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Photographing Your Horse

The following are some very basic tips which hopefully will help you to take better photos & get more enjoyment from your equine photography.

Most cameras will take care of the technical side of things, so you really only have to think of the composition.

Choose a bright, but not necessarily sunny day. On bright days there will be dark shadows & bright highlights that will give a very contrasty picture, particularly with a dark coloured animal.

For a more professional look take time to prepare your horse.

Choose the horse’s best side and make sure you have a suitable, not too distracting background. Have a good look all around the viewfinder & fill it. So many picture cut off the horse while wasting space on the other side of the picture.

Make sure the person holding the horse knows what they are doing & what you are trying to achieve, they can then position the horse accordingly.

Ensure that for a full length shot, you stand the horse with both front legs together and hind leg nearest to you slightly behind the other. For best effect take the photograph in landscape mode.

For a head shot or picture taken from the front, use portrait mode. Avoid getting too close & wide angle lenses which will distort the features. Standing farther away & using a telephoto or zoom lens will give a far more pleasing effect. The narrower depth of field will also have the effect of blurring the background, making your subject stand out from the picture.

As with children or small animals, when photographing foals or smaller breeds, get down to their eye level. You will get a far better photo if you are not looking down on the subject.

It is very difficult to get a horses attention while trying to hold a camera steady. When you look into the camera, you lose eye contact with the horse & the ears immediately go back. I see this over & over again in the line up, the horses look very happy & interested in what you are doing, as soon as the camera covers my face, the ears go back. The easiest way is to get somebody to stand by your shoulder to get the horses attention in which ever way they can while you wait for the perfect shot.

For action or jumping shots, the more light the better. On dark days or indoors it is very difficult if not impossible to freeze the action successfully. Use fast shutter speeds or sports mode if your camera has one. Follow the horse with you camera & squeeze the shutter button whilst still following the horse along. Don’t just hold the camera still & try to grab the shot as the horse passes.

If your camera has a time delay between pressing the button & taking the shot, practice! With a little patience, it is possible to know when to press the button & get the shot.

Steve Kitcher
www.Event-Images.co.uk