Ken Papaleo: X Marks the Shot: Del's Triangle 3 Ranch Photos

“X Shot” Information

Camera - Canon EOS 5D

ISO - 400

Lens - Canon 300

F/stop - 8

Shutter - 1/1000 sec.

After spending the night in Steamboat Springs, I was on my way to Clark, Colorado for a photo shoot at Del’s Triangle 3 Ranch. I had met the owner, Ray Heid, when I worked for the Rocky Mountain News. I arrived early to get shots of Ray and his son, Perk Heid, getting the horses ready. Once fed, brushed and saddled, the horses were ready to go. Ray and Perk wore some great looking coats that really added to the scene. The plan was to get shots of the two riders charging through a field of untouched powder. We started our shoot on one side of the field and worked our way over making sure we didn’t mess up all the snow at once. I was told the horses were good for about 6 passes. With every other pass, I changed lenses starting with a 500, then a 300 and finally a 70 - 200 zoom. There were three things that I needed to be aware of for this shoot. The first was getting a good exposure reading, somewhere between the bright snow and the dark black horse. Second, a shutter speed at least 1/1000 sec. to stop the action and the third, a depth of field large enough to get both riders in focus. It was great recording these beautiful animals busting through the fresh powder and watching the smiles of the riders’ faces. It makes no difference what you use to cut through powder, the results are always the same, one big grin! After finishing our runs Ray and Perk headed back to the barn. They needed to get ready for tourists that wanted to go for winter horseback rides. This ranch is one of several in the Clark area that provide horse riding experiences year round.