5 Tips To Taking Great Photos Of Your Horse | Equine PR London
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In this post, the Equine PR London team caught up with Beth Hicks Photography for her top tips for taking great photos of your horse. Beth is a very talented equine, canine and country photographer; so before you grab your camera, take a read of Beth’s top tips:

 

Before I really got into photography, I used to find taking great photos (or even good photos) of the horses I rode particularly difficult. Especially when using my phone. I always wondered if anyone else struggled with this, therefore I came up with 5 tips to help you improve your photos!

  1. To begin with, the most important thing to take into consideration is light. Natural light is of course, most effective. However, the main thing is to get as much light onto your horse as possible and to make sure the light source is behind you. By doing so, you are ensuring there are no harsh shadows!
  2. Being too close can make a big difference; sometimes being close (e.g. at the end of your horse’s nose) can make quite comedic shots. If you want a nicer, more formal photo, I recommend you stand far enough away so that everything on your horse’s body (head, ears, shoulders etc) are in proportion to each other!
  3. The composition is key. You can use a relatively simple concept – such as leading lines – to dramatically improve your photo. This includes using the background, such as a fence, that has a line leading to the subject (your horse) which will draw the eye to it! It is a really simple technique, but one I often use when available!
  4. You can edit your photos when posting them online. Saying this, I dislike using an Instagram filter as a quick fix for a photo; alternatively, if you click ‘edit’, you can then edit the photos manually and more effectively. I tend to increase the brightness (if needed) and sometimes amend the contrast and shadows to achieve visually appealing photos. I occasionally add a slight vignette to my images and am regularly very happy with the results!
  5. Most importantly is to ensure your photo is in focus. It’s all well and good using some of these tips, but if your horse is not the focal point then the photo isn’t really worth doing much with; nor are you likely to be able to improve it by editing. When in camera mode on your phone, a quick way to ensure your horse is the focal point is by tapping and pressing on the area of the image you want in focus!

A huge thank you to Beth Hicks from the Equine PR London team! We hope you found Beth’s tips helpful; if you are feeling inspired we would love to see some of your photography experiments! Connect with us on social media, pop us an email to hello@mirrormepr.co.uk or call us on 01932 918 089.