Portraits with Horse

[phil_burt]

<p>Seeing a thread on Horses prompted me to ask this. A good friend has asked me to take some pictures of him, his wife and their horses. I am sure they will want a combination of all.<br>

I really have no idea where to start except to fire away and hope for the best. They have seen some of my photos and liked them so here I am.<br>

I have a D90, 10-20 Sigma, 30 f1.4 Sigma, 50 f1.8 Nikion, 24-70 f2.8 Sigma, and a 70-200 f2.8 Sigma. SB-600, tripod & monopod.<br>

I hope some of you have ideas?<br>

There is no money involved as these are friends. I really would love to give them some great photos.<br>

All help will be greatly appreciated, Thank you in advance.....<br>

phil b<br>

benton,ky</p>

[daniel flather]

<p>Warm early to late evening light comes to my mind, I'm sure you can operate the camera part.</p>

[Wayne Melia]

<p>Suggest shooting some with subject backlit with naturalight and flash fill to possibly get some luminescence to hair on the horses. I read a tutorial once (can't find it now) that hair is a multifaceted reflector that responds to this if done right.</p>

[kevin_delson]

<blockquote>

<p>I really have no idea where to start except to fire away and hope for the best.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>While not a deliberate approach, it will often suffice until you gain shooting experience.</p>

<p>Shoot a ton of images and get 10-20 keepers. ;)</p>

<p>For now, how about googling some images of people with their horses to get some compositional ideas?</p>

[mariosforsos]

<p>Okay, first you need to realise that you're shooting a subject (obviously not your friends) which is inherently only a hair away from insanity. Horses get spooked by a billion things, so you need to be careful. For example, I would suggest to NOT attempt to shoot with the sun in their back as a lot of horses get spooked when they see their shadow and may react completely unpredictably.</p>

<p>Second, horses react strangely to a flash snapping at their faces, so I would advise against using a flash around them. You could, potentially, use your SB600, fully zoomed in, to light a face on top of a horse, but that would be the extend to which I would use it. Also, a horse, depending on how it has been brought up, may react strangely when confronted with a tripod - remember, long, black, hard and spiky-looking items are generally not a horse's best friend.</p>

<p>I would suggest you shoot late afternoon, about 1hr BEFORE the golder hour, with the sun shining on the horses' face. The light should be sweet enough to cast beautiful tones to almost all colours of horses (even white ones - even though I would make sure I dialed a -1EV on the camera for black horses) and almost all riders.</p>

<p>I would also shoot mainly from a low position (not too low) so as to accenuate the horse's majestic presence and also to get a good angle on their beautiful long faces. If you shoot at a level with the horse's eyes (which is where you would probably be if you were simply standing up), you'd either end up with a fish-bowl look (if you shoot straight forward) or with a Dali "mad horse" look (if you shoot from the side, since you can only see one eye and that is a bit disconcerting for viewers).</p>

<p>Use your telephoto (70-200) with an aperture of around 4.5-5.6 from a medium distance so as not to spook the horse and you should be okay. Set your camera to multiple frames (as many as possible) and generally try to focus alternatively on the horse's eyes and then on the rider...</p>

<p>Oh, and be prepared for a lot of mud (and other...er, things...)</p>

[clay2]

<p>Sorry, I can't resist!</p>

<p>How do you 'frame' a horse?</p>

<p>Plant the evidence in his stall!</p>

<p>Best regards,</p>

<p>/Clay</p>

[geoffs1]

<p>Marios has good suggestions, esp. about distractions/spooking. I second hand-holding the 70-200mm lens.</p>

<p>What I've always done is scout out a good location (around the stables) with a background that will contrast nicely with the subjects and allow good positioning relative to the natural light. Pick a time of day when natural light will be OK (ex. afternoon/evening). Get everybody (human and equine) together and try to pose them generally acceptably. It will help to have someone who knows the horses near you to help keep the horses interest so they will look towards the camera.</p>

<p>Then shoot tons of shots.</p>

<p>Coordinating the expressions/poses of a number of people and horses is "hit or miss" at best, so you really want to try and setup a situation where you can work with the dynamics to capture those moments when "everything comes together".</p>

[john_cummins1]

<p>Plus the fact that horses have the attention span of a 3 yr. old. So the person that is standing BEHIND and off to whatever side you want them to look at, needs to hold something that makes a non threatening sound BELOW head level to keep the horses attention.And shoot like mad. DO NOT raise above head level or you might be buying new equipment, after you get out of the hospital.(Don't ask how I know this!)</p>

[justine_k]

<p>I can't offer much advice on how to help you get a good photo, but I certainly HOPE that this horse isn't neurotic enough to spook at it's own shadow.</p>

<p>I'd talk to your friends about how bomb proof their horse is ahead of time. Heck, even visit the horse first if you're local. I lot depends on what the horse has been around. An "undersocialized" horse who hasn't left the barn much might be a bit cagey around new equipment. An "A" circuit veteran who's at crowded indoor shows all the time might not blink an eye at anything you throw at him (literally and figuratively). I mean, heck, there's horses that literally perform and do tricks on theatre stages. But some horses just plain have some screws loose.</p>

<p>You're in a unique situation to be able to evaluate what you'll be dealing with ahead of time, so I'd definitely take advantage of it!</p>