Daughter and her horse
Peter Madeley
I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter with
her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the image
to be a good memory. I've not done a great deal of environmental
photography. What would be your suggestions for poses & lighting? I
did consider fill-flash 2 stops below incident metered ambient light
reading (1:4 ??) bounced off a white card above flash. I'll be
shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
well behaved the horse is.
--
Peter (DPS Design & Photography Services)
Treat every day as if it were your last
'Cos one day you'll be right
Regards and happy shooting
li...@orc.net
> Good evening all
Good evening.
> I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter with
> her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the image
> to be a good memory.
Is there no hope? It's such a waste to retire a young woman before she's
even enjoyed life very much.
> shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
> well behaved the horse is.
I would not be very concerned. Horses are not as intelligent as humans,
and I am sure that this one will be completely oblivious to the upcoming
fate of its young master.
> Peter (DPS Design & Photography Services)
> Treat every day as if it were your last
> 'Cos one day you'll be right
Not you too?
Steve Brady
If the situation exists,I would work just inside the barn and keep the barn
door to the side out of frame and treat it as the light source. I would
then keep the person on the far side of the horses head with the horse
facing the light source or door. I think working close up will not only keep
the faces large but it will also allow a handler to be just off frame. The
soft dramatic light will not only lend a natural look but it will free you
concentrate on the subtle posing changes as they evolve. You will may need
to elevate the daughter with crates. Reflectors would be optional depending
on the desired ratio. Personally I would keep it dramatic. A tripod would
definitely help as you may be using slow speeds.
Have Fun
Steve
"It's 6 inches behind the camera that matters"
Peter Madeley wrote in message <199903051...@zetnet.co.uk>...
>Good evening all
>
>I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter with
>her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the image
>to be a good memory. I've not done a great deal of environmental
>photography. What would be your suggestions for poses & lighting? I
>did consider fill-flash 2 stops below incident metered ambient light
>reading (1:4 ??) bounced off a white card above flash. I'll be
>shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
>well behaved the horse is.
>--
>Peter (DPS Design & Photography Services)
>Treat every day as if it were your last
> 'Cos one day you'll be right
>
>Regards and happy shooting
>
Don Farra
which is where you come into the picture. It is a bad situation when
any horse is laid down but your job is to secure the memory on film, to
say the least this should be treated as an event photography session
(one not likely to be repeated).
From what you wrote so far I think you already know how to photograph
the situation, I would add that you should photograph from a higher than
ground level position, on a ladder or fence, near the rider's position
in height.
You also might want to try some other images such as the rider (standing
next to the horse) and horse heads together a side by side portrait, and
be sure to capture the horse's eyes using a natural catch light.
Another image might include the rider grooming the horse or walking the
horse or feeding the horse a carrot or other treat.
Yet another image might be a panned photograph as the rider takes the
horse for a ride in the circular arena (you in the center).
You also might want to try using soft focus filters and high speed color
film for the soft grain image effect.
Best of luck to you,
Don
=====================
kingsnake
Hash: SHA1
On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 16:31:42 GMT, Peter Madeley <pet...@zetnet.co.uk>
wrote:
>Good evening all
>
>I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter with
>her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the image
>to be a good memory. I've not done a great deal of environmental
>photography. What would be your suggestions for poses & lighting? I
>did consider fill-flash 2 stops below incident metered ambient light
>reading (1:4 ??) bounced off a white card above flash. I'll be
>shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
>well behaved the horse is.
Well,
Closing down and adding fill flash will darken or black out the
background. If she is on a ranch or near a stabling facility, you
might use a rustic barn (no pun intended) as a backdrop, and just use
matrix metering, and bracket +/- 1 stop for good measure. FWIW, you
might want to toss in a couple of silhouettes, too. It can't hurt. ISO
200 print film is cheap. Actually, I would use ISO 400: Unless you
want a lot of contrast, then I would use a slower film.
Try a few shots with a 50mm lens, with the horse at a 45-degree angle
to the barn (or you), the background being perpendicular.
Then, try a wide-angle shot in the horse's face at about a 20 degree
angle to the carcass.
Then, dream up a bunch of other perspectives.
Fool around. Experiment. Use a surrogate model on a cow, if you HAVE
to, and PRACTICE. Record your settings/perspectives/films. Shoot again
with your best settings and verify. After you get it down pat, then,
DO it.
Just do it.
It's fun; it's a blast.
Just do it! <g>
- --
-Horsey
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kingsnake
Hash: SHA1
OK, smartass ... now for your =suggestions=?
waiting ...
On Fri, 05 Mar 1999 16:42:51 GMT, li...@orc.net wrote:
>Peter Madeley <pet...@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Good evening all
>
>Good evening.
>
>> I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter
with
>> her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the
image
>> to be a good memory.
>
>Is there no hope? It's such a waste to retire a young woman before
she's
>even enjoyed life very much.
>
>> shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of
how
>> well behaved the horse is.
>
>I would not be very concerned. Horses are not as intelligent as
humans,
>and I am sure that this one will be completely oblivious to the
upcoming
>fate of its young master.
>
>> Peter (DPS Design & Photography Services)
>> Treat every day as if it were your last
>> 'Cos one day you'll be right
>
>Not you too?
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red-faced
Hash: SHA1
On Fri, 05 Mar 1999 10:19:00 -0700, Don Farra
<dfa...@radar-sci.jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
>It sounds like a bad situation that can be lighten by a good memory,
>which is where you come into the picture. It is a bad situation when
>any horse is laid down
Oops! My bad!
I thought he meant "before the =daughter= is retired", IOW, before
she slips into womanhood.
I feel like an idiot ... (no comments from Bernard or eric, please)
- --
-John
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li...@orc.net
> OK, smartass ... now for your =suggestions=?
> waiting ...
No one has a sense of humor here? Ok, I'll note that in my reference file
for this specific newsgroup's sensitivities.
Les Baldwin
> Good evening all
>
> I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter with
> her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the image
> to be a good memory. I've not done a great deal of environmental
> photography. What would be your suggestions for poses & lighting? I
> did consider fill-flash 2 stops below incident metered ambient light
> reading (1:4 ??) bounced off a white card above flash. I'll be
> shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
> well behaved the horse is.
> --
> Peter (DPS Design & Photography Services)
> Treat every day as if it were your last
> 'Cos one day you'll be right
>
> Regards and happy shooting
Hi Ya,
Many hit around my idea but I would expand it to say that a nice
silhouette of the two of them in the door backlit would also be cool. if
you can have the horse and girl parallel to the opening and facing one
another shoot from within the barn using the correct exposure for the
outside. Also You may want to put together a book instead of just a few
images. Try to capture some expression on their faces and remember to
make soft calls to the horse to makes it's ears come forward. All of
those are what separates a snapshot from an actual portrait.
Les
J. S. Oppenheim
portraiture. There is a lot of fussing between moments and in parallel
faces portraits, telling a horse to move its tail two feet to the left
is done with the rider's hand (and then it may be accomplished by
pulling the horse's head two feet to the right).
A tripod may frustrate you, especially if its head uses gears rather
than a ball.
On metering--I love backlight, and if there's any similarity in tone or
texture between the horse's mane and the rider's, you've got a great
picture on the way. In that situation, either meter from a gray card on
the lee side of the sun, or take a reflective off the most middle tone
of the human's face in exactly the mix of light that will be falling on
it when you take the picture. Go manual. If the faces are properly
(i.e., not over!) exposed and your depth-of-field fades behind the
rider's back, the resulting background washout will serve to keep the
eyes engaged with the true subjects in the final print.
In the barn, grooming and tack shots will require lighting. I've wiped
out several times on ambient--everything from the roof to the straw is
dark and dusty, and while our eyes adjust, the dimness never quite fools
the film. Depending on whether some deep shadows will be acceptable,
matrix metering with a single flash on a bracket might get you through.
This is one situation where two lamps (45-deg. opposed) with diffusion
and a diffused key near the camera probably work.
Hmmm. I wonder if Vavre has a sight . . . .
//Jim
kingsnake wrote:
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 16:31:42 GMT, Peter Madeley <pet...@zetnet.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
> >Good evening all
> >
> >I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter with
> >her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the image
> >to be a good memory. I've not done a great deal of environmental
> >photography. What would be your suggestions for poses & lighting? I
> >did consider fill-flash 2 stops below incident metered ambient light
> >reading (1:4 ??) bounced off a white card above flash. I'll be
> >shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
> >well behaved the horse is.
>
digital
sometime................
eric
Graham wrote:
> In article <199903051...@zetnet.co.uk>, Peter Madeley
> <pet...@zetnet.co.uk> writes
> >Good evening all
> >
> >I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter with
> >her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the image
> >to be a good memory. I've not done a great deal of environmental
> >photography. What would be your suggestions for poses & lighting? I
> >did consider fill-flash 2 stops below incident metered ambient light
> >reading (1:4 ??) bounced off a white card above flash. I'll be
> >shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
> >well behaved the horse is.
>
> Peter
>
> I have done a lot of equestrian photography lately and to answer your
> question really depends on what type of photograph you had in mind.
>
> Examples;
> 1: A head shot with the horse looking over the owner's right shoulder.
> 2: A full length in-hand with the owner.
> 3: A full length with the owner in the saddle.
> 4: A romantic type image of the horse looking over a gate with the owner
> nearby (probably soft focus).
>
> Either way there are a few simple rules that have to be followed.
>
> Firstly, contrary to what somebody has already said, the camera must
> never look down on a horse (unless your after a whacky type shot). If
> it is a small pony, for example, then get down lower. I usually put the
> camera about the same height as it's shoulder or just below the height
> of it's back at it's lowest point.
>
> Secondly, again contrary to another reply, the owner should be able to
> control the horse on her own so another person holding it will not be
> necessary. However, an assistant is vital in other ways. You must
> never, ever photograph a horse or pony unless it's ears are fully
> pricked upright. Anything less will make it look like a donkey. This
> is where the assistant comes in useful. By using various means ask your
> assistant to get the horse's attention. A crisp packet (empty) being
> rustled, some grass thrown in the air or even another horse brought in
> at the right moment will have the desired effect. Be careful though,
> some horses are more easily spooked than others. A very highly strung
> thoroughbred, will not need much coaxing where as a riding school horse
> can have you bang a dustbin lid in it's face and not even blink. For
> these horses I have a secret weapon. A mirror! (bugger it's not a
> secret any more). As soon as a horse sees it's own reflection even the
> most docile nag will take notice. Be warned though. Make sure every
> thing is ready. Focus, exposure, flash (if used), background composition
> etc. Just be ready to fire the camera as soon as those ears come up.
> Believe me, they will go down just as quick. And, it will be harder for
> the next shot.
>
> Except for example 4 above. Unless they have one of those very
> expensive leather head collars with the brass rings always have the
> horse tacked up with a bridle. If you use those cheap head collars it
> will be regretted in time to come. For the same reason make sure the
> horse has had a good brushing and that the owner isn't wearing the same
> jacket she wore when she brushed it.
>
> Now for those full length shots. Mounted or in-hand? If you're using a
> square format then mounted will fill the frame better. 35mm is ideal
> for in-hand. Then again you can crop either way but you will lose some
> neg. It is up to you.
>
> Have the horse 90 deg to the camera and facing the wind if there is any.
> This will blow the tail away from it's back legs and not between them.
> You also need the sun behind you and to one side (ideally) not too high
> & coming from the front of the horse in such a position that it will
> show good modelling of the shoulders & thighs. Try not to get too much
> shadow on the horse especially if it is a dark one unless you are using
> fill flash. A 2:1/4:1 ratio is OK. Be careful with the background. I
> usually go for a dark background with a light horse & a light background
> with a dark horse. It always looks OK in the viewfinder until you go to
> print it, then you find black manes blending in with gaps in the bushes
> which are in deep shadow. Also beware of any shadow cast with the peaks
> of riding hats on the rider's face.
>
> Now apart from the ears being pricked as already mentioned the next big
> challenge is the legs. (the horse's legs that is). The two legs
> farthest from the camera must be seen BETWEEN the two legs nearest the
> camera. At the very least you MUST see all four legs. The only way to
> achieve this is to keep walking the horse forward & back again until it
> stops in the right place. If it is a well schooled horse it may well
> stop in the correct position first time. On the other hand... well,
> let's say I've spent a good twenty minutes without firing a shot. Some
> horses will allow you to go up and PLACE the foot in the correct
> position however ask the owner first before attempting this especially
> if you're not familiar with picking up horse's feet.
>
> A few last points on feet. Make sure the front and back legs are not too
> far apart, this will make it look like a rocking horse. Also make sure
> it is not resting on one leg as this will effectively throw it's whole
> weight to one side and look completely off balance.
>
> If the horse is in-hand then have the owner standing in front of the
> horse and holding it's reins and have them facing each other . If the
> rider is mounted then they can either both look ahead or the rider can
> look at camera but the horse shouldn't look at the camera otherwise it's
> neck will disappear. If everything is OK then ears up & fire. One last
> point. Don't try backlighting in anything other than close-up head
> shots and then only if it has a lot of mane.
>
> I hope this will info helps and that I've explained everything well
> enough. There are many other, more candid, ways to get a relaxed
> photograph but this will mostly depend on the situation and, of course,
> the location. But for a final, formal, wall mounted portrait these tips
> should give you a good starting point.
>
> Good luck...
>
> BTW I've just started putting together my website. It will be a few
> weeks or so before it is finished but if you can wait a bit I could put
> together a few examples (good & bad) in a separate section to give you a
> better idea of what I have spoken about. If you are interested let me
> know.
>
> Remove "nospam." to reply.
>
> Byeee
> --
> Graham S. Gott
> Quantum Photographic
> Canterbury (UK)
Moreno Polloni
>great info, if i ever have to shoot a horse i will pick your brain
>sometime................
Some people regard their horses as highly as they regard people, so I guess this
thread is still on-topic.
pat jerina
shot at dude ranch for some western wear. This called for using a horse
for a shot or two. The horses we were around were very trained.
Trained to the point that the wranglers would whistle real loud and the
horses would come falling into place next to the fence. One of the
things that they warned about was, DO NOT USE STROBES, They will spook
the horses to no extent. So we used a Matthew's reflector board and
that even scared them at times because it was so bright. Granted they
are beautiful animals, but they will hurt you if you are not careful.
Peter Madeley wrote:
> What would be your suggestions for poses & lighting? I
> did consider fill-flash 2 stops below incident metered ambient light
> reading (1:4 ??) bounced off a white card above flash. I'll be
> shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
> well behaved the horse is.
> -
-- pat jerina photography
dallas, tx
972.320.5143 voicemail / pager
214.696.1759 fax
http://www.flash.net/~pjerina
Graham
<pet...@zetnet.co.uk> writes
>Good evening all
>
>I have been asked by a friend to take a portrait of her daughter with
>her pet horse before she is 'retired'. Obviously they want the image
>to be a good memory. I've not done a great deal of environmental
>reading (1:4 ??) bounced off a white card above flash. I'll be
>shooting 200 print film and probably using a tripod depending of how
>well behaved the horse is.
Peter
D Chananie
dreamy sort of image.
David Chananie
Peter Madeley
Very many thanks to all who helped with this. I do the shoot tomorrow (Sun).
You have proved to to me and yourself the power of this newsgroup - a
good thread with no off topic posts. Congratulations and thanks to
all contributors.
Peter
PS I'll let you know how it goes.
Bernard
> digital wrote in message <36E0A461...@mindspring.com>...
> >great info, if i ever have to shoot a horse i will pick your brain
> >sometime................
>
> Some people regard their horses as highly as they regard people, so I
> guess this
> thread is still on-topic.
Some people give names to their willy.....
Bernard.
Steve1chsn
your knowledge of american cliche and phraseology is just too extensive for a
russian citizen. either you are a transplanted american (even your name is
anglicanized)or you were a kgb or gru plant in the days of the soviet union<g>.
curiouity is killing me, give some personal info please!!
**** steve ****
Pete Dixon
Bernard
Can't tell you about the GRU....... I'm still active.
Oooops....
Bernard.
solar bear
<5521...@g23.relcom.ru> wrote:
> Moreno Polloni wrote:
>
> > digital wrote in message <36E0A461...@mindspring.com>...
> > >great info, if i ever have to shoot a horse i will pick your brain
> > >sometime................
> >
> > Some people regard their horses as highly as they regard people, so I
> > guess this
> > thread is still on-topic.
>
> Some people give names to their willy.....
>
> Bernard.
Willllbuuurrrrrrr!!!
Alan
"This thread is starting to beat a dead horse..."
Zane
kingsnake
Hash: SHA1
On Sat, 06 Mar 1999 19:10:54 +0300, Bernard <5521...@g23.relcom.ru>
wrote:
>
>Some people give names to their willy.....
"Rofan"!
- --
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Peter Madeley
clients were well chuffed with results. Advice from group was
invaluable and clients seemed to appreciate me taking the trouble to
ask the group to find out more. Many thanks again to all
contributors. Images will appear as soon as website is set up. Just
bought a new car, for Valentines day!!!! so investment in internet
account has been put on hold temporarily.