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Photography

Equine Photography Tips

I take a few horse pictures now and then (hahahaha) so I thought I would share some of the things I look for/pay attention to in order to get the best possible outcome for various situations – posed and unposed.

I use my Canon 6D DSLR camera and edit in Adobe Lightroom, but these tips are useful even if you’re “just” using your phone!

Ground Tying

This has very little to do with photography in general but absolutely EVERYTHING to do with photographing my horse in a posed fashion. I need him to be able to stand there, hold his feet still, and NOT MOVE while I take some pictures.

I wrote a whole blog post on ground tying, you can check it out here.

Lighting

I think one of the biggest things (if not the biggest thing) you need to pay attention to, when photographing anything, is your light source.

This is an example of “golden hour” light.

If you’ve been around photographers for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the term “golden hour”. This refers to the time right after sunrise and right before sunset when the sun is low in the sky and the sunlight is diffused and soft. You can also get this softer, diffused light if you’re filtering the sun through tree branches or something similar.

This is an example of overcast light, no shadows on either side of him and all the light behind him is even as well.

This is an example of open shade, the sun is still out (you can see it in the tops of the trees behind the subjects) but the light is soft and even where the subjects are placed.

My favorite kind of light is overcast – all the light is even, there are no harsh shadows. My second kind of favorite light is “open shade” which is an area of shade provided by a large structure or object like a building or trees and preferably the sun is still visible in some way so it’s not TOO shaded.

Here is a good example of “direct sunlight”, there are no awkward and distracting shadows across the subjects.

Here is a not-so-good example of direct sunlight, parts of her body are in shadow and although it does show her conformation (a post for another day), the shadows are, in my opinion, distracting.

But, alas, I live in the desert where there are very few trees and far more openly sunny days than overcast days. This has been a hard adjustment for me, but it is 100% possible to take good photos in “direct sunlight” (think harsh, midday sun) as long as you’re paying attention to where the shadows are falling across your subject (in this case, your horse).

Background & Distractions

This is one of those “be aware of your surroundings” type things.

There will obviously be times when you don’t have the ability to position yourself or your subject in a manner than alleviates background distractions, but anytime you do have that ability – do it! You’ll be glad you did.

The sprinkler coming up out of the horse’s back side in front of a frisky Trisha is annoying and will be more difficult to remove, as well as the t-post looking like it’s coming up out of Trisha’s neck.

I positioned myself in a way that it was very easy to remove all the sprinklers and fence posts and telephone poles from around Sassy in this photo.

We have irrigation sprinklers in our fields that are a nice bright white color. While I frequently edit them out of most of my photos because they drive me crazy, I also pay attention when I’m taking the photos to make sure that they aren’t a part of the horse’s body in-camera.

If you can’t get away from the distractions, just make sure you don’t have something like a telephone pole coming up out of a horse’s head or something like that. Change your position and angle until you find a less distracting frame.

Fawkes is difficult to photograph because of his conformation, but there are angles I can shoot from that make him more photogenic.

Position & Angle

We can all agree that horses are magnificent, beautiful, majestic creatures, right? But also, they’re kind of awkward. Long legs, long faces, pointy ears.

Basically, it’s really easy to make even the most beautiful horse look awkward in a photo but it’s equally easy to make a not-so-beautiful horse look spectacular in a photo. It’s all about how you position him and the angle you take your photo from (and, of course, the light you’re shooting in).

I take a lot of photos of Spur (the roan above) because he’s my main riding horse and I stinkin’ love him. But I bet a lot of folks would be surprised to meet my heart-horse in real life… because he’s an awkward dude. He’s got a long neck (that he really prefers to hold as high as possible), he’s long-backed, and a lot of times he has his “crazy eyes” on. But when I’m taking his photo, I make sure to position his legs as conformationally correct as possible, and shoot his head from an angle that flatters that long giraffe neck.

This is a good example of poor angle and positioning. Wrangler looks awkward all the way around, with his neck kinked and that front leg slightly back, he looks like he has no hip and is all barrel.

With that being said, the main things to think about when positioning your horse for a photo are their legs and their head/neck. You don’t want their legs splayed or a foot turned in, or have them standing in a manner that makes them look like they have no hip. And, most of the time, you want to avoid shooting at their face head-on. Angle their body slightly, shoot from the side, or do your best to have them look to the side.

Also, I think there is a time and place (or certain expressions) where it’s not detrimental to your photo for your horses ears to not be pointed forward, but I find it really unflattering when taking portrait-type photos of my horse for his ears to be back.

There’s an app called “Horse Sounds” that can be really helpful for getting ears up!

Be Patient

Photographing horses is a lot like photographing small children… because they don’t really understand what you’re asking of them or why and you pretty much have to set everything up yourself – from their feet to their ears to their expressions to the direction they are going to face. And then… all you can do is be patient and hope for the best, but realize that perfection is unattainable and not very much fun to wait for.

Do the best you can with what you have… I promise, it’s worth the effort!

I’M bRIANA

WELCOME TO THE BLOG

Fueled by equal parts horse hair and passion, I spend my days capturing the kinds of images that make you stop, smile and ask time to please slow down. Your story, your love, is beautiful and I can’t wait to capture it in images you will treasure for years to come. I believe in real moments and heartfelt conversations on the front porch. In the kinds of images that remind you of the joy that can be found in the simplest of moments together.

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