The old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words.” is true, but it can also help or hinder when marketing a horse. Here at the ranch I take all the pictures.. I am not a professional photography by any means, but I still like to have good pictures of my horses. Here are some helpful photography tips I have learned through the years:

• If possible try and use a digital camera. I take hundreds of pictures when marketing a horse, and the digital camera makes this process much easier.
• When shooting out in the pasture I am looking for a clean background, soft lighting (over cast days are great), and I try to take pictures in the morning to get the best expression from the horses.
• When taking pictures of a horse that I want to market I enlist the help of my husband, don’t be afraid to ask someone to come and help!
•  The horse must be clean, so if it needs a bath give it one.
• No matter if you are doing conformation pictures or pictures under saddle use elbow grease and make the horse shine like the gem it is.
• If the horse has a mane that goes all over the place either try to band it or braid it to give a clean look. 
• Pick your background… make sure it isn’t full of clutter.
• When taking conformation pictures really work on setting the horse up squarely as you can. I know how hard this can be, but be patient these conformation shots are very important.
• I love to take pictures of horses under saddle. Change your setting to Sport and start taking pictures. In one night I can take a hundred under saddle pictures, and maybe only one or two will make the cut. But in the end it is worth it!

If you have any tips to share I would like to know what helps you when taking pictures of horses.

Tags: equine photography tips, equine phtography, taking pictures of horses

This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.