ISO 180)

One final piece of advice: it makes sense to look after your camera equipment by the sea.  If there is an onshore wind, you could get spray and saltwater on your lens.  I try to avoid pointing the camera directly into the wind in these circumstances until I want to take photographs.  I certainly wouldn’t consider changing lenses unless I am absolutely sure that there is no risk that sand won’t get into the camera mechanics.

I have always thoroughly enjoyed photographing surfing and windsurfing.  It may have had something to do with the fact that the surfers were not taking part in a competition, but doing it for fun – and, in Cornwall, I was on holiday.  If you do a bit of research on the internet to see if the weather conditions are going to be good for surfing and/or windsurfing, you can just go down to the beach and have a blast …

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If you have enjoyed this blog or if you have any questions/comments, please leave a message in the comments box below.