Julie Deer  

Water Jump by Julie Deer

July 2026 - Water Jump

July 2026 - Julie Deer

Original

About the Image(s)

Recently the 3 day International Equestrian Event was held in Adelaide (again). Some members of the Camera Club went to the Cross Country day. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people there who seemed interested in the actual horses! It was extremely hard to get into a position to take good photos because of the crowds and fencing. The CBD of Adelaide was a planned city. We have a square mile of buildings surrounded on all four sides by wide parklands (lawns and trees). Some of those parklands are often used for all sorts of activities. This was one of them. This particular park has a pond that is about 2 feet deep and this is where the water jumps were set up. Unfortunately, we were a long way away from the action and the rider's face is nowhere near as sharp as I would like it. I have cropped, played with shadows and highlights. I also masked the people in the background and blurred them to try to put the focus on the horse and rider.

6 comments posted

Elaine Miller   Elaine Miller
Nice action shot. The processing brings out details in the horse and water. I did a quick edit - I didn't crop down as far so that the people were not cut off and darkened the background. It does bring out the rider but doesn't tell the story of the sun beating down. I didn't do much to horse and rider as I like your processing.   Posted: 07/01/2026 21:06:37
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Shari Garnsey   Shari Garnsey
Hi Julie - I think this is one of those shots where the story far out weights the need for technical perfection. You have a wonderful capture of the rider's expression mid jump. I played with the crop a bit opposite of where Elaine went to isolate the rider and horse just a tad more and very slightly straightened the lines in the jump. I think I feel that landing in my bones -   Posted: 07/02/2026 13:48:31
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Janice Solomon   Janice Solomon
Hi Julie, you did a nice job of capturing the movement, the rider's expression, and lightening the shadows on the subject in post processing. I like how Elaine darkened the top of the image. I recommend adding more breathing room to the right side of the image like you had in the original, but keep the top cropped the way you did in post processing. I think it's understandable that you were a distance away. You wouldn't want to be standing right in front of the horse!   Posted: 07/02/2026 17:03:45
Andrew Hersom   Andrew Hersom
Nice action shot, well seen and caught. Good post-processing too. You have got the horse and rider in just the right position. The rider's face is great. It does look a bit soft - maybe its the f2.8 aperture. I took the liberty of putting the original through Topaz and it does look a bit sharper. Also played with the shadows. I've done very little at these sort of events but the backgrounds are always a problem. Good job.   Posted: 07/11/2026 13:38:42
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Stephen Levitas   Stephen Levitas
(Group 32)
You got the action and conveyed the spirit of the event very well. How about telling us about the cross country event? How far is it and how many jumps are there? Is there only one water jump? Are any of the other jumps' landings as difficult or blind to the horses?   Posted: 07/13/2026 08:03:04
Don Hill   Don Hill
Hey Julie, nice image. I like what Andrew did and Shari. Maybe shooting at a higher shutter speed using manual, and setting the ISO at auto, may have given you more freedom with action shots. At auto ISO, during daylight, the ISO would still be low. You certainly caught the action at the right moment.   Posted: 07/13/2026 19:38:38

 

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