10 Tips for Photographing a Horse

10 Tips for Photographing a Horse (that isn’t in motion)

by Bob Lundquist, Lundquist's Natural Images Photography

The following tips will work equally well for both film and digital camera owners. Film shooters shouldn’t let the cost of film and processing be a limiting factor; your horse is worth it! So, here’s my “Top 10”:

Planning: To begin with, when planning your horse photography session, you should keep three things in mind. First, photograph your horse when he’s in a calm mood. Do whatever is necessary to get him there. Second, don’t shoot in the vicinity of other horses, they’re an unnecessary distraction. Third, you can’t do a successful horse photo shoot alone. Ideally, you should have a friend who knows your horse hold the lead rope or reins and another to direct the horse’s attention with sounds (e.g. jingle of keys, pail of grain) or gentle movement (e.g. bubbles, tossed feathers, etc.). This will keep your horses ears up and more alert.

Equipment: Prepare your equipment. Be sure your camera has fresh batteries, is clean, and in good working order (and don’t forget your operating manual). Image sharpness and composition stability will be noticeably improved when your camera is placed on a tripod. Always use a tripod or other stabilizing device (e.g. monopod, bean bag, etc.), if possible.

Ground: In order to achieve images with correct proportions, place the horse and tripod on dry, solid and level ground. This is very important for sale promotion photos.

Image Variety: Take a variety of photos, of both horizontal and vertical compositions. If you want a complete record of the horse, shoot from all angles. Imagine your horse is facing North, then:

a front direct image = shooting from due North
a front left image = shooting from Northwest
a front right image = shooting from Northeast
a side left image = shooting from due West
a side right image = shooting from due East
a rear direct image = shooting from due South
a rear left image = shooting from Southwest
a rear right image = shooting from Southeast

And, finally, be sure to take close-ups of head and feet. Thus, a “complete shoot” should result in 20 or more images to choose from.

Framing: Fill about 60-90% of the image frame with the subject horse. Pictures that have too much open and white space don’t provide adequate detail. When framing full body and head shot images, be careful not to crop off the ears or feet. This is a common problem and is quite annoying to prospective buyers.

The Eye: For head shots, take catch light in the horse’s eye; it appears like a twinkle and enhances the image. The twinkle can also be achieved by using your flash. This technique is called daylight “fill flash”. Think of the eye as the main subject for such images. Also, when taking head close-ups, shoot in vertical composition and use the zoom feature to blur the background.

Light Quality: The quality and angle of natural lighting is very important. The two best times of day for photography are early morning (i.e. ½ hour after sun up to 3 hours after sun up) and late afternoon (i.e. 4 hours before sun down to sundown). Morning gives the clearest light and afternoon provides the warmest light. Both time periods allow for some shadows which give better depth to the image than during midday sun.

Light Position: Even on overcast days it is important to position the light source (i.e. sun) at your back or right or left. Lighting from behind your subject seldom works well, except for silhouette shots.

Background: The background scene behind the horse must be considered. A simple, pleasing and contrasting background works best. Darker colors are usually better than lighter and natural settings can work very well (e.g. a stand of trees is better than a white sided barn). Additionally, minimize the amount of sky in the background; to about 30% on a sunny day, and less on overcast days.

Secondary Subject (you): Consider placing yourself in a few of the pictures. If this is your prize horse, it will make sense to include yourself in front left, front right or head shot images; as well as on horseback. Properly printed, matted and framed it will be a wonderful memento.

Finally, don’t forget that photo editing programs (e.g. PhotoShop), are not a substitution for great field techniques, but can be used to enhance a well composed image.

Happy shooting,

Bob Lundquist

Lundquist's Natural Images