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How To Take Horse Pictures - Page 1 of 2
As we all know, there's a difference between a horse picture and a good
horse picture. Below are some tips on how you can take a better picture
of your horse, with examples of good and bad pictures.
Fill The Frame
Fill the frame! When you look through your camera's
viewfinder, your main subject (which, in this case, is your horse)
should fill the vast majority of what you're seeing.
In this photo the horse is
overwhelmed by the pasture and sky.
To fill the frame:
- Move closer to your subject.
- Use the camera's zoom.
- Crop the photo: If you simply can't
fill the frame with your subject, you may want to go
ahead and take the shot but then crop the picture later so that the main
subject fills the photo. In fact, many professional photographers feel
that most photos benefit from at least a little cropping.
Much better! In this photo the photographer used the zoom and also
cropped the picture after it was taken. This resulted in a much better photo.
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Be Careful With Forward Angles
| When taking a picture of the whole horse be very careful when taking the
photo from a forward angle. The wrong forward angle can make the entire front end
of the horse appear overly large and out of proportion.
In addition, the wrong forward angle makes it difficult to see any definition in
the horse's body. If you do take a forward angle shot, be
very cautious about the angle and how it makes the horse appear in the
completed photo. |
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This photo was taken from a forward angle
that makes the front end of the horse look out of proportion to the rest of its
body. In addition, the angle is obscuring the horse's body, and very little of
the horse can be seen well.
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Much better! This photo was also taken from a
forward angle, but the horse looks very nice. |
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As for other angles to use when taking horse pictures, learn about the breed or
type of horse you're taking pictures of to get ideas for angles to use. For
example, Quarter Horses are often photographed from the side and slightly behind
in order to accentuate their heavily muscled hindquarters. Each breed and/or
discipline can be different as to what the photographer should try to emphasize
in the photograph. Study what the professional photographers are doing, ask the
horse's owner what they would like to emphasize or downplay, then experiment to
get your best shots. |
Feet Close To Square
If the photo is of a horse standing still, it's usually
most flattering for the horse to be standing with its feet "square" (front legs
even with each other, back legs even with each other), or close to
square . For a casual photo the horse's feet do not have to be exactly square,
particularly the back feet,
just close. For a more formal photo, the front and back feet should be as square
as possible.
At right: This horse is standing close to square. |
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Ears Up!
Ears up! A picture of a horse with its ears back, down, or to the
side is unflattering to any horse.
Unless you
are specifically capturing a horse's emotions where the ears' being back
or down is appropriate, you will want to make sure the ears are up. |
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These pictures were taken only moments
apart. There is no question
that the horse looks better in the second picture where her ears are up. |
How To Take Horse Pictures (you are on page 1 of 2)
Go to page 2
Tips For Digital Camera Photos
- If you're taking photos with a
digital camera, don't take the photos by
looking through the LCD screen most digital cameras have on the back. Instead,
turn off the screen and look through the viewfinder. With many models of digital
cameras taking photos by using the screen
causes the camera to respond more slowly after you press the shutter button. The
slow response is only a fraction of a second, but it can easily be enough time
for a horse or something else in the picture to change and ruin your shot.
- Take lots and lots of photos,
keep only the good ones (which probably won't be very many), and
delete the others (which will be most of what you take). This is one of the
biggest "secrets" used by professional photographers.
- Even if you just want a single picture, use "burst
mode." Many digital
cameras have a wonderful feature called burst mode or something similar.
With this feature, you press and hold the shutter button and the camera takes several
photos in rapid succession. Even with a photo subject that is standing
still this can be enormously useful. The horse may flick its ears, stomp
its foot, or swish its tail, but then return to a nice stance just a second
later. With burst mode, your chances of catching the good moments go up,
and you can simply delete the bad ones.
- Today, even inexpensive
"point and shoot" digital cameras considered to be in the "family" class can
take sharp photos that enlarge well.
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