Hi Fin,
I spent last weekend New Zealand photographing practical long-range shooters shooting at targets up to 1800 metres away across a valley near Lake Tekapo. My one ambition for the weekend was to capture muzzle flash from one of the many rifles in use but do you think I could manage the shot? I even put a camera on a tripod in rather close proximity to one of the rifles and gave the camera several bursts at 11 frames a second as shooters pulled the trigger but do you think I had any luck.
Then yesterday I received an email from another photographer who had been at the event and one of the photos was of a New Caledonian contestant with a beautiful bright flash coming from the muzzle of his rifle. I felt disappointed.
The fact is that often in situations where things can happen either quickly, or unexpectedly we basically have to take what we can get. All the planning in the world can easily be thwarted by fate.
In this instance I think I would simply enjoy this photo for what it is and then get on with making your next great photo. There are a lot of things that could improve this photo, like eleminating the barrier or perhaps getting a more profile view of the action but given that this would probalby be the only time you have ever seen this horse and pidgeon together, I think you are out of luck!
As they say... keep on shooting!
Cheers,
Anthony