Ride ‘Em, Cowboy!!

This blog is not entirely about birds, but also general photography. I was going through some old photos that I thought you might like to see.

This is an image that I shot a few years ago at a Professional Bull Riders event.  I was sitting in the stands.  I had a Canon EOS 20D at the time, and I was using a 100-400 zoom lens.  I was too far away for my flash to do any good.  To get the shot in available light, I set the ISO to 1600, opened up to f5 and let the camera do the work.  I knew the shutter speed would be low, actually it was 1/160, and I tried to time the action so I would get the cowboy and bull at the top of the jump, that brief instant when the action almost comes to a stop.  The result was a bit grainy, but otherwise I thought it was acceptable.  Click the image to see an enlargement.

Bull Rider

I done the post processing in Photoshop Elements.  I couldn’t afford Photoshop at the time.  I also was shooting in JPEG, as I hadn’t got into shooting RAW yet.

Pertinent information:

Date of photo:  May 6, 2006

Canon EOS 20D – hand-held

Canon L series 100-400mm zoom lens

Tele setting for shot:  120mm

Shutter:  1/160

Aperture:  f5

ISO:  1600

No Flash

Partial metering