Should i?

E

Ems

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Edit My Images
No
Really annoyed, my other half has just mentioned that he found a cool present for my birthday in a few months, but wasn't sure so wanted to check with me. Turns out he found a photography course (in equestrian photography) for £200 in our area. Hrm, i thought, slightly offensive, are my photos in need of improvement that much but there's always room to get better and i might learn something new.

I go to the website to find that the equestrian photos are utterly shocking. Some of the worst i have seen, taken at all the wrong moments and edited very badly. Some of them are so blurred you can hardly make out it's a horse. Maybe they are trying to be arty but they just look like they missed every aim of a good photo, even if it wasn't a horse.

Now i am fuming, because he almost handed over 200!!!!! quid to someone who is doing this. Should i contact them or not? I cannot believe they are charging so much for a shocking service. You would maybe think people won't pay it, but my OH who knows nothing about photography or horses just proves that some people would buy this for horsey relatives. To be fair the text makes it sound brilliant, but the photos... eek.

Maybe i just need to calm down. I know everyone starts somewhere, i am only starting myself and have a lot to improve on. But £200 to 'teach' someone, it's robbery!

Sorry rant over, feel free to tell me to shut up or ignore me. Or should i tell them they are robbing people? It's actually criminal. :bang:
 
Despite if the service they are offering is good or bad you shouldn't take offense to him giving you lessons. I'm sure many people who know their way around a camera very well would love to have lessons. Just it seems the ones you have been signed up for don't seem too well.

Can't you see them in person with more details on the course?
 
Nothing stunning as you'd expect from someone trying to show off their skills and drum up business.
Maybe fine for beginner.
Not many mounted shots on there.
Think I'd be inclined to go along to a horse show. have a play and buy a couple of beers with the money I'd saved.
 
take it as a compliment that he thought of booking you on a course, it's in an area of photography that you're obviously keen on. he probably thought that you'd enjoy it and that it would enhance your photography 'experience'.

the dodgy photographs might just be a bit of bad judgement on the part of the person running the course. but then again, if they can't pick out shots that appeal to the masses and entice customers in i would be suspicious too.

sleep on it for a day or two before you approach them though, a clear head might let you see things in a different light.
 
Yes Lexie you're right, i am too wound up now. Will see how i feel in a few days.

I am of course grateful for the thoughtful idea and effort put into it, and have obviously told him this. I think i worded that part badly above. I often look at courses myself, so he has clearly been paying attention, 10/10 to him. Just so glad he checked with me first before handing over £200!

I just cannot believe the poor quality. Fair enough as a photo, hopefully no one will pay so much for a substandard shoot. But to charge £200 to 'teach' someone when the photos are utterly shocking themselves just disgusts me. The legs on some are blurred into oblivion, cannot even see any form of hooves as they are blurred into the background. The rest of the horse fairs no better, the shape of the nose and body distorted from so much blur. The shots which are not blurred are timed at the very worst part of a horses stride. A quick google can reveal the ideal timing of a movement shot for a horse although anyone who has ever had dealings with horses should roughly know when to time the shot.

I would never post the link online anywhere, that would be out of order. Rockshifter, i think you were looking on my site in my signature ;) :p Which granted leaves much to improve on, but you can tell they are actually horses rather than a litteral smudge on some grass and they are timed correctly for the movement shots. And my prices strongly reflect that i am new to the equestrian photography business although i would never be happy to let anyone pay for substandard images.

I spend most of my spare time online trying to improve my technical knowledge or out practicing and i know there is never a limit to what you can learn. I would not be so annoyed at poor photos, just the fact they are willing to charge an absolute fortune to 'teach' someone. I have no idea how they even could.
 
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I'm going to be a little controversial here. I looked at your images and to be honest I was not really inspired by any that I saw. There's maybe 2 or 3 that look ok but the rest look just like snaps with little thought to lighting or in some cases backdrop. Most look very soft too.

That may sound hard BUT there is an eye there and like you say you are learning and maybe that's why your friend thought a course was a good idea. I know you said you're just starting but to charge for images I think you should be at a higher level.

Your web site should have your absolute best images (a lesson I need to learn myself). You do have some nicer images on flickr that are much better than most on your web site.

I don't know the course the guy was suuggesting so I can't comment on that.

Here is a guy who knows how to take photos of horses.
http://www.horse-photographer.co.uk/
 
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I wonder if you should contact this company, and ask if there is a portfolio you can look at,
Sometimes, images can be ruined by companies putting them on websites.
They may have been advised by a 'web company' as to which ones look best, which often in my opinion, are not the most technically capable photos.
 
Just a slightly different view point, just because someone may not be good at taking pictures does that mean they can't be a good teacher? I only say this as many many times in life you find that the best person to pass on info isn't always the best to do as they say.

My point being when I was on the national team for my sport, the national coach was so poor I could beat him with my eyes shut however he coached many from almost beginner level till they were on the world stage and setting new world records. Judging him by his ability he was cr*p but by his teaching ability he was and is one of the best in the world.
 
shooter560 said:
Just a slightly different view point, just because someone may not be good at taking pictures does that mean they can't be a good teacher? I only say this as many many times in life you find that the best person to pass on info isn't always the best to do as they say.

My point being when I was on the national team for my sport, the national coach was so poor I could beat him with my eyes shut however he coached many from almost beginner level till they were on the world stage and setting new world records. Judging him by his ability he was cr*p but by his teaching ability he was and is one of the best in the world.
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I think the point might be though, that you then don't use those photos to advertise your courses. It would be better, I would have thought, to come to some sort of agreement to use your students photos as they would reflect the result of your teaching rather than the photos you take yourself.

That said, sport is very different to photography in that, with photography, I think your results actually should be at least as good, if not better, than your students.
 
Has anyone seen the images? It's probably unfair to judge without actually seeing the images we're talking about.
 
Probably yes :)
although it happens all the time :)
 
equinexposure said:
Really annoyed, my other half has just mentioned that he found a cool present for my birthday in a few months, but wasn't sure so wanted to check with me. Turns out he found a photography course (in equestrian photography) for £200 in our area. Hrm, i thought, slightly offensive, are my photos in need of improvement that much but there's always room to get better and i might learn something new.

QUOTE]

Your partner has considered your love of horses, your interest in photography, and your desire to improve. So why the offence? In my opinion that's a thoughtful and practical gift. By your own admission you're new to the business with a lot to learn - you may not be best placed to judge the course leader or his/her images. There are a couple of nice shots on your site, but your work is not really of a saleable standard (yet). Why not be gracious to your partner and give the course a go?
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i wouldnt turn down a course, if nothing else it could be a barganing tool with potential customers... id never turn anything like that down...

i do alot of night shots and long exposures, i think im 'quite' good but in no qway would i take offence if someone bought me anything XD, infact id be eternaly greatfull...

another way of looking at it could be that he sees potential in you doing it and getting Even better :)
 
Byker28i said:
Sometimes it's all about the light though?
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EOS_JD said:
No sometimes about it.

It's ALL about the light :)
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I think that you're both rather missing the point about using constant and strobe lighting when it comes to horses!

It takes one hell of a lot of knowledge and guts to use that much lighting around 3/4 of a ton of rather flighty animal. Either than or an awful lot of dope.
 
DemiLion said:
I think that you're both rather missing the point about using constant and strobe lighting when it comes to horses!

It takes one hell of a lot of knowledge and guts to use that much lighting around 3/4 of a ton of rather flighty animal. Either than or an awful lot of dope.
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Blimey you work with either drafts or fat horses! :D
 
Difficult to advise without as others have said being able to contrast the photos offered by the website and the ones you have posted here.

Also what do you get for your £200? How many hours of tuition etc etc
 
DemiLion said:
I think that you're both rather missing the point about using constant and strobe lighting when it comes to horses!

It takes one hell of a lot of knowledge and guts to use that much lighting around 3/4 of a ton of rather flighty animal. Either than or an awful lot of dope.
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In my post I was purely referring to LIGHT generally. Not any particular kind.

I just posted the link as his images are incredibly powerful. There are plenty amazing photographers using natural light too.

Why would it take guts though? Knowledge yes :) these images are all taken during the day where the flash isn't registered by the eye quite so much so much less likely to cause any stress top the animal.
 
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Actually, seeing as they've been out for winter rest, then yes they probably are on the podgy side and they won't be coming in for a couple of weeks or so! :p
 
DemiLion said:
I think that you're both rather missing the point about using constant and strobe lighting when it comes to horses!

It takes one hell of a lot of knowledge and guts to use that much lighting around 3/4 of a ton of rather flighty animal. Either than or an awful lot of dope.
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I've shot horses before (with a cam) and have used on and off camera light both Ring and strobes and none of the horses that i've taken photos of have spooked most of them try to eat the bloody flash lol

Not saying my shots are anywhere as good as the other link That guy has skill :) I would love to shoot horses again but that GF left a long time ago :P (she had horses not was a horse lol)

On subject - No one is beyond learning and a free course is well a free course :) unless you know everything about everything then go along and put your learning cap on :).
 
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