Bint Al Bahr Arabians

Preservation Breeders of Straight Babson Egyptians

 

Photo Tips -  Page 8

Under Saddle Shots   

Remind the rider that they always have to have their “ears up” and you will be watching the horse’s expression and leg movements not theirs. Talking while riding will give them funny faces but a too serious face will make riding that horse look like a lot of work.  The impression you want the rider to make is that they are enjoying a relaxed fun ride.  You might go over what they plan to wear before the photo day so you  can co-ordinate the saddle blanket color, horse color and the riders outfit color to create a more harmonious effect.  The horse should be the center of attention in the photo not the florescent lime green shirt of the rider vibrating with the hot pink saddle pad.  

Ibn Sabbah Bedu+/ (Serabaar x Shar Sabbah) showing Prix St George dressage. 2001 Diana Johnson photoAs for what poses to strive for capturing, study magazine photos.  Note which foreleg is in front, the close one or the off leg.  Look at what that does for the hindquarters.  If that photo shows the effect you want, watch your horses legs and time your shutter to click just before that foreleg reaches that point.  This is where it can be tricky with autofocus.  Autofocus will vary its response time to the shutter depending on light and distance on every photo.  If you have a manual focus option this might be a good time to use it.  Since the horse is traveling a set path parallel to you, focus should not be a problem once you manually set it.  This leaves you free to concentrate on the leg action.  Take your photo just a fraction before you think you will need to, if you wait until the leg is where you want it, you are too late and will have missed the shot.  If your camera allows you to do rapid succession (burst mode) shots you can try that feature hoping one will have the legs just right.

At Liberty

Ahmeds Khedena (Ahmed Fabah x Masada Mishannah) 1996 Babson filly. This photo is shown uncropped. Note how the lack of sunlight eliminated the shadows and keeps this dark filly's features and muscling clear. - 1996 Diana Johnson photoMost of what is applicable for under saddle also goes for at liberty shots.  What changes is the predictability of the path the horse is going to travel.  With no rider to guide it the horse will turn, take a path too close to you or too far from you and add other variables with the lighting that are difficult to deal with.  For liberty shots a couple of helpers are needed to keep the horse moving in a confined area.  Plan on using twice the film you would for under saddle. You still have to deal with the same background problems, as well as lighting and have added a fence to the photo area that must be presentable and something you want people to see as representative of your farm.  Make sure that the fence is in good repair because your very best photo will be in front of the only broken board or an obvious patch that will distract from the beauty of the horse.

The area used should be small enough to not run your horse movers to exhaustion and to allow you to have the horse large within your view finder.  You will still need an ears up person or maybe even two of them.  Without them your horse will likely look away from the camera toward what ever is on the other side of the fence.  The goal is to move the horse but not at fast speed.  A clean shiny horse is still essential.  Try to choose an area where the horse can parallel a fence line and have the sun on him flat to his side. 

Your cursor on the photos will tell you more about the photo and the horse.

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