Great photography isn’t always about technique.

Last Friday I was commissioned to photograph a pre-wedding Polo match. (‘Pre-wedding’ functions are becoming very popular by the way. They’re a  great for getting all the guests to meet so they’re not strangers on the day and get on with mingling properly right from the word go!) As a mainly documentary photographer who’d never even been to a Polo match before, I was looking forward to it immensely.

The event was very much a social do with over a hundred guests drinking beer and Pimms and enjoying nibbles. Twenty of them would be playing and the rest spectating, so not only would I have to shoot the action, I’d have to be on the look out for candid shots of people having fun as well.

Now because I only do shoots in nice weather, it was hot and sunny. But this presented a few problems. The sun was to the west and the Polo field was lit end to end from the side. If the players charged off to my left they were facing straight towards the sun, and to the right they were facing away from it. Polo players wear white trousers - some wear white shirts as well, the horses were predominately dark as was the backdrop of trees, so all in all we had all the ingredients for the biggest bowl of ‘super high contrast’ you ever did see!

Normally at a social function I’d control contrast by shooting into the light so my subjects would be backlit or by using fill in flash, but shooting with a 300mm lens meant the players were too far away for fill in flash to work. If I hung around the spectators to catch the people pictures - the players would be horribly side lit, and if I went to the end of the field to back light the players - the spectators would be too far away for me to capture anything interesting.

After a few minutes shooting the players and getting loads of rubbish shots with masses of burnt out highlights, I thought to myself, “OK time out! Calm down and think for a moment.” A few deep breaths, some objective thought and it became obvious what I had to do. Nothing photographic - it was simply a case of planning.

burnt out highlights as players ride towards the sun

By moving to my right (away from the sun) and going just beyond the eastern end of the stands I could back light everyone and still catch the action. Let me explain. When the players were to my left (the western end of the field) I could shoot the Polo action without ‘burn out’ because I could shoot into the sun and the players were backlit. When the players passed to my right (so the sun was behind me) and into the direct sunlight, I shifted my concentration onto what was going on in the spectators area. Players to my left – photograph them; players to my right – photograph the spectators.

Even when we’ve been doing it for years and years, all of us photographers are learning more all the time - from each other, by going on courses, reading books etc. But it’s getting out there and practicing that increases our experience and makes us better photographers.

In our photography courses the exercises are there for this very reason. In ‘Digital Photography Exposed’ Jayne and I ask you to stick bits of tape to broom handles in the ‘Camera Shake’ exercise, and suggest you get on the ground with a wide angle lens in the ‘Lie In A Ditch!’ exercise! And here’s why. It’s all very well reading about techniques, but putting them into practice is where the ‘gold’ of experience is found.

It’s the same for me too. Next time I have to shoot a social Polo match I’ll know exactly where to begin because I’ve had the experience. So do yourselves a favour and get into action with the exercise sections of our photography courses. If you don’t have any exercise sections and are wondering what on earth the ‘Lie In A Ditch’ exercise is – go to our photography courses site and get yourself a copy of Digital Photography Exposed. And don’t worry – you don’t have to actually get in the ditch unless you really want to!!

Happy shooting till next time…

Mike Browne