Horse Photography shoot - ever been on one what happened?

Overread

Overread

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So I have the opportunity in a few weeks to do some equine portrait photography as part of a general tutorial and want to maximise what I learn as well as get a good feel for what happens.

Thus I'd be very interested to hear of your experiences from the "other side" of things. To hear how your photography shots went, what happened, how they were done. I'd very much also like to hear how it went for you; what you felt the photography did right at the time as well as, if anything, what went wrong - or what you felt was not suitable or even dangerous.

Any thoughts and views you have would be great; I'm not a horsey person so working with a situation where there is both owner/rider/trainer and a horse(s) is a very different thing for me and the more I know the better I can go into the situation and not get too "blind in the moment" (that is when one focuses on the camera alone and isn't aware enough to pay full attention to the situation - sometimes just knowing of a potential issue or factor can be the difference in noticing and avoiding before it even happens)
 
I have taken part in a couple. The guy who did mine wasn't horsey but was aware how spooky amd sensitive horses can be. He made time to desensitise them to his equipment and for them to relax.

I loved the shots where I wasn't aware they were being taken but as I hate my photo anyway that isn't surprising!

Pointers - give direction, I had no idea what looks good and asked for direction but received little.
Be fun, something this guy lacked! But as we were his experiments and got his time and photos for free I'm not going to bash him!
 
My thanks for your thoughts!
Out of interest what kind of "desensitising" methods did you both use? I know it will vary some horse to horse, but some ideas would be good. Thus far the only one I've picked up is that if one is using any lights/softboxes/backgrounds etc.. is to bring the horse to them rather than to bring them to the horse.

Posing advice is good as is the relax and enjoy/be fun parts - though I suspect for me both of those will come with more time and more practice (well I hope the fun part won't take too long - mostly a case of just relaxing and not getting caught up "photographing" and forgetting the others around)
 
Just giving them time to sniff the equipment, he also had flashes which he aimed away from them then gradually moved them into the horses vision while 'flashing' for want of a better term!

He had big flash umbrella things up for some of the others for different effects?? By all accounts the horses coped with those well.

My horse was being a devil but by the photos I got you couldn't tell so I'd say he was pretty good! :D although he did miss the one and only time the horse was affectionate so I was gutted! :D
 
It depends what sort of shoot you're doing. We do equestrian shoots (as photographers) sometimes but they're linked in with our weddings so are normally trash the dress types! Ours is pretty easy as we simply ask the bride to trot and canter up and down a beach and just have a play around, then we just snap away. We never get overly close and its all kept very natural. The only thing the bride has to do is get the horse used to a flappy wedding dress prior to the shoot. I would suggest natural shots are nicest IMO rather than super posy ones (which will be much harder with a horse who isn't super relaxed). If using flashes / lighting then you'd need to spend some time getting the horse used to it. Remember, the experience itself is very important for your client so keep it relaxed ;)
 
My daughter's friend asked to borrow her and the her horse to learn how to do equestrian photography as part of his training. He took time to get the horse used to the equipment, flashes, the clicking of the camera for closeups, and himself, he even laid alongside jumps to get action shots. Time to relax both horse and rider are important.
 
Take time to discuss what the owner/rider wants. Mnay years ago, I was asked to ride for a photographer who wanted to try some equestrian photography. To make it worth my while ( he came every day for a week) he promised me some prints. I spent hours with him, and he took hundreds of shots - and it wasn't til he brought them back for me to choose some, that I realised the horse was either spooking, bucking, or had her head in the air and her hocks in the next county in every picture. Turns out that, as a non horsey person, he had no idea that I was interested in the ones where she was working in a correct outline - so he waited til she was naughty to take each shot, as she looked more "interesting"!!
 
Many years ago my daughter did a photo shoot for an national equestrian magazine, so it was a professional photographer. What amazed me was how long they took, our poor pony must have jumped the same fence 30 times, compared to a show photographer who only gets one chance to get a good shot over the picked fence. The photographer didn't on our shoots didn't really interact with the subjects human or equine and even though the photos were good enough to make the magazine it wasn't a very enjoyable experience.
If you look on FB you see some appalling photos done for wedding/equine shoots. I would before you try selling your services get a camera club or well established professional to critique your pictures.
 
honetpot said:
The photographer didn't on our shoots didn't really interact with the subjects human or equine and even though the photos were good enough to make the magazine it wasn't a very enjoyable experience.
If you look on FB you see some appalling photos done for wedding/equine shoots. I would before you try selling your services get a camera club or well established professional to critique your pictures.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If you give someone a fun experience, they'll always come back to you or recommend you to someone else but if its not enjoyable, you'll have no business! And photographers do vary HUGELY. You pay for what you get usually... this is what annoys us in the wedding industry, the odd person moans we're too expensive so goes cheap and then wonder why they end up with horrific images...

OP, make sure you know what sort of images horsey people like. If you're non-horsey you may not know what a horsey person finds a good image and we can be really picky (I for example hate to see dangly legs over jumps that are taken by event photographers - if the legs aren't neat and tidy I wouldn't buy!).
 
My thanks for the continued input all!

Identity/MagicMelon - out of interest could you tell if it was the "light" or the "sound" of the flash that might have had the greatest effect? I was doing some macro photography one time near a horse pen and has a flash that makes a "whining" sound when charging between flashes. Horse wasn't too phased by the light pops but the whine seemed to draw the most attention.
Also as a very very rough idea how long would you say "getting used" to gear takes? I know that's a trick question because the answer is going to be "it depends on the horse" (and on how much and what one brings); but a kind of rough idea of a maximum limit would be good to have (the kind of - its been long enough time to try something new as the horse is not liking this).

Clannad - I'd say its time to relax horse, riding and photographer. Laying down or being nearer to jumps can get some great angles - though I think I'd need more confidence in myself before I'd be laying down near a jump!

Auslander - yes as a non-horsey person I also find that sometimes what I think looks neat or looks rubbish is actually what "horsey" people like (this also tends to include other horsey photographers as well, not just riders). So for me its a duel learning process of learning the camera, but also starting to learn what looks good horse wise - esp when dealing with a horse and rider interaction.

Honet - yep practice makes perfect; that said for a show-photographer if they know the show chances are they've shot the jump a good few hundred times already (or at least one in a similar position). It's one of those cases where when you can repeat you start to get really fussy/picky with little details.
Though I'd say the risk is keeping an eye on horse and rider - once they've done so many fatigue starts to kick in (and as a non-horsey person its easy to underestimate the amount of energy that goes into a jump).

Critique wise I'm certainly working on that; if I go into selling chances are it will only be the odd sale here and there at present so I'm more focused on learning than earning.



If any are interested you can catch my photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24534478@N04/
 
Hello Overread. I am an equine portrait photographer (as well as weddings and children) Horses are by far the most challenging and rewarding subjects.

The most important thing is making it fun for the client and not focusing too heavily on a certain shot especially if the horse doesn't want to comply. A stressed horse and owner is not fun. I generally tell the owners to keep smiling and interacting with their horse no matter what the horse is doing as even when the horse is having a 'moment' you can still get a good photo. I also probably shoot close to as many frames in an equine session as I do at a wedding as unlike humans horses don't pose :) you are capturing moments and you may have a mare you does not want to put her ears forward (rustling bags help with this) or you may have a jumpy youngster. You need to do some research into what is a flattering movement for example there is probably only one part of a canter stride that looks flattering to the horse and the rider (thats if you are doing ridden shots)

I work with very little in terms of equipment all of my lenses are primes below f2.8 so can work very well in low light conditions as well as allowing for creativity with shallow depth of field. Primes also allow for very fast focusing and wonderful sharpness. I usually work with a 50mm and will then use my 85mm for any ridden schooling shots. Post production is also you best friend :)

In terms of flash horses actually don't see light in the same way that we do. So its actually the noise that bothers them but I have yet to come across a horse that has batted an eyelid to be honest. Safety is paramount, I never encourage clients to ride without a hat its entirely up to their discretion for that. However I recently did a shoot with a lady and her horse she wanted just one shot of her on board bareback in a dress. She regularly ride bareback and horse is known for being a saint, client put her hat on to ride to the spot for the photo with the intention of handing it to my assistant while the photograph was taken and then she would put it back on. However before she even got to the spot we were going to use her mare ran off with her bucking, how the lady stayed on I will never know! But safety is the MOST important thing. These are large animals and unpredictable you must never encourage a client to do something outside of their comfort zone and if you are not used to being around horses I would spend sometime with them prior to do doing a shoot.

Location wise woods, pretty fields, nice outdoor school, indoor school for more drama, natural shots of grooming and owner interacting (I love photographing my stepdaughter doing groundwork with her pony) the entrance to a barn can create shots like this

11048671_10155568094780389_7531685536521033629_o.jpg


Communicate with owner as well, I use a clicking noise to get ears forward and when I have photographed highly schooled spanish stallions where that noise is actually a command for a movement so getting that information beforehand made everything mush simpler. Find out about the horse and if its spooky, or high energy so may need to be worked prior to any standing portraits. I have been doing bluebell shoots this past week and its not normal for a horse to just go stand in the woods so maybe ask the owner to walk the horse in the location prior to the shoot etc.

I love this type of photography its incredibly rewarding and you will really enjoy it.

NOTE! I own the photograph above

Also to add check HANDS! Everyone has a habit of putting their hands in unflattering places when working with horses, hands must stay relaxed as possible otherwise the tension comes across in the photograph.
 
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AmiRobertson - my thanks indeed for your insight and great lowkey photograph! Hands is something that I'm finding is more complex than I thought as well; not just fidgeting or silly positions, but also elements of control and pose during events (which I must admit is action that I'm currently mostly blind to since I've no base line for "correct" positions so I can't tell when the hands are in a suitable and "unsuitable" pose - something to work on).
 
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