friends Archives - Page 4 of 12 - TimeLine Media Blog

May 5, 2014

Middleburg Virginia Horse Racing

Point to Point Race

Over the weekend, there was a lot of attention to the Kentucky Derby. It was a spectacle for the sporting world that is unique in the presentation of coverage compared to other events for television. The first of the Triple Crown of horse races was run with a record crowd in attendance, and the 2 minutes that the race is presented on TV is some of the most compelling even if you do not follow the sport.

Paddock at Glenwood Park - ©TimeLine Media — Paddock at Glenwood Park – ©TimeLine Media

We watched the race, and I was inspired to go back to see the photos from the Middleburg Point to Point from a weekend ago. Obviously, it must be the horse racing season! We were out there with all the colorful hats and crazy ties in the area surrounding the track on this occasion. In watching the TV coverage, it looks like the scene was similar at Churchill Downs. As can be seen in the photos, it really lends itself to photography.

Tailgate Contest

Tailgating at the Middleburg Point to Point - ©TimeLine Media — Tailgating at the Middleburg Point to Point – ©TimeLine Media

Trying to capture horse racing in Middleburg was a lot of fun! On this occasion, the racing action was very accessible for those in the audience. It was easy to get a good vantage of the horses as they closed to the Finish Line. The camera was able to track the action, and I fired the motor drive as they passed. To be sure the 70-200mm lens was plenty to get close to the jockeys and the horses.

Looking at the images large after the event really makes me appreciate these horses on account of their biology. They are beautiful as they pass you on the paddock, and additionally their incredible speed as they go through their runs is staggering! You can really feel their ground as their feet thunder by on their last pass. It is really a great photography subject, and I encourage any sports photo enthusiast to give it a try. They will give you some awesome images.

Horse after racing - ©TimeLine Media — Horse after racing – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

April 30, 2014

Event, Photography, Sports, Travel | 0 comment

Middleburg 2014 Point to Point

Tailgate Competition judges at the Middleburg Point to Point - ©TimeLine Media

Virginia Horse Country

It was a beautiful April Sunday for the Middleburg Hunt Point to Point this year. Last year, some wet weather put a damper on the festivities, but this year was a cool, sunny day. It was perfect for dressing your best for a tail gate with friends, and watching horses race on the beautiful steeplechase course at Glenwood Park. The overhead sun was strong and bright all day, so there was a lot of strong shadows in all the images.

People commonly think that having a lot of sun is perfect for making photos. It is true that the camera does like to have as much light as possible to make good exposures. The problems with sun in the middle of the day and early afternoon, is that it is not falling in a good direction for good portraits. With the sun right above, there will be hard shadows that darken faces, horses making post processing necessary to bring out details that you want to see. With such bright sun, many people attending the Point to Point were wearing fashionable hats to lessen their direct exposure to the sun which added additional challenges to photos.

2014 Middleburg Point to Point - ©TimeLine Media — 2014 Middleburg Point to Point – ©TimeLine Media

Middleburg, Virginia

For all of these, a fill flash was necessary to get the faces lit. If not used the details could not be brought out from the shadows. This is a very blunt light when moving and shooting while walking around the park. There was no time to setup an off-camera flash to get more dimension to the light. You can see some hard shadows where the direct flash was firing towards the subjects. It is not the prettiest, but it did get the job done. Also, it was the easiest way to get quick photos with all the impromptu group poses. Thanks to the weathermen that brought us a great day!

Panorama of Glenwood Park in Middleburg, VA - ©TimeLine Media — Panorama of Glenwood Park in Middleburg, VA – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

January 16, 2014

Family, Photography, Technology | 0 comment

Adding Light with Flash – Tech Thursday

With the advances in digital photography, it is easier to explain how the camera calculates an exposure. Additionally, it is easy to visualize that a larger aperture opening will let more light into the frame, or a faster shutter speed will let in less light. Once you memorize that lower ISO values are less sensitive to light than higher ones, you have the basics of the “Exposure Triangle” mastered.

Flash Portrait

Getting photographers to start using flash is a difficult step. They start to freeze up. Almost as though they just put the camera back in Program mode again. They let the camera make all the decisions like they did when they first started taking photos. Just like the settings for Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO, working with flash can be straightforward. However, it does add another layer to the considerations when making images. I hope that through some posts, I can get you to experiment more with your flash. Hopefully you will learn how to control it to improve your photography. It will set you apart from “natural light” photographers that never add flash. There are many that choose to do this for artistic reasons, but do not be afraid to add this to your toolkit. You will be able to make images that are IMPOSSIBLE without the flash. If you have aspirations of photographing weddings, or events, you will need to use flash at some point in order to make images that grab attention.

Pet Portrait

In my previous post on flash, the settings on the speedlight were in the default TTL (Through-The-Lens) mode. This is the equivalent of the Program or P mode. The camera and flash work together to calculate how much light to add to your scene to get a good exposure. The computing power built into both ensure that you will get good exposures – and you can still control some of the aspects of the image. You can use TTL mode in Aperture priority so that you can set the depth of field in your image to keep that control over your composition. This is the first step – and likely you will get good results with the TTL settings on your camera. I’ll post how you can take control of this just as you do with your other settings in your camera to make even better images.

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Posts Tagged ‘friends’

Point to Point Race

Tailgate Contest

Share this:

Virginia Horse Country

Middleburg, Virginia

Share this:

Flash Portrait

Pet Portrait

Share this: