I'm often asked, "How do you always get the right leg position in action shots?".
Some people assume I take a mini movie of each horse, then pull off the frame that shows the horse at its best. I don't use this method, because the result is usually very poor quality, plus the enormous amount of time it would take to go through enough clips to get 4000 good frames at a show would be prohibitive, and it would eat up a massive amount of hard drive space. We could never process files fast enough to have them viewable on site at a show or on farm shoot. Speed is absolutely essential for event photography, and quality is just as important.
Other people assume that I hold the shutter button down and let the camera grab multiple shots as each horse goes by, then choose the best one. I don't use this method either, because each camera has a fixed maximum frame rate, that is the number of frames per second that the camera can record. Honestly, the frame rate of the camera rarely matches the gait of each horse, so the best moment is very often lost between shots. In addition, shooting 8 to 10 frames per horse would also eat up the computer hard drive space very quickly. Plus, the time it takes to go through and cull that many shots would not allow the photos to be available to view on site. Once again, that speed is necessary for show photography.
So, how do I do it? I use timing as my method for catching the peak of action. As the horse approaches me, I have the camera already focusing on it, and I press the shutter button when I see the legs in the best position, it all happens in 1/1000 of a second. I've been shooting horse shows professionally since 1998, back in the ol' days of film. I was forced to develop my timing using film, and it wasn't easy. Digital cameras improved my timing significantly, but not all cameras are created equal. It takes pro level gear for me to consistently achieve this, and a great deal of time using the camera, I've put in my 10,000 hours.
So, that's how I do it!
