A 'horse' portrait... how did I let myself get talked into that? **Pics added**

V8burble

V8burble

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I'm photographing a mum, dad and 2yr old at the weekend. Somehow, whilst discussing the session we got talking about paddocks etc as possible outdoor locations. It turns out that the client also has a horse, and wouldn't it be lovely to have a nice portrait of her also... errrr yes, I'm sure we can deal with that if he have time and the weather is on our side :bang:

Now, I'm not a complete stranger to horses, I'm glad to say, infact my sister had a hunter for a number of years so I'm not afraid of them or anything like that, but to shoot a nice 'portrait' style shot is something VERY new to me.

Help - I need some ideas, tips and tricks!

In my mind I have a couple of images that I'd like to try and include. The first being the horse's head over the stable door, head turned towards me/assistant beside me. The second is more of a long shot to achieve without spending all day on, which is in the paddock with the horse pointing away from me at a diagonal but with its head turned back towards me with ears pricked forward and head raised - not much to ask then ;) Obviously I'll brief the horse just before the shoot so she's happy with her role in this :help:
 
classic landseer shot would be brill

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not quite a portrait but a good pose to frame
 
A horse owning friend of mine loved this shot I took of their horse when looking through some pictures on my camera.



Was a good job they saw it as I had already discounted it as "nice try but fail" and would have deleted it.
May be an option to try although how you get the model to do the pose you want with horses I dunno!
 
don't forget detail shots as well, I took this one yesterday of our youngster. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doeasn't, the wife likes it so that's the main thing :p

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Now, I really should be able to offer some advice here, but when it comes to writing it down it's not so easy. In my experience, there's a fair degree of luck involved, and a small amount of skill.

I think you've won most the battle by not being intimated by horses, and frankly a lot of the rest is down horse temperament.

For a group portrait, horse sideways onto you, stick the kiddie on horses back, dad (if he's tall enough), standing behind, hanging on to kiddie, in case! Mum in front, and then get horse to turn head towards you, Easy:lol:

Oh, and then light it all with a nice big flash and get the background all dark and dramatic like.

Good luck :exit:

P.s Dod that's a corker :thumbs:
 
Thank you everyone :thumbs:

AI, that's a nice shot, I can understand why the owner likes it... alert, nice depth to the face, I'd be happy with that. :thumbs:

Dod, That's something I hadn't even thought about - detail shots, and that's a cracker :).

I'm quite looking forward to it tbh, and as it's a sideline to the main portrait session it is something that I can do without too much pressure.
 
I shot this for a family friend. No flash, just available light. Never done anything like it before. I like it!

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this is another which has been sold a few times, just something slightly different :)

 
The shots over the stable doors look good, if you move the camera towards the horse they will stick their heads out as far as possible to have a nosey :lol:

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For comedy value, get the horse in the morning when he's yawning!

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Only ever took one photo of a horse, got no feedback on it either but I love it. No PP, straight from the camera:

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Probably the hardest thing is to get their attention. Make sure you have something rattly/squeaky that can get them to look and prick the ears up. Even chucking some keys on the ground can make a big difference.

If you can get pics without headcollar/bridle that would be better or you get ropes that ruin a photo,
prettymare1.jpg
This will be the difficult part as positioning them without is very tricky, bribery is alway worth a try.

Really watch your background as there is always some junk hidden at a yard. And avoiding getting fencing in is another problem.

Trying to get the wifes nag lit well is tricky because of the extreme contrast, a single colour should be much simpler.
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One that did work..
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A great response thank you everyone, much appreciated. And some great shots to think about.

Yes Christine, my sister's horse was young, 17 hands and had a lot of Arab in him. His name was Lancer! Enough said LOL. You would not see me on him that's for sure, he used to love pushing me about with the side of his head though :help:
 
:lol: good luck, if the horse aint playing it will be hard, my mare only plays ball on a hand full of times when it suits her!

I also find that horsey people like different things but as long as the horse is looking nice they will be happy.

Have a crisp packet/ paper or something that will make a little bit of noise, will make him pick his/ hers ears up, seen this done by a tog as a show. Also have some polos/ carrots as a treat when your done to keep him/ her happy ;)

A few of mine:

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Not the best pics but ones i like of mine are here
 
Did a few last week for a client, rained and the horse had an injury so just had a little walk on the grass instead of on the gallops. Used 70-200 2.8 and af-c and manually changing focus points. Never taken pictures of a horse previously but the client was happy with results.

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Thanks Lisa, love the Flikr shot of her having a good back rub on the grass, brought a smile to my face :clap:

What a great excuse to get some crisps and polos ;)
 
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I took the above shot a while ago and got extremely lucky with the pose! Unfortunately the quality is poor and isn't helped by a rubbish watermark but it shows that they can be amazing animals to photograph!
 
That's a beautiful horse Devitt... reminds me of my sister's a lot, silky coat, one white sock and a star blaze (except a bay rather than chestnut). That would be a nice shot on the gallops on a cold morning!
 
I find that horses and dogs seem to be livelier (and more unpredictable) when it is a bit windy as it was the day I took the lively shot above. The mare had been trained to walk behind her owner nicely. Her owner got faster and faster and in the end the horse was chasing rather than following her and then started jumping and bucking as well so we had to stop as it was getting a bit out of hand - she then started running between us which is when I got the above shot.
 
V8burble said:
That's a beautiful horse Devitt... reminds me of my sister's a lot, silky coat, one white sock and a star blaze (except a bay rather than chestnut). That would be a nice shot on the gallops on a cold morning!
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Yeah going back in early spring when he is back in full training as racing has ended for the season.
 
Mike V said:
I shot this for a family friend. No flash, just available light. Never done anything like it before. I like it!

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thats more like it..none of these vets shots of body parts
i feel the view should be a general one so that the life of the animal shows through
thats the job..to capture the vigour
 
Ok, tis done! :)

It was a very windy day 'thanks Christine your knowledge was correct'.

Couldn't use any lighting if I'd needed to or my assistant would have done a great Mary Poppins I think :D


Three images of said horse in different states of Tog awareness ;)
I wouldn't mind but Ihad introduced myself nicely and given her a good patting and stroke.

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The last image was seconds before she was on her heals down the field, almost taking me with her :eek:
You can see the pending moment in the shot can't you :wave:


Any C&C welcomed... it's far from my norm that's for sure. I will go back on a frosty morning for a stable shot when I've calmed down a bit, let alone the horse ;)
 
Kerioak said:
Very different expressions between first and third, definitly see the whites of the eyes in that final one. I like the lighting on the first and the composition best on the last one - you never know, you might get addicted to this horse photography :D
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Thank you Christine.

Yes, I did enjoy it and would/will do it again, but I felt very much out of control. I would have liked to have spent a couple of hours, me and horse getting used to each other and then being in a position to wait for the right angles and body positions to come about, but the reality was I had about an hour and a half to shoot Mum, Dad, daughter, dog and horse :|. The owner wanted a shot of all this lot together, but it just wasn't to be :thumbsdown: I like to think I can react quickly to shot oportunities, but to get that lot composed in one image would have been a split second moment indeed. In fact I had enough trouble getting the humans sorted out, and we speak the same language :lol:
 
Could you not have used even an off camera flash? You've got some really hard shadows there, caused by low autumn sun, a little more balance in the lighting would have made it look much better - it doesn't have to be the whole studio lighting setup to give the shot a bit more oopmh :D
 
a flashgun with a horse . . . sure that's a good idea ?????
likely to get more mph than oopmh :)
 
hit the button too quick

great results there V8burble, well done
 
Kerioak said:
A lot of horses spook at flash so you need to be careful using it around them
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Mmmm. I found that out when I accidentally left my flash mode to auto and it went! The horse went pretty quickly too :lol:
 
As long as your shutter speed is set high enough and you have the skill to nail it first shot, you should be fine :D
 
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