Take Great Photos of Your Horse

As digital technology takes hold, you do not need to be a professional to take great photographs. Sophisticated yet affordable digital cameras provide us with the opportunity to produce technically proficient photos even if we are beginners and even if we only ever use available light or a simple flash.

Knowing your subject. Capturing your horse’s personality is the objective. If you own your horse you will be familiar with their personality as well as their daily routine. Shooting photos when your horse is first turned out for the day can provide wonderful action shots. Taking photos at the end of the day when your horse is ready to come in for feeding will also provide great portrait shots as your horse is focused on you, attentive, with ears forward.

Plan a day outing. Have your camera on hand at all times. If you are using a digital camera make sure your battery is well charged and have a back up battery with you. If your photo is needed for a timely reason such as a photo contest, plan a day where you can just sit and observe your horse in the pasture. Pack a lunch and bring along a chair, relax and be patient. Snap spontaneous shots at your leisure. You will be amazed at the variety of pictures you will gather throughout the day. Before heading out make certain that you have plenty of available storage space on your camera. It is a good idea to move any images stored on your camera to your computer or a CD so you will have storage to spare for all the photos you will be taking. Also, take time to prepare your horse. Bathing, brushing, plaiting the mane and washing the tail as well as oiling the hooves will provide a professional look.

Lighting is the key. Without shadow and light we would have no pictures. To strike an ideal balance between the two is tantamount to a great photo. More than any element, light and shadow  have the strongest impact on the mood of your picture. Too much brightness will wash out your subject, too much shadow and everything is lost in darkness.  Try to take outdoor photos on a relatively cloudy day or try to have your horse in the shade of a tree or building. Direct sunlight causes harsh shadows. If you cannot stay out of the sun use your camera’s flash-fill function to reduce the harshness. When taking your photos indoors, position your horse next to a window. North-facing windows are particularly good as the light is more diffuse. Most digital cameras feature manual settings which allow you to adjust the shutter speed. To stabilize your camera at slow shutter speeds it is advisable to use a tripod or your photos may turn out blurred.

Composition for horse portraits. Advice on composition, like lighting, could fill an entire book. Keeping to the basics let us start with framing your subject. The vast majority of cameras use a rectangular frame. As you shoot your photos you must decide if you will be using landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) format. Don’t be afraid to experiment moving the camera around looking for the best possible way to frame the picture. When framing a shot of your horse’s head using the classical “portrait” vertical format, the best composition is to have the subject’s head near the top of the frame. Don’t be afraid to allow a portion of the head run off the frame. This makes for an interesting composition. It is important to focus on the horse’s eyes when taking a portrait photo otherwise your photo will lose its effectiveness. The eyes are your window to your equine companion’s mood and soul.

The effect of background. Before composing your picture decide what elements of the background will have an impact of the photograph. If your background is too busy, your horse may not stand out as the main subject. Keep your composition as tight as possible, while showing some background to help tell a story. It is advisable to keep the background detail to a bare minimum with a plain, dark background. However, light or white backgrounds work very nicely for photographing darker horses. Always be mindful that objects in the background do not appear to protrude from your subject, things that look like they are growing out of your horse’s head, such as a tree or post. To truly define your subject from the background it is important to gain an understanding of “Depth of Field”. Depth of Field is the focus difference between objects in the foreground and background. Increased Depth of Field means that your subject is sharply focused while the background is blurred out of focus. Shallow depth of field is when both foreground and background appear to be in focus. Again experimentation is the key here. Play around with the manual settings on your camera. For a really nice effect, try these manual settings on your camera. If you use a large lens aperture (a low F-stop of f 2.8), your main focus point will be in sharper focus while the surrounding picture will be in less focus which will make your subject pop out of the picture.

Rule of Thirds. Take time to understand and use the "Rule of Thirds" when composing any photograph. Imagine the frame divided into three equal sections vertically, and horizontally. The rule is to place the main focus of your picture at or near one of the intersections of this imaginary grid – top left, top right, bottom right, bottom left. This will create a dynamic composition that will give the viewer a main focus and will encourage the viewer’s eye to move around the picture.

Tips for posing.  A commonly seen photo “error” is the “big head, small rump”. To minimize this, use your telephoto feature and stand farther away from your horse. It is best to have a horse who is focused and alert. Ask a friend to assist you by making a noise or attaching a plastic bag to a lounge whip and waving it to get your horse's attention. If taking a photo of your horse cantering and you wish to show speed, take the shot the moment your horse extends its front leading leg. If you wish to show power, try to take your shot the moment your horse brings all four legs under itself or just as the front legs come up to extend once again. If your horse is trotting, take your shot when a front leg is fully extended. At the walk, your horse will look calm and peaceful when a front leg is lifted to take a step.

Have Fun.  Our horses are special to us and taking photos of our horses is something we do a lot. We send photos to friends online, keep photos in our wallets and have photos hanging or sitting all over our homes. Learning these few fundamentals will help you take great photos of your horse. Utilize all the features your camera has to offer and learn what your imaging software can do, you will be creating photo masterpieces in no time.  And finally it is important to mount your photo in the right frame. Take a look at the frames we have to offer, you just might find that perfect frame to show off your perfect photo. Click here to view our picture frames.

written by Donna Nearing