articles/Sports/polothesportofprinces-page3

Polo The Sport of Princes - part 3 of 1 2 3

by Mike McNamee Published 01/08/2011

Polo is a right-handed game, the players always move the ball on their right and are not allowed to change hands. Left of centre of the goal (by about 10 yards) seems to be an optimum spot and safety requires that you are 20 yards back from the actual goalmouth. We adopted a range of holding methods, Mike stood with a gimbal-mounted lens on a Manfrotto 535MPRO; Ian sat, using a monopod and Matt mixed sitting and standing on the ground. You need to keep your nerve as horses charge towards you. We were assured that as long as we stood still, the ponies would run round us, advice that seemed only just credible on the odd occasion!

Data Analysis

As this was a first time for us, a certain amount of post analysis was carried out after the images were processed, using various EXIF data extraction tools and Excel spreadsheets.

All data relate to Mike McNamee's rig of a Nikon D700 onto a Sigma 300-800mm f5.6 zoom lens. The day was bright and the majority of exposures were made at 400ISO with approximately 15% at 800ISO and 20% at 500ISO. Aperture priority was used and the shutter speeds at f5.6 are shown in the table.

The breakdown of zoom focal length is shown and indicates a preference for either end of the zoom range (40% at 300mm, 25% at 800mm). About 60% of the shots were made at greater than 90m shooting distance as indicated. At 800mm the width of the field of view was about six horses in the opposite goalmouth, so the 300-800mm zoom allowed for shooting over most of the pitch, but a little tight in the goal nearest to us.

At 90m, an 800mm just covered a single horse and rider but not enough space for a raised stick. Using 500mm at 50 yards' distance produced the most dramatic shot of the day. All focal lengths relate to a full-frame chip. Auto focus coped reasonably well, but camera shake is an ever-present problem with such long lenses being moved about quickly.

Of the 500 or so frames shot, only a couple were totally out of focus, ie sharp on the distant bridges of Chester.

• Polo The Sport of Princes page 1
  
• Polo The Sport of Princes page 2
  
• Polo The Sport of Princes page 3
  

There are 42 days to get ready for The Society of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 15th January 2025