Learning to shoot rodeo with the Canon EOS R3

In the summer of 2022, I experienced one of those moments in life that demanded adventure. I had moved out of one house and purchased another but couldn’t move in for three months. I had to live somewhere, so I settled on spending the better part of the summer in a small town in western Montana.

I learned to slow down and appreciate the simple things in life a bit more, and the late sunsets – almost 10 pm for several weeks – left plenty of time for evening photography.

At the time, I was also working on our review of the Canon EOS R3 (yep, I know, we never finished it), so the R3 was along for the ride. I wanted to put it to the test, and since I was in cowboy country, the answer was obvious: rodeo.

Rodeo is a symbol of the American west, having evolved from a land where cattle was king. It celebrates the grit and determination of cowboy culture in communities built mostly around ranching. Mixing skill and excitement with an element of danger, rodeo proved to be a great test bed for the EOS R3.

So, in August of 2022, I spent three days photographing the Flathead River Rodeo in Polson, Montana, part of the Indian National Finals Rodeo circuit.

I’d never photographed a rodeo before, but it turned out to be the most adrenaline-pumping photography I’ve ever done.

Learning to shoot rodeo

This was a new type of photography for me and one I had to grow into. Like anything new, there’s a learning curve, and no matter what type of gear you’re using, the most critical factor is experience. How well do you know your subject? How good are you at predicting where the action will be?

When most people think of rodeo, they think of the events in the arena. That’s where you’ll get the classic action shot of a rider hanging onto a bronco with one arm in the air. That’s what every rodeo rider wants, too: a photo that makes them look badass. I anticipated spending most of my time shooting toward the arena, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

It’s only when you’re back by the chutes with the bulls and broncos that you realize just how big and powerful these animals are, a sense of power, barely constrained, that could explode at any moment.

The real action at a rodeo happens behind the scenes, in the areas around the corrals and chutes. It’s where the color and texture of the rodeo come to life, and where you can get up close and personal with the riders and the animals. This is where you’ll find the essence of rodeo. This is where you go to tell a story.

Back here, riders go through the same routines as any solo athlete preparing to compete: preparing gear, stretching, taping joints, and spending time alone in a zone of silence, mentally rehearsing what they’re about to do.

A bronco rider prepares his gear and rehearses his ride.

It’s only when you’re back by the chutes with the bulls and broncos that you realize just how big and powerful these animals are, a sense of power, barely constrained, that could explode at any moment. You can sense it, but capturing it in pictures, up close, is a challenge.

Pay attention at all times

I spent much time shooting from the elevated wooden walkways along the chutes. It was the only way I could get close to the riders during the critical moments, and, luckily for me, a few cowboys took me under their wing and taught me the ropes.

Things move quickly. When a rider enters the chute, a whole team of people jumps into action. Wranglers adjust straps to be just right, rodeo officials bark orders, and a gate operator prepares for action. Even the rodeo clowns jump in to help to keep things moving.

This was hands-down my favorite area to shoot in. Using a wide-angle lens, I could get into the middle of the action and capture the emotion of the participants. There’s a palpable tension in the air in the moments before a ride; it’s like sitting on a pile of dynamite with a hair trigger.

I discovered that the possibility of injury is real, and learned to pay constant attention to my surroundings. When a bronco kicks the wall of the chute, it’s like an explosion. All it takes is for a bull or a bronco to rear its head or kick into the air at the wrong moment, and you’ll get hurt.

Shooting with the EOS R3

The EOS R3 was absolutely up to the task. It’s a modern mirrorless flagship camera with all the bells and whistles. I figured if there was any camera that should be able to handle an event like this, the R3 was it, and I was right.

Cowboys watch the action from behind the chutes.

My full kit for this project included the EOS R3, the Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8 L II, the RF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS, and the EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L IS II, along with a Canon adapter for the EF lenses.

Why didn’t I shoot with all RF lenses? Simple: somebody else on the team had them checked out the day I left for Montana, so I took the EF versions instead. I needn’t have worried. The performance of the EF lenses with the adapter was outstanding. I couldn’t do a side-by-side test, so I can’t say how they would have compared to the RF versions, but performance wasn’t lacking.

I only remembered that I was using the older EF optics when I changed lenses and had to fiddle with the adapter.

Indeed, once I started shooting, I only remembered that I was using the older EF optics when I changed lenses and had to fiddle with the adapter. Canon has done a great job of making its mirrorless cameras backward compatible. If you’re heavily invested in EF lenses, it provides some level of confidence that you can move to mirrorless and not have to replace all your glass right away.

I found myself gravitating toward wide angle shots to get in close to create immersive photos. This picture was taken at 24mm, and that bull was really close.

Something that’s probably obvious about rodeo is that it’s a dusty, unforgiving environment. It’s a case study of what dust sealing was designed for. There’s also grit and mud, and even if you don’t bang your camera into things, things bang into your camera. Thanks to its pro-level build this didn’t present any issues for the R3, but it’s something to consider before taking any camera into this type of setting.

One thing I got wrong, and this is a matter of experience, is that I anticipated doing the bulk of my shooting with telephoto lenses. As it turns out, I kept the 24-70mm lens on my camera most of the time. This probably reflects my bias for telling a story: I prefer to get in close, to immerse myself in an event, rather than shooting from afar. Other photographers might paint the event in a very different way.

Eye-controlled focus is a game changer – if it works for you

Let me preface this section by acknowledging the elephant in the room: eye-controlled autofocus doesn’t work for everyone. What I’m about to tell you reflects my experience.

First, I didn’t rely solely on eye-controlled AF; during my first couple of hours of shooting I tried zone and wide-area AF too. Every mode worked, but I found placing the reticle with my eye the most reliable method. Additionally, after getting into a rhythm with eye-controlled AF, the other modes felt primitive and frustrating. I got so used to just looking where I wanted to focus and nailing it that I got annoyed when I couldn’t.

Due to sight lines, I often couldn’t see where the action was about to take place. I knew a rider was about to come out of a chute, but from where I was standing I couldn’t always tell which chute. This was where eye-controlled AF proved to be most helpful. I framed the shot based on where I thought the action would occur, and as soon as the rider appeared, I simply looked at them, pressed the AF button and started shooting.

As soon as the rider appeared, I simply looked at them, pressed the AF button and started shooting.

As long as my eye got the reticle into the rough vicinity of the subject, the camera usually locked onto the right thing very quickly, aided by the R3’s subject detection. I tried shooting rodeo with both the human and animal detection settings. I discovered that the camera usually identified horses and bulls even in human mode, so that’s the mode I stuck with.

Although unrelated to eye-controlled AF, I had to adjust one other AF setting. Rodeo has a lot going on, and sometimes my subject passed briefly behind another object. I started with the AF system set to Case A (auto) but found that the camera would often lose my subject when this happened. I switched it to Case 2 (continue to track subjects ignoring possible obstacles), and, as it was supposed to, it did a much better job of ignoring foreground distractions.

Quirks and a potential dealbreaker

My experience wasn’t without some hiccups. In my first experiments with it, I encountered several situations where eye-controlled AF went wonky and didn’t work. It didn’t take me long to realize that this always coincided with a change in my shooting position, usually into some awkward angle that slightly changed the position of my eye relative to the viewfinder.

In every case, I found that performing a couple of quick eye calibrations in the new position solved the problem. If I returned to that position later, no additional calibration was required. However, it did interrupt my workflow.

At one point, eye-controlled AF became very erratic, and I couldn’t figure out why. Eventually, I determined that mud kicked up by a horse had landed inside the edge of the EVF. It wasn’t directly in my line of view, so I didn’t notice it, but as soon as I wiped it away, the system worked normally.

The obvious dealbreaker is if eye-controlled AF doesn’t work for you. If you’re one of those people, that’s unfortunate because it can be a tremendously helpful tool. In future iterations of the system, I hope Canon focuses on improving compatibility with a broader range of users because when it works, it works. Also, nothing is more frustrating than buying a flagship product and discovering that the headline feature doesn’t work for you.

Happy trails

What started as a fun western adventure turned into a transformative experience. I have a better appreciation for small-town living and the enduring cowboy culture in the American west.

The EOS R3 handled this project with flying colors, but you don’t need an R3, or any other flagship camera, to shoot rodeo. The R3 is good, but it’s not magic; as with any photography, there’s no substitute for experience. You have to put in your 10,000 hours, right? I’m a long way from reaching that point, but even a look back at my photos from one rodeo tells me that my shots on the third day were better than the first.

Photographing rodeo was one of the most exhilarating photography experiences I’ve ever had. I enjoyed it so much that I’m contemplating a months-long documentary project about small-town rodeos and cowboy life. And, since it looks like I’ll have more time on my hands after April, this might be the right time to do it.

View the full EOS R3 rodeo sample gallery