Shooting Horses?

I have a portrait shoot scheduled where my client has asked if we can do the shoot in and around her horse barn and have some shots with the horses. I have no problem with this and am actually fairly excited about it. However I have never tried to photograph horses before and would like to know if there is anything I need to plan for outside of the norm for this shoot.

I have looked around the webz for inspiration and have found some stuff that I like and will be trying to emulate but if anyone has any advice on the matter I would love to hear it.

Cheers
Aaron

As with all other animal shots including human baby ... use a clicker to get their attention.

Thanks, I am planning on taking a clicker that I use to get dogs and cats to look at me. I had never thought to use it with kids I usually just get the parents to stand behind me and wave one of their favorite toys around lol.

It all depends on the horse, but many are completely unfazed by the camera/flash. If you plan to use a horse as a prop, it might be helpful to have the owner walk it to knock the energy level, many of them are calmer having been ridden or walked about the pasture a bit.

With most horses the clicker is going to work for a brief period and then the horse will completely ignore it.

I always take a trash sack with a bunch of Pepsi cans in it. I will tell my assistant (wife) when I'm ready to shoot and then she will shake it. Usually works.

Make certain that you try and have the horse's ears up in all the portraits. You won't catch them all that way - the horse is just too fast at putting them back - but your client will like the ones with the ears forward a lot more.

Try and get an idea how the horse is going to react to your fill flash ahead of time. If I am working with quarter horses or other "cold bloods", mostly western type riders, I will just start firing away with flash after we pose. With thoroughbreds or other "hot bloods", mostly english type riders and hunter/jumpers, will often fire a flash from a distance and then gradually move it closer and closer firing it until I get the final distance.

I will always tell the client I am going to use flash or more often I will ask, "How do you think your horse is going to react to flash?" This is strictly for liability. I have put the onus on him/her. I have never had a problem with flash and horses yet.

And, yes, as Gonzo mentioned it is good if the client gets the edge off the horse before the shoot. The problem then is that the horse may be sweaty. Generally walking isn't going to do much. I usually ask that the client longe or lope (your client will know what these terms mean) the horse to get the edge off before I get there. And early enough that your client can clean up the horse for the shoot.

When shooting a horse use the same logic on focal length as you would with a human. If you use a wide angle it is going to elongate the horse and this is just as offensive as it is in a human portrait. An elongated body is a conformational defect to horse people, especially western type horses/riders, and should be avoided.

Have fun at your shoot and sorry about the late response. Just saw this.

And do remember your steel toed boots while working around large animals.

Think before you act. A horse is a large, powerful animal, and can easily lift a large grown man to toss over a fence if they decide they don't like you. Keep your wits about you and stay alert. Stick with someone who is familiar with the animals in question. (I've known more than a few people who are 'good with horses' end up in the ER because they decided to jump the wrong fence for a shortcut. Just because the ten dozen horses you've been around have been nice doesn't mean the next one is)

matonanjin wrote in post #16134577
With most horses the clicker is going to work for a brief period and then the horse will completely ignore it.

I always take a trash sack with a bunch of Pepsi cans in it. I will tell my assistant (wife) when I'm ready to shoot and then she will shake it. Usually works.

Make certain that you try and have the horse's ears up in all the portraits. You won't catch them all that way - the horse is just too fast at putting them back - but your client will like the ones with the ears forward a lot more.

Try and get an idea how the horse is going to react to your fill flash ahead of time. If I am working with quarter horses or other "cold bloods", mostly western type riders, I will just start firing away with flash after we pose. With thoroughbreds or other "hot bloods", mostly english type riders and hunter/jumpers, will often fire a flash from a distance and then gradually move it closer and closer firing it until I get the final distance.

I will always tell the client I am going to use flash or more often I will ask, "How do you think your horse is going to react to flash?" This is strictly for liability. I have put the onus on him/her. I have never had a problem with flash and horses yet.

And, yes, as Gonzo mentioned it is good if the client gets the edge off the horse before the shoot. The problem then is that the horse may be sweaty. Generally walking isn't going to do much. I usually ask that the client longe or lope (your client will know what these terms mean) the horse to get the edge off before I get there. And early enough that your client can clean up the horse for the shoot.

When shooting a horse use the same logic on focal length as you would with a human. If you use a wide angle it is going to elongate the horse and this is just as offensive as it is in a human portrait. An elongated body is a conformational defect to horse people, especially western type horses/riders, and should be avoided.

Have fun at your shoot and sorry about the late response. Just saw this.

Thanks for all of the advice! I really appreciate all of it. We ended up moving the shoot back because of the heat.(high of 101 yesterday) We are rescheduled for next week so I have some time to prepare.

Luckless wrote in post #16134608
And do remember your steel toed boots while working around large animals.

Think before you act. A horse is a large, powerful animal, and can easily lift a large grown man to toss over a fence if they decide they don't like you. Keep your wits about you and stay alert. Stick with someone who is familiar with the animals in question. (I've known more than a few people who are 'good with horses' end up in the ER because they decided to jump the wrong fence for a shortcut. Just because the ten dozen horses you've been around have been nice doesn't mean the next one is)

For sure, that was the first thing that one of my friends who is a horse trainer in Versailles(Kentucky not France) told me when I asked him.

Do not approach or touch a horse from behind especially if he can't see you; that's a sure fire way to get a swift kick

Are you done with this shoot? If not, I'd love to volunteer myself as a second shooter

Sorry Alphamalex we did the shoot on Monday. It was an awesome shoot though and I talked to a couple of the other people around the stables where the lady kept her horses about possibly doing a similar shoot sometime in the future. If that ever comes to pass I will shoot you a PM to see if you are still interested.

Hey, that sounds great; I'd love to accompany you next time. Been meaning to get into horse/horse farm shoots

Freddy ..

Sounds like a plan to me.

Hey guys I forgot to update this thread for a little while but I think the shoot went pretty well. Its finally decided to be summer around here so we kept the shoot mostly to the barn. Even though it was early morning it was in the the high 70s lower 80s and she didn't want to push the horses too much. Most of the shooting was of the client brushing down the horses.

It was definitely a learning experience for me. Best thing I learned is that horses are very interested in the sound of the shutter going off so frame your shot and get everything ready then fire the shutter wait a second for the horse to prick up its ears at the sound of the shutter and the flash going off and fire again. The horses didn't respond much to my clicker or making noises after the first couple of minutes but the shutter trick worked all morning.

Here are a couple of the ones I like from the shoot C&C is welcome.

IMAGE LINK: http://s811.photobucke​t.com …andy_zps4241446​1.jpg.html

IMAGE LINK: http://s811.photobucke​t.com …rked_zps7d08053​8.jpg.html

IMAGE LINK: http://s811.photobucke​t.com …rked_zpsf6cd88a​c.jpg.html

IMAGE LINK: http://s811.photobucke​t.com …rked_zps9b848c7​9.jpg.html

Very nice photos! In the future, you may also try downloading horse whinneys to your phone and playing them to get the horses attention. Not to sound cliche, but there is actually an app for that. lol
It seems to work longer than a clicker or other type of sound they may become accustomed to quickly.

^Thank you, and I will look for that. I have seen how effective those types of apps can be, my dad and I tried out a bird call app and were able to get quite a bit of attention from the local wildlife just playing the calls at full volume.