The Covered Arena

Aside from shooting indoors, shooting pictures in a covered arena is one of the most challenging settings I face as an equine photographer. Of course what makes them challenging is that the lack of walls creates a very back-lit situation. If let to its own accord, the camera will meter based on the average available light -- which will be quite bright. Unfortunately, this means that the subject is quite often left very dark.

What About Using A Flash?
If I can use a flash in this setting, GREAT. And by flash, I mean a hot-shoe flash, not the camera integrated, pop-up fill flash. That pop-up flash just isn't going to cut it. With a flash unit on, I can evenly light the area and the subject and typically get a decent exposure. However, I'm limited to one or perhaps two exposures with the flash firing. That means that my motor-driven shots are not going to be lit properly by the flash and most will turn out dark. If you have developed your eye enough to know when take the shot at the perfect moment, you should end up with some nice moments!

Lenses Make A Big Difference
Using a high-speed lens is a requirement. You'll want at least an f/2.8 if not faster. Remember, the smaller the f-number, the more light is permitted into the sensor (or film). So while an f/2.8 is good, an f/1.8 lets even MORE light in. Most consumer lenses are in the range of f/4 to f/6. While these are great for outdoor, brightly lit photography, they typically won't cut it in a covered arena.

Learn to Use Manual Settings
The best option for good photography in this situation is to learn to use your manual settings. The sooner you learn to use the manual settings on your camera, the sooner you'll be able to capture the picture you actually want! Don't fret though. Its really not that scary. Learning to use the correct manual settings might seem a little complicated at first. If you've only ever shot in a automatic mode, then yeah, it might be a little intimidating to turn the dial to Tv, Av or *gasp* M. However, there is a lot of photographic power in understanding what these modes can do for you.

So What Are My Settings?
The first thing I look at is how bright it is outside. Based on that, I'll choose my ISO (film speed). I'll usually start with an ISO setting of 400. If it is really bright out, or if light is being reflected into the arena from another building or off of the footing, then I might adjust it down to 200 and see what my shots look like.

For my shutter settings, I prefer to shoot in Tv, which on a Canon camera, stands for Time Value. This is the mode that controls my shutter speed. In a covered arena, my shutter speed is typically set to either 1/800th or 1/1000th of a second. When the camera is in Tv mode, I set the shutter speed, but the camera chooses the aperture value (Av) based on the available light. In this setting, the camera will never choose an aperture value that is faster than the speed of the lens.

The final thing that I tweak is my exposure. As I'm shooting, I'll look at the images that come up. I typically will need to bump up the exposure either 1/3 or 2/3 of an f-stop in order to ensure that my subject is illuminated. In other words, I'm intentionally over-exposing the image. This can backfire on occasion because it will cause the background to be totally blown out (way too light). However, in most cases, it won't matter because I'm just trying to get the subject and don't care about the background.

So in summary:
ISO: Either 200 or 400
Shutter Speed: 1/800th or 1/1000th of a second
Av: A maximum of f/2.8, faster if possible
Manual Exposure: +1/3 or +2/3

One last thing...unless I'm shooting with a lens that has Image Stabilization on it, I always use a mono-pod to help keep the camera still and reduce the risk of blurring the image. Have fun!!