New AERC Photo Shoot Up!

I shot another AERC event this past weekend, at the Caja del Oro area, just west of Santa Fe. While there were fewer participants than the event at the Valles Grande Caldera, this is an established run. It is mostly flat desert with scrub and a few small mesas and hills, which I thought would not make for very interesting scenery. But it did let me use the color of the horses and riders a bit more to pull them out of the background.

For this event, I also had a LOT more time to get around, and with a smaller field, I was more confident that I’d gotten every participant at least once. That was very nice, as the spread in time was much less than in the Valles, also. The day was slightly overcast, which also helped out with softening shadows. I also took a ladder to get an eye-level view of the horses at one location. While I think it helped, I’m not sure I really needed it.

One challenge, though, was using borrowed equipment again. I chose to shoot with shutter priority and auto ISO. That would have been fine, but I also started screwing with dynamic 3D tracking for autofocus, which totally hosed me up. After a few failed attempts to predict the predictive autofocus, I opted for center-weighted, 9-point metering. Yup – find focus, set exposure, recompose, shutter. Wash, rinse, repeat.

In the end, I left wanting to do more and more of these events. Partly because I think I can do better, but also because I love being out there around the ponies.