And the winner is...
Sep, 2013Views
878
Likes
Awards
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award
Thumbs Up
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Exceptional Contrast
Jaw Dropping
Peer Award
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 10 rank week 2Top 10 rank week 1
Top 30 rank week 2
Top 30 rank
lindamonroe
September 25, 2013
This is awesome and the fact that you stood there and go the shot while the animal is on the run is absolutely magnificent in its self! Great shot!
Ilaria_veg
November 12, 2014
this shot is really sad :/ poor animal!! how can a person treat a beautiful creature like that?
Platinum
Oliveoyle1
June 11, 2015
I find it hard to look at photos, when an animal is in pain or scared due to what a human being is doing to it.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I took the photo as official photographer at Great Eccleston Agricultural Show near Preston in Lancashire. The show is a two day event which takes place in July of each year. The Show was founded in 1853 'for the improvement and advancement of agriculture' and apart from a short period after the second world war, it has continued ever since. As well as cattle there are Shires and light horses and a full range of other farm animals including pigs, poultry and sheep. There is also a large vintage tractor display as well as the exciting Tractor Pulling event which attracts contestants from around the UK and Europe and even from America. Not bad for a small rural village.Time
The image was taken just before midday. The Show starts at 8.00am and ends about 6.00pm on a Saturday and Sunday in mid July.Lighting
There had been a lot of rain in the days before the show and it looked as if it may have to be cancelled. However on the morning of the show, the rain had gone and the lovely overcast sky meant that there was a subdued lighting ideal for photography for this type of event. As the show is an all day event, the light is constantly changing but it is best to keep the camera settings as consistent as possible in order to avoid missing action whilst altering the settings.Equipment
I used a Sony A380 DSLR with 18-55mm lens at 18mm. The camera was set to f9 1/160 sec 100 ISO and was hand held as a tripod would not be convenient when shooting this type of event.Inspiration
The main showring was divided into two with horses on one side and cattle on the other and I was moving between the two to capture mainly the prize winners and to get general shots of the exhibitors and their animals. I saw that this bull was fairly skittish and followed it across the ring and it then made an attempt to escape and I got the shot. The handler did well to control it and within a couple of minutes it had calmed down and walked happily round the ring as if nothing had happened and won the prize for the best Simmental Bull.Editing
Not much post processing. The picture is cropped to concentrate on the bull and I slightly boosted the colour saturation in Photoshop. Because the light was so even, I had been able to keep the camera settings the same for most of the morning and knew that the image should come out ok.In my camera bag
I have had Minolta and then Sony cameras for some years now. This shot was taken with an A580 and I now also have an A58. The main lenses I use are Sony 18-55mm and 55-300mm zooms but I love to use my 28mm, 50mm and 135mm prime lenses. Generally I would always have my tripod with me although it is obviously not suitable for fast moving events like the agricultural show. I always ensure that I have plenty of SD cards and spare batteries, I have often seen fellow photographers frantically trying to edit a SD card because they don't have a spare and have seen people miss shots because their battery has given up at that decisive moment!Feedback
If you are able to be the official photographer for an event it is essential to keep an eye on everything going on around you as the unexpected can happen as it did here. I always try to work out the ideal settings for a good range of images so that I am not having to repeatedly adjust the setting and miss out on the action. I love my prime lenses but in this sort of situation, zoom lenses are more versatile. Also, striking up a good rapport with the exhibitors and the judges makes life easier.
