The XMEN Clan Forums

I went out to a local horse racing track this past weekend and took some shots during one of the races. These are a couple of my favorites. I don't know how well the borders will show up here because of the dark backgrond of the board.







Comments always welcome.

Hey Porsche!

The images are great! Although the border does tend to distract a bit.

The second shot is definately right on the edge.

How likely is it that you'd catch all three horses in the second pic at exactly the same place in their stride? Huh.

I think I like a frame around the shots. I'm not sure about that particular frame.

Defiance - thanks for the feedback. To be honest, the border was something that I thought I'd try just to make the pics stand out a bit. Almost every image that I see that has been digitally matted in <insert name of photo editing software here> has straight, clean borders. I was going for something unique. Also, straight edges seem to work best with a drop shadow. Can't do that with a black background. I can try it with a straight border and see how it comes out. I'll lower the opacity on the black background until it's something like a medium gray, drop a shadow, straighten the edges and see what happens.

Gambit - as for catching the horses at the same place in their stride, I'd like to say that it was something that I meticulously planned. The honest answer is that it was pure dumb luck. I only shot this one particular race. I knew where I wanted to start shooting (as the horses were coming around the bend) so at the right moment I just started holding down the shutter button and caught them going by as I was zooming out at the same time. I think I took something like 30 shots in 10-15 seconds time. As I processed the photos at home I picked out the few that I liked most and framed them as seen in this thread.

Right now, it seems like a lot of my best work is happening by accident. Hopefully I'll get to the point where my best stuff happens on purpose.

Excellent Work!! Have you tried other sporting venues?

Nascar, tennis, baseball perhaps would offer great opportunities.

When you capture dirt from the track flying in the air the viewer feels a part of the action.

Do you have a website of your other work? They would make great computer screen backgrounds.

yeah... other sporting venues... go to the US Grand Prix w/ me =)

(Pray more then 6 cars run this year. :S)