What makes a good horse picture?

[Sadielady]

I want to get advice from those of you that take pictures and buy pictures.

 

[Sadielady]

We can pick a part my photos. They are not taken by professionals.

I think 3/4 shots like this are usually good. This horse's expression is not so good, but his knees are nice and square. I like that in any good photo.

 

[Sparks]

I want to get advice from those of you that take pictures and buy pictures.

Square knees and a happy expression. No pinned ears. I don't care what I look like, as long as my horse looks good, I'll buy it! I'm a picture ho.....

Distracting backgrounds aren't so good though.

 

[Sadielady]

Side view jumping shots can be very flattering too. Some riders with poor equitation you can hide a leg flaw with a standard.

 

[Sadielady]

It takes a very special photographer to catch a great head on shot. Many horses don't have the look to pull off a straight on shot and riders show some dramatic equitation flaws in their legs head on. Coming off of the jump can look cool though. I have very few "good" head on shots, and they are from Phyxius so I won't post them without her permission.

 

[Sadielady]

Flat pictures are good when the horse's legs are extended not bunched together and you can see their entire body (JMO) This one picture is not so good because someone forgot to take a picture of the pony's feet. Group ribbon shots or barn shots of everyone together are usually good. Individual pictures of horse and rider with their awards are usually a hit too. Jumping away shots in my opinion are about worthless.

 

[Sadielady]

Okay...now I am tired of talking believe it or not....I will let others agree or disagree. I see Myalexis is on she can vouch that falling off shots are cool when you don't get hurt and you have a sense of humor. Right?

 

[horsesrock93]

I think the pictures are cool. Tc took a nice pictures of me jumping at Hss. I will try to find it.

 

[rack'm]

I need all the pointers I can get.........

 

[IntegritysDream]

cadid moments, happy expressions, goofy expressions, love, senic shots, square knees.
mymom took the one below, its one of my favs of my horsey and i!

 

[Giddy up!]

I need all the pointers I can get.........

You can practice when u come out to take pics of me and bubba..theres a good horse to take pics of! he even smiles in them!

 

[Loper]

You can practice when u come out to take pics of me and bubba..theres a good horse to take pics of! he even smiles in them!

Quit stealing my pics!

 

[Sadielady]

That is the biggest issue...no one will pay for them if they can swipe them for free.

 

[Giddy up!]

Quit stealing my pics!

Whoops..that came to me in my email woman! blame paso!

 

[Pete]

You can practice when u come out to take pics of me and bubba..theres a good horse to take pics of! he even smiles in them!

There is no shortage of ruffles there is there?

 

[Inkpen]

I want to get advice from those of you that take pictures and buy pictures.

The basics:
Clean, sharp, in focus and horses eye is sharp and in focus..not in focus..trash the photo, does not matter how good the photo is...
we "look" at a photo, we look at the eyes...

Clean background..if needed, photoshop out background or cut your depth of field so background is blurred.

Shallow foreground..tight crop to do away with a long foreground. No need to have one as subject is the horse, not the dirt field or whatever.

Head shots of horse and rider..again, sharp. crisp, in focus.

Photographers have a natural eye for the composition...so no need to talk about that.

Decide WHAT story you want to tell, and go shoot it.

 

[fredsaid2]

For pictures typically purchased from a show: a tight profile shot with a bit of a front angle with the horse at the apex of the jump, something with a spread generally gets the best effort from the horse. Most people want to see their horse relaxed, square knees, ears forward with a pretty round jump. I think if a photographer chose an oxer or whatever jump had width and set up on that one jump to take pics they would get the best shots.

You could look through pros web pages and see some of the angles they use for shots. Teresa Ramsay & Al Cook do a lot of area A shows.

Good Luck!