This was the last local rodeo for 2011 in California. Bull riding is a top attraction in Western U.S. rodeos. The fast action is a challenge to photograph.
(All photos were taken with a Sony a900 and Sony 70-400 G lens.)

1. (The rider is wearing a black mouth guard.)


2. Some riders prefer hockey-type headgear.


3. Why bullriders need mouth guards and helmets. Rodeo bull fighters (aka rodeo clowns) race to rescue the downed rider. This one-eyed bull is beginning to back off after attempting to stomp and gore the downed rider.

Great Shots and perfect camtured moments.

Wow, you captured the decisive moments. Well done.
My initial thought was that the poor fellow lost many teeth during previous rodeos, till I read your explanation.

Wow, nice shots!

I especially like #3, the bull looks mad as hell!

Hi John,

A bull that hangs in midair, furry showing in all his muscles...
There's so much force exerted to free itself and harm the rider that the photo has the power to exhaust the viewer.

Breathtaking moments. Well done! Hardly any motion blur at all...


Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

These are fine shots. I have a hard time getting that kind of sharpness with my a900 on still shots.

Thanks, JB --- These were all shot at 1/2000, the slowest shutter speed I use for action shots where I want to minimize motion blur. I use 1/2000th and faster for rodeo action, other sports, flying birds, active children, and similar. (ISOs were 320 and 400 at ~f 5.6.) To get the maximum light, I chose my shooting position to have the afternoon sunlight at my back. Smoothly panning with the action also reduces motion blur.

Since your comment pertains to still shots, you may want to try a tripod, learning techniques to hold your camera more steadily, using faster shutter speeds, testing your lenses for optical sharpness, and testing your lenses for focus accuracy. You can adjust your camera if a lens is focusing slightly closer or farther than it should be. (Make sure the camera anti-shake control is "on.") I have had very good experiences with the a900, but I had to learn through practice how to use the camera to reduce sources of blur--this applies to any camera.

Also inspect your lenses for internal condensation and fungus growth.

Also, too high an ISO or underexposing an image then boosting exposure in processing will produce high noise (graininess) that will make an image fuzzy.

Experiment and practice to refine the sharpness of your photos. Sometimes I will practice by going to a large parking lot and taking photos of printed signs, power pole wires, and other defined objects that are easy to evaluate for sharpness. (View the images on your computer and use the zoom function for close inspection.)

Hope this helps,
John

Wonderful shots John. Great action shots

I never really pictured the A900 as an action cam but those shots proove it can be, very nice work John.
Greg

Fantastic shots.

Very good work, John.

Post more like that!

Dusty