photographing horses..tips?

[djon]

Looks like I'll be doing some portraits of riders, kids and elders, and their Arabians... 35mm of course...

...any suggestions, experiences, links?

I'm inclined toward color negative...though I may print some in B&W.

My best longish lens is a 100 2.8 FD, and that'll probably figure in...but I expect mostly to work with 50 1.5 Nokton,...I don't want to distort the animals with a wide lens :dance: ...

But I'm ESPECIALLY interested to know tips about how best to depict horses, shotwise...

 

[back alley]

wear boots john, that's my best tip. 🙂

joe

 

[bmattock]

Keep your distance. Horses are smart, mean, and vindictive. They will pose - they know when they are being photographed. When I was five, my parents took me to a 'petting zoo' and a horse mistook a printed apple on my Hawiian-style shirt for the real thing and took a bite out of my chest. Never trusted the evil things since then. Rode one once, at a dude ranch. We rode single file, the horse in front of me farted and pooped with every step for forty five straight minutes - mine swatted me with his tail to let me know he hated me. Hurt, too. Yeah, back to nature. All the way back.

I despise horses.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Poptart]

They put peanut butter in Mr. Ed's mouth to make it look like he was talking.

 

[back alley]

They put peanut butter in Mr. Ed's mouth to make it look like he was talking.

holy crap, i can't stop laughing....

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

Now, please don't tell me that the Easter Bunny isn't real!!

Wayne

 

[XAos]

Dont even THINK about flash...

 

[captainslack]

Flash=bad.

50mm would be good. If you follow the Pbase gallery link in my sig, you'll see one of the two galleries there is at the barn where my mother-in-law keeps her horse. I shot those with a Nikon FE with 50mm Nikkor f/1.8 on Fuji NPH (I think, could have been Reala). Just be careful, don't make sudden movements, and WATCH WHERE YOU STEP!!!!

 

[reagan]

Some good advice already and I think you're planning in the right direction. Shoot color, but you're right, Arabians could turn out some nice shots in B&W. I'd take the wide-angle along anyway just in case. Chances are, the owners are probably very fond of their horses and could produce some great expressions in the closer horse w/owner portraits.

My family has a ranch with a few horses around... and some very large bulls! Like any animal of any size, respect them. Move slowly, no quick jerks or noises, give the animal a little time, as much time as they need, in the beginning to get used to you being near him/her. Once you realize the horse has decided you're no threat and isn't watching your every move, you can navigate around quite freely. Don't be shy about asking the handlers if you can move to a certain spot or if the horse is okay with you doing this or that.

Loud noises, arm waving or flashes will likely only give you opportunity for pictures of frightened horses and red-faced POed handlers. Once you've made the horse nervous, you're done. Keep on your toes, pay attention to how the handlers are moving about and don't distract horse or rider. You can tell when both are concentrating. Be ready at all times to abandon a shot and get out of the way. Take your time, be patient, have fun.

I like photoging around the farm and animals. Can you tell?

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

OK- I have never shot (photographed) a horse. I am both afraid of and allergic to horses. I admire them from a distance. I think they are beautiful.

But, I did see some interesting advice on television once. The topic was portraits of horses It went kind of like this-
Talk with the handler. Ask the handler what she/he thinks are the animal's best physical attributes.

Shoot from a three quarter view of the animal from it's front. Shooting it broadside may exagerate it's build in an unflattering way. You wouldn't want someone to make your butt look large in a photo. Would you?

Use a telephoto lens. It makes the horse appear more monumental and impressive. Say 75 to 135mm. You also won't get huge flaring nostrils. Kind of similar to human portraiture.

Use bright morning light or afternoon light when the sun isn't directly overhead.

I found the show interesting.

I can imagine that if the horses are in motion you have better chances getting good shots as they approach. Not as they are passing. Again a Long lens will work. But for different reasons. A long lens will compress the field of view, creating a more dramatic look.

 

[rover]

Keep your distance. Horses are smart, mean, and vindictive. They will pose - they know when they are being photographed. When I was five, my parents took me to a 'petting zoo' and a horse mistook a printed apple on my Hawiian-style shirt for the real thing and took a bite out of my chest. Never trusted the evil things since then. Rode one once, at a dude ranch. We rode single file, the horse in front of me farted and pooped with every step for forty five straight minutes - mine swatted me with his tail to let me know he hated me. Hurt, too. Yeah, back to nature. All the way back.

I despise horses.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

I actually thought I had some ideas, but they must have left my mind when I fell out of my chair. 😀

May I nominate this post for the RFF hall of fame? Simply hilarious.

 

[djon]

Thanks folks, good ideas.

I'll especially watch out for horse reactions to clicking shutters (serious with F1, maybe less so with P).

And that broadside-of-barn look is something I've noticed elsewhere. Good point.

I have a beautiful photo postcard here that emphasizes the veins and haunches of a mare and the fore quarters and head of a foal that's nursing... a lovely, schmaltzy shot ..would be nice to have that kind of opportunity. One young rider in this family is a charmer ... I hope the horses will be as comfortable in front of the camera as I know she will be.

I LIKE horses and have some trail riding experience...but that's not like expertise. My father, dead a few years ago at 88, was literally in the horse cavalry in the Thirties...went to tanks and then "radio" and "radar" for WWII. His troop would ride off into the desert in southern New Mexico and stay for a week or two, living off supplies they'd brought on mules. They all wore .45ACP, all carried sabres and Springfields.

I don't know nuttin' 'bout Arabians...except that they're called "jugheads" in the West, due to that distinctive head shape...I'll need to depict that attractively.

Maybe I'll mosey on down to some stables and shoot some practice film...

 

[captainslack]

My grandfather was in the horse calvary in the '30's, too! He hated it, though!! Went over his superior's head to get a transfer to metoerology unit. 😀 A story which pretty much described my grandfather in a nutshell.

 

[TPPhotog]

Remember that they are dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle 😉

Like with most animals (including people) be confident and have fun, your instinct will take care of the rest 🙂

 

[reagan]

Okay, since we're on the subject, one of our own, byuphoto, took this great shot and won third place in Canon's Photo Contest. I hope he doesn't mind me linking it here, but I just thought it was a great capture. Enjoy.

 

[djon]

CVBLZ4...PUHLEEZ, it's not a "capture," it's a photograph, a shot.

Let's not yeild to MTV jargon 🙄

Capt Slack, yes, at 34 the math works out about right. My son's your age. My father liked horses, polo, shooting from horseback, sabre charges, roughing it a'la Teddy Roosevelt. I kick myself regularly for not pumping him for more stories. Damn.

At heart he was more of an electronics guy, building crystal radios, hand-blowing his own vacuum tubes...so he yielded to his inner geek and wound up positioning and running huge radar installations, the most important being the one that "protected" the San Francisco Bay Area from a mountain behind San Jose.

Horses and radar. Rangefinders and "capture." Time flies.

 

[bmattock]

so he yielded to his inner geek and wound up positioning and running huge radar installations, the most important being the one that "protected" the San Francisco Bay Area from a mountain behind San Jose.

A mountain behind San Jose was threatening San Francisco?

Just curious.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[bmattock]

I actually thought I had some ideas, but they must have left my mind when I fell out of my chair. 😀

May I nominate this post for the RFF hall of fame? Simply hilarious.

Hall of shame, more like. But thanks, I'm always happy to amuse with my pain!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[reagan]

Let's not yeild to MTV jargon 🙄

djon ~ Thanks for your great encouragement. Actually, at 50, MTV is just not that big of an influence, but I'll try to be on guard just in case it sneaks up on me. But until then, and with all due respect, you write your posts and I'll write mine.