Help me dissect this shooting style (Horses)

[Hot Bob]

Just read an article about this guy so went to check out his website. I really like what he's doing and would like to break it down to learn from and continue my growth in equine photography. I've mostly been a natural light shooter so this kind of work would be a big departure for me.

I see a single, probably large, artifical light source with an underexposed background. Lens selection seems to be normal to wide with a deep depth of field. Most shots are from low angle; probably at or below the horses belly. What other details am I missing? What kind of lighting is needed for this type of work? Other thoughts?

http://www.horse-photographer.co.uk/index.html

Bob

[Hot Bob]

Anyone??

[MT59]

Interesting style. I think you've pretty well dissected it. One overriding theme, obviously, is the use of generally heavy cloud cover to add some dramatic effect.

Looks like he is generally using various forms of on- and off-camera flash. Probably using a variety of softboxes, snoots, etc. In at least one image, I could definitely see a round donut-shaped light source (ring light?) reflecting in the horse's eye (set 1, middle picture in the gallery).

I dabbled a little in a similar style for a photoshoot, trying more to retain some beautiful sunset colors in the sky while still gently lighting the horse and his rider. I didn't do too good of a job, but it was a very early effort (literally days after getting my first DSLR).

[gonzogolf]

Why the duplicate thread on the same subject?

[MT59]

Sorry, didn't see the more active thread in the lighting forum (until I looked at Hot Bob's recent posts).