Photoclubalpha

As suggested in my Alpha Spotting thread, I went to the Scarborough Renaissance Festival last weekend and shot me a few pictures. I was having too much fun to be camera conscious the whole day, but the joust was irresistible. All were shot with the a700 + 70-210/4 combo, mostly at about f/5 and ISO320 to keep the shutter speed above 1/1000 for all that action.

Some of these have turned out to be my most popular images on my DeviantART account, accumulating more "faves" in their first day than my previous most popular pictures. A strange feeling comes along with that, and I wonder, "Is it the subject or my treatment of it?"

Needless to say, I was mighty impressed by the a700's focus tracking at this event!

Kevin,
Interesting treatment on the first one. I hope it is not my drinks in the evening that is making the
photo "California foggy". I think the pictures evoke a primeval emotion and that could be the reason for
faves. That to me means a nice subject caught by a good photographer with the aid of a fine tool.

With best regards,
Sury

Deleted-double posting

Hi Kevin,

Subjects matter a great deal and then comes the way the photographer transfers them to the viewer through his/her eye's filtering. A photographer can make a subject look interesting by working on it but at such events when he/she is not in control of the subjects, like the event that you were present at, the first attraction is the subject.

All those specially selected horses, shiny armours,combat, lord costumes, dust soaring from the dirt as hooves beat down on it and continuity as a series, with your selection of aparture and framing becomes something the people of the present strive for. It's much like looking at stills of Robin Hood or Clash of the Titans, meaning a historical filmography. The dust definitely adds extra mystery to some of the action shots...

As for your treatment, with a good subject you deepened the scenes but also brought them very close to the viewer's eyes, because the scale and cropping are also nicely treated. Had they been further away, the viewer would feel distant to the event but in these shots, the viewer is pulled inside...this is very much like the effect the 3d movies have on the moviegoers: immersion.

Thanks for sharing, loved the shots! And the 'treatment'.

Yildiz

Two thumbs up, Kevin.

Well done Kevin, it's not every day one gets too see Knights mounted on Clydesdales doing battle, some good action shots there. I think the participants would probably like to see them as well.
Greg

Great shots! It looks like something done on a movie set. I didn't see any incongruous elements in the photos such as a car in the background, someone wearing modern clothes, telephone pole, etc.

These are really good Kevin, I thought you had been on this side of the pond for a minute (to me Scarborough is a town on the Yorkshire coast) then I realised that there is more than one and yours looks more interesting. I agree it looks like a film set.

Best wishes

Paul

Thanks fellas! There are plenty more pictures from the joust, but I didn't spend any time on those with blatant anachronistic details in them, e.g. t-shirts and sneakers. I included the out-of-focus standard-bearer because the focus was a happy accident that gave a dreamy effect and dissolved the modern-day observers leaning on the railing behind him. Now, if I'd had a 135mm f/1.8, I might have been able to get the knight and still blur the fans!

Great shots KB - I agree with those above that avoiding any modern bits really makes the images - I can understand why they have been so popular.