Sports Shooter Academy

For a change of pace, I covered the Professional Bull Riders Anaheim Invitational over the weekend. Bull riding is an amazing sport and the athletes … both human and bull … test the real limits of endurance, skill, strength, agility and the shutter speed of your camera.

A 2000-pound bull is incredibly fast, whipping a 165-pound rider around  like the proverbial rag doll. Seeing a bull that size leap 3 or 4 feet into the air, while bucking wildly trying to throw the rider seems to defy gravity.

Reese Cates goes horizontal during his first round ride at the Professional Bull Riders Anaheim Invitational at the Honda Center. Tech Notes: D3s, 70-200mm zoom; ISO 12800, 1/1600 @ f/2.8. Photo by Robert Hanashiro, Copyright USA TODAY 2010

The Honda Center, though a major sports venue, is not the best lit place. I always dread shooting the odd Laker  or NCAA Regional games there because it is so darn dark!

I have been using a loaner Nikon D3s the past few weeks and the PBR Anaheim stop was my real test of the camera’s low-light/high-ISO capabilities.

The action required the highest shutter speed you could muster … plus a click or two more. With the “S” I shot at ISO 10000-12800; 1/1600 – 1/2000 @ f/2.8 with the 300mm and 70-200mm zoom.

For an unscientific comparison, I did shoot a bit with the original D3, ISO 6400 at 1/800 — I found that the ”S” is a bit “hotter” than the D3. Most of the peak action — riders in midair being thrown or bulls bucking off the ground — had some motion blur when these files were cropped/blown up.

I had thought I might go to a high school basketball game to test the D3s’ high-ISO capabilities and auto-focus in low light. But when the opportunity to cover Professional Bull Riders, I decided that would be a much bigger challenge. The speed, power of the bulls and knowing the Honda Center had terrible available light seemed the perfect test.

Images here are cropped, toned a bit. No in-camera noise reduction were used and none were used in post-production.

The PBR is a great sport to shoot. The athletes, fans, organization and the event itself are a lot of fun. But if you’re not on top of your game, that 3-10 seconds the rider and bull are involved in that wild dance, you won’t get the photographs you really want.

I will be writing a more detailed users report on my impressions of the new D3s sometime in the near future.

J.B. Mauney rides Class 6 Kat during the Professional Bull Riders Anaheim Invitational at the Honda Center. Tech Notes: Nikon D3s, 70-200mm zoom; ISO 10000, 1/1600 @ f/2.8. Photo by Robert Hanashiro, Copyright USA TODAY 2010

USA TODAY posted a fun little “Sights & Sounds” audio gallery I did from the Anaheim event:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2010-01-24-bull-riding-anaheim-invitational_N.htm