Horsing Around

XMENPorsche · Post by **XMENPorsche** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:17 am

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.

Defiance.enD · Post by **Defiance.enD** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 5:18 am

Hey Porsche!

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

The second shot is definately right on the edge.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 5:29 am

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.

XMENPorsche · Post by **XMENPorsche** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 8:20 am

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.

The Spleen · Post by **The Spleen** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:56 am

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.

BlackRider · Post by **BlackRider** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:25 pm

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

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