I need Equestrian Horse shooting TIPs from you pros :)

Well it seems I am leaning towards getting into snappin pics of horses. I usually just snap pics of models standing still.

You can see some of my work here: http://www.jacobthepho​tographer.com

this will be a whole new ball game for me. My step mother has 3 horses and I figured this would be a nice industry to get into, not only helping my step mother get good pics of her horses but also possibly using alot of her contacts to get into barns and breeders who need shots.

SOO to make a long story longer.. The lenses I have are:
Canon 70-200 2.8L IS
Sigma 17-70 2.8-4.5
Canon 85mm 1.8
Canon 50mm 1.8
Sigma 20mm 1.8

I bought the 70-200 with the intention of getting into snappin horses and events but its also a great lens to shoot models so it works out well. I have a rebel xti and a rebel xt. I figure the xti will have the 70-200 on it.. but what should my other body have on it?

Also so i shoot wide open at 2.8? bumping up the ISO to freeze the action? I have never done alot of moving stuff so im not a pro at setting my camera for motion. I do alot of night club photography with my strobe but im guessing the flash might spoke the horse during compeition and boy i wouldnt wanna be THAT guy who messed up someones ride.

Also do you i use auto focus? or try to manually focus im sure this is a silly question but i figured i would ask.. any and ALL info would be great even if you think it might be pointless just tell me

Anyway I have read through alot of postings and found great info.. but if anyone can shed some light on techniques or shooting style or anything before i go out on this journey i might have a shoot coming up in 2 weeks. Its a kid camp so im sure they will want poses with the hourse and kid, then riding with the kid etc. Also a question about posting pictures with children.. im guessing i should password protect the album with the children in it just for privacy purposes..

Also where is the money at? do you charge just to show up? then charge per picture print? or hand them a CD with the images on them? thanks for any help or insite you guys/gals might provide

Jacob

Okay, I'll get the conversation rolling. You have a lot of questions. Yesterday I shot photos at the Stuart Horse Trials (one of the biggest in the U.S. of it's kind). I was there on my day off simply for pleasure. Sunday was the "Jumping" part.

A large fenced in area, event photographers inside, everyone else free to roam around outside. Outside can be pretty close depending on which jump you stood by.

Nice bright sunny day. I used my 135L F2 on my XT. Lots of people used a 70-200 2.8, and others had a variety of setups. I shot F 4.0 ish, 100 ISO, 1/800 to 1/1000 shutter speed. When the sun went away briefy off and on I adjusted settings. I shot individual riders posing outside the arena as well as the action itself. I was free to foot zoom all day long and was able to get the shots I wanted. I auto focus and shoot in Manual Mode.

I'm certainly not a horse photography expert, but I do photograph mostly action. Going from the basketball courts to horses was rather easy. Personally, I track and use single point center focus.

Unless you are going for a certain effect, shutter speed is the key to action. Keep it as high as you possibly can while maintaining correct exposure. Use an aperature that fits your needs, but watch shutter speed. Jack up the ISO if necessary. Work on the right combination.

I've you've never shot action before, practice before you go. Cars, kids running, anything.

Usually, when you are dealing with horses you are going to have lots of room. I mention that only as a thought for lens selection.

I'll let the horse experts take over. Good luck.

Nice thanks for the post.. I was wondering about the auto focus if i should change it to the middle point and just work on letting it focus on one point then try to guess what i want to focus in on.

I shall go outside tomorrow and practice on moving objects thanks for the response.

Here is an example photo.

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I shoot alot of cycling & also getting into more horse photography now. as kidpower said, AF, centre point, AI servo & track.

Most of the time I manual set my shutter & ap. But sometimes I will use TV & AV just for something different. Most cycling races I can take 200-700 photo's so pleanty of time to play around with settings.

A lady I work with has horse & looking a the shots she gets, I see the main problem being, other horses in the background. She tells me most of her friends order photo's then have the other horse removed.

But thats my 2 cents. AF, centre, AI Servo & track.

Post some shots when you get some.

Brad.

Yeah I agree with AF, centre and Al Servo. I try to shoot M too otherwise the dark and lighter horses will throw the meter off. The midday sun is always a pain but I think people are realistic about that (the riders I mean). When you do the portraits, see if you can get them to stand under the trees or something. The 'grey' (white) horses in particular can get really glary and yuck. Oh and for poses for them - if the kids are on the ground, get them to stand beside the horses front leg and have the horse's head over their shoulder. Standard kind of 'horsey' pose but it works well.

A couple of tips on what horse people like to see in their photos; for jumping shots try to aim for when the horse is at it's highest peak over the jump i.e. back feet have just left the ground, front feet tucked up tight. When the horse is just trotting or cantering around, try to get the shot as the back legs are forward (underneath the horses body).

Jumping is lots of fun, especially if you can get in close and get the expressions on the riders' faces.

Hope some ofthat's helpful. Have fun!

Hi Jacob nice to see you here in the sports section for a change. Are you getting fed up already with all the lovely ladies you shoot?

Equestrian events is my "specialty" so i will try to give you a few pointers on the way.

Horse & Rider Portraits

I think you will master this part better than most of us. Use your 85 or 70-200 and check your backgrounds. Fill flash is very useful when the riders wear their helmets as they often create dark shadows in the riders face in sunny weather. Lightning is the tricky part as most of the events are during daytime with harsh lightning. During the warm-up is a good time to get some "posing" rider/horse shots and don't forget to take a few shots of the price ceremonies.

Show Jumping

Tech
Use your XTi with the 70-200. F 2.8-4.0 with minimum shutter speeds over 1/640 preferably faster. Adjust your ISO accordingly. Center point. AI Servo or One Shot is a matter of taste and style really. I mostly use One Shot as it suit my style better. Using One Shot gives way more keepers instead of tracking the horse with AI Servo.

Prefocus at the center of the jump is the most common and secure technique to use. Make sure you focus at the center of the top pole. I use my * button for focusing (you set that with CF) as it gives me much better control over the metering.

Evaluative metering. I usually meter the surface right in front of the jump and that usually gives me a good exposure for most of the horse types. If the horse is pure white or black i sometimes take quick reading on the horse instead before it arrives to the jump and keep the metering locked with the shutter button until it jumps.

I think you will be fine shooting with just one body at least when they jump. They are usually in the arena for a minute so ther isnt much time for changing bodies really.

Angles
Before the event start check the suns position and position yourself accordingly. Try to pick the jumps that are the most "attractive" and most important the jumps that give you an attractive angle.

Optimally you will want to be shooting from a roughly 45 degree angle to the side/front of the jumps. But anything from the side to straight in front will do as you cant get a perfect angle on more than one or two jumps usually.

If you are shooting in a straight line in front of the jump get low and try to watch to which side the rider is looking (in a perfect world the rider should look straight forward but many don't do that) and move slightly so you can get his face.

The angle from the side/behind of a jump rarely works well but if a rider is looking a bit to "your" side then you can get some interesting shots even from that angle.

Timing
The horses looks best when they are on their way up to the jump. The best position is just when the horses front legs is passing the top pole. Once they are on their way down its no idea to shoot as it very rare to get an attractive "landing" shot.

Be on your guard as the horse are approaching the jump as many good shots can be made if the horse refuse a jump.

You can shoot a burst when the horse is on the way up but as you get more experienced you soon now when the perfect moment is and usually you don't need more than a frame or two per jump.

Backgrounds is usually a tricky part of show jumping as many arenas have very messy backgrounds. Audience, billboards, stands etc are the norm and you just have to try to adjust your position the best possible way but many times you just have to accept the sad fact. Though most people don't even think about details like that and they will be more than pleased anyway with the images.

Try to shoot a frame or two when the horse is cantering around the arena and then concentrate on the actual jumping.

Other Tips

If its a competition try to get a shot of the start list as that will help you immensely afterwards with the identification of the horse/rider. That is specially important if you plan to put the images online and for back sales.

As i mostly shoot in the same area (i live on a fairly small island) all the time i try to tag all my photos with both the riders and horses name for easier identification. Its a great way to find all the images when when a rider want some images from an event a few months back. It's also useful if you plan to put some galleries online too.

Sales

This is the part that differs a lot depending of your location. In the USA you have many more options in form of sales via online galleries type SmugMug etc. Here in Spain we still cant use that type of service unfortunately so the sales are more direct to the client in form of either prints or CD's.

Some photographers do print sales right at the event but i personally let the clients pick from a web gallery instead as i do this as hobby.

Though if you want good sales its a good idea to have a laptop with you to show images so you can pick up sales straight away.

Passwording galleries can be a good option when kids are involved but i personally haven't got a single request for that yet. Most parents like the idea of a web gallery and the kids just love it.


Hope you find some of this useful and happy shooting.


I have just started to put some images up on Zenfolio, please feel free to check that out. I have 10K of equestrian images going up there soon.

wow GREAT advice so far guy i really appreciate it oh and ill never tire of shooting great looking females but i feel people with horses have way more money than great looking models lol so keep the feedback coming this is a great resource for me as im trying to get all of this down in my brain

( sorry for the large pictures )

Horses . . . i have 2 of them, and take plenty of pictures as well ... mainly as hobby stuff, but sometimes at the request of friends and other people i meet along the way when at shows....

First and foremost for me is to get a fast enough shutter speed. 1/300 is probably the minimum to be able to stop the motion of a horses foot or leg in motion, but the faster the better ( within reasons of ISO and noise etc etc )

Bollan has explained the other aspects really well and i completely agree with both the comments on angles, and timing. Probably worth watching a couple of horses first to guage how a horse jumps. At about 10 to 15 metres out, the horse and rider will likely 'clock' the jump and target it. From there you'll have a few strides where the pair adjust pace and position. Right before the jump, the horse will collect and dip down to dig in an lift off the ground. To start off with, if your shooting continuous, then this is when to press and hold. You'll likely capture the whole jump across about 6 or 7 frames. with more practice you'll get the timing better and you may be able to save your frames and go to single shot and get the horse on the up motion over the jump.


But not all horses jump! Many shows are just dressage where the horse goes round on the flat. Again, most of the same principles apply. Good angles, backgrounds and timing. Dressage is done in a rectangular area with a specified set of movements in terms of straight lines around the edge, across the centre and in circles. So you'll be able to position yourself to capture a horse / rider at the right angle.

When on the flat, i was told ( and i have to agree ) that the best shot is to get the horse with its near-side front leg stretched out straight, just touching the ground. This makes the horse look nice and forward going. Here is an example of what I mean in terms of legs:

The last three shots are simply great. True wall hangers all of them!!

My boss says stay away from getting involved with shooting family horses! He got started doing mother-in-law and then wife horses and can't get out from under it!

If you are still interested....click on here and I might have something of value to view.

http://www.pbase.com/j​pferguson/image/816051​03

one last one from me which i found . . .

angle at 45deg
pre-focussed on the bar area
1/320 to stop motion
get the horse on the rise, nicely stretched out
ears forward on the horse ( forgot to mention that before )
piss poor background!

I am not an expert at this, I don't shoot it often, I just know what I like. One of the angles I really love is really low looking up to give the horse more majesty and size. Something like this....

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When i'm shooting horses i shoot at F4 to get horse and rider in focus, spot meter on manual centre focus point AI servo but also manual focus on some jumps, as for lenses the 1D has the 300F2.8L and 10D 70-200F4L
One of mine from Bramham this year
10D + 70-200