Equine Portraits ?

I recently did a shoot for a friend who is a horse owner and a writer. She needed some images for her editor photo, book covers, personal use, etc. I have never shot anything like this before and I was somewhat intimidated by the horses. I had a challenging time with composition, lighting, and subject interaction.

Anyhow, please take a look at the few I have shown here (more on flickr) and let me know what I could have done differently to make these better. I haven't had time to sharpen them at all yet, just basic raw adjustments to get exposure how I wanted it. Maybe I am hard on myself, but I feel like they are just decent snapshots. She loved them, by the way. But that isn't the standard by which I usually judge myself. Thanks in advance.

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The horse inside is very dark - I think you needed to get some extra light in there or possibly some kind of HDR work with different exposure images.

The composition is odd in most all as well. I agree, stay outside and get some natural light on both of them. I like the idea of them at the stall looking out, I would get her to wear anything other than white though. Earth tones would be great.Also, if she could tether the horse at the stall instead of holding the halter? Getting them close will show the bond.You are shooting landscape, try portrait.

I suggest getting them out of the barn too. The outdoor shot you took has a nice background, but I don't care much for the pose. I like to have the person touching the horse to show more of a connection than just using a rope/reins. Here's a "Senior Picture" I took of my granddaughter and her horse that may give you some ideas. I'd prefer having the horse's ears pointing forward, but couldn't get him to cooperate that day.

You say composition was a challenge ....why? The only shot I would consider appropriate would be #1 except the horse looks very depressed and she is not framed well...too much to the right side. The rest of the poses, I find awkward almost comical (not good).
The suggested pose bob_r posted would be much more appropriate esp for an older woman.

Shooting portraits of horses is not that difficult. Portraits of people are far more difficult. Portraits of people and horses can be very challenging. I would say in your context the woman is the subject of the portrait and the horse is a prop; shoot accordingly. Compose for a nice portrait of the woman first and then work with the interaction between her and the horse.

Having an assistant or handler there to assist with the horse makes a huge difference. The key to getting the horse to "express" his affection for the person is sugar cubes or peppermints. Shooting in a stall is tough but, that dutch door opens up a lot of possibilities. I would have put her in front of the door, smeared a little peppermint on the outside of the door behind the model and shot away. Would have looked like the horse was begging for her attention.

Another great trick for horses is an assistant with a plastic grocery bag. I keep one attached to the end of a training stick. A little (very little to start) shake from the assistant gets a lot of focus from the horse.

Above all else, keep the horse calm by taking things slow and keep everyone involved safe.

Bob

Better lighting and someone to help get the horses attention so you can get better expressions from the horse would really help. Be aware of the angles you are shooting from. The shot of the lady on horse back is not very flattering to the horse. The horse has a very pathetic look on his or her face that really detracts from the photo. I like to see a real bond or some type of interaction between an animal and it's human partner. Horses look best when they look attentive and interested in what is going on.

Here is an example of a beautiful equine expression. The horse looks engaged, it makes for a much better photograph:

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The lighter colored horse was new to her and she had a lot of difficulty getting it to cooperate. Without an assistant, or some of the other items mentioned (candy), I had no way to get that horse to really interact with her. The darker horse was old and tired. She tried for an hour with many different methods to get him to perk up and none worked. I guess an assistant or some other method might have worked, but then again, maybe not. I will try both of those suggestions next time, if I ever shoot horses again.

I am not sure I understand why the poses are comical? I definitely wish I could have had more engagement between her and the horses, but I don't really think comical is an accurate definition. I am always open to critique, but I first must understand the critique before I can learn from and apply it. Care to elaborate on how the poses are comical, and not just unsatisfactory?

I like the senior shot that was posted. I had that pose in my mind but without the aforementioned assistant or candy, I just couldn't get the horse to cooperate.

Thanks for all the comments. I will try to do more research into this type of portrait so the next time I will be more prepared.

Brandon...by comical, I was referring to the outdoor shot..granted it is only 1 pose not poses.

You can say that again, what about people who are horses?

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i took these for a client. although my wife used to ride, im not really familiar with shooting horses since it was before my camera days.

anyway here are some of the shots i took for her.

I am really late on posting on this and apologize. But just came across your post.

The main issue on all of these is to get the horse's ears forward. There is almost always a way to do this. Unless the horse is really quiet. My favorite trick is a garbage sack full of Pepsi cans. Just before you press the shutter have some one shake it. There's lots of other tricks I will resort to.

The other issue is the fourth image in your series (where she is sitting on the horse) it looks like you used a wide angle lens. This is a no-no for horse photography. By doing so you have made the horse look very elongated which to horse people (quarter horse people anyway) is a conformational defect. It is as offensive as taking a human face portrait with a wide angle which, as you know, elongates a person's nose.

BTW, dark horse and light horse are bay and buckskin, respectively.

BTWBTW, I don't understand the "comical" either. Completely inappropriate and inaccurate. Granted, most of these could have used closer interaction. But the second to the last one could have been really nice with better lighting, background, and, of course, ears.

Again, sorry for the late response.

If your taking them for a book and stuff I don't think you can get too artsy.. so the standard shot from the front that was posted of the girl very close to the horse would be really nice to get. That said I am sure she was very happy with the pictures you made for her. I agree the posing could be better but it was a great first try! Find a better horse

The biggest thing I see in your photos is the horse is not engaged. Ears are not forward, horse looks bored or pissed off. Example of recent shoot with my daughter.