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Hi all,
I recently got a job (for a friend so they're not paying much which is ok)...to photograph her beloved horse! She's a horse fanatic and wants some nice images of him. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions/hints for photographing large animals, in this case horses? Would appreciate any advice

Time for the 70-200VR and the 85/1.4
You need them for both portrait shoot and the horse in distance.
Get them and you'll be happy.

Birddog114 wrote:Time for the 70-200VR and the 85/1.4
You need them for both portrait shoot and the horse in distance.
Get them and you'll be happy.

You are pure evil Birdy, when it comes to lens lusting your fellow members!! I know I'll be happy if I get them, however...I will be divorced before I'm married..that'd be a record now wouldn't it? Besides I already have the 50mm 1.4, don't need the 85, it's a very friendly horse so it better let me get close hehe.

Buy carrots

Glen wrote:Buy carrots

Already thought of that GLen, unfortunately he's a very 'special' show horse and hand feeding is not permitted...go figure?

Geoff wrote:

Glen wrote:Buy carrots

Already thought of that GLen, unfortunately he's a very 'special' show horse and hand feeding is not permitted...go figure?

So what? only tube feeding?

Dial in negative exposure comp. Because their coats are shiny to human eyes, it seems brighter - but the camera meters middle grey, and most shades of brown (that horses are) are darker than middle grey. Otherwise it'll give you the washed out look with possibly burnt highlights.

Hi Geoff I've seen a few threads on Nikonian which talk about photographing horses (with sample pictures). Do a search over there mate.

If the lighting is such that the coat will be shiney I would have a CPL filter handy for a couple of shots too

JordanP wrote:If the lighting is such that the coat will be shiney I would have a CPL filter handy for a couple of shots too

Yes, agreed but look at the horse again and evaluate yourself with the distance, lighting and focal lenght.
The 50/1.4 will do good portrait shoot but not always applies to other distance.

Oh, one more thing. I'm sure you already know this but a reminder won't hurt. If you are in tight for head shots, focus on the closest eye and watch your DOF

why not look into a stock agency for some insparation(spellin?)

How you are going to shoot it (figuratively speaking) is partially going to depend on what the horse's main 'job' is and how the owner uses the horse. Is it an eventer, a jumper, a dressage horse, or a show horse?? Are you going to be taking pic's with a rider, or free in the paddock, or while doing showring training?

Typically the better looking pics I have seen are when the horse is 'collected' and on the bit. This gives them a nice shape with the arched neck and nose down. If dressage, then a piaffe (high stepping trot) or leg-yield (going forward and moving diagonally across the forward motion) tend to look good and should translate into photo's nicely.

You want to be taking photo's early in the exercise session, once its warmed up, but before the horse is starting to sweat up and lather. Ideally it should be recently clipped and/or brushed nicely to get a gleam in the coat.

HTH
Rob.

Edit: There are some nice looking pics here which could give you some ideas. http://www.terrimiller.com/gallery/

JordanP wrote:Oh, one more thing. I'm sure you already know this but a reminder won't hurt. If you are in tight for head shots, focus on the closest eye and watch your DOF

Thanks guys, hehehe...and here I was thinking to myself Craig, 'he's going to say 'shoot portrait..shoot portrait'.

Geoff wrote:

JordanP wrote:Oh, one more thing. I'm sure you already know this but a reminder won't hurt. If you are in tight for head shots, focus on the closest eye and watch your DOF

Thanks guys, hehehe...and here I was thinking to myself Craig, 'he's going to say 'shoot portrait..shoot portrait'.

heck no!

Yep up close with the 50MM and you have to watch DOF. Unless of course you just want to show off the horses head and mane.

If I recall correctly from the Nikonian threads on horse photography, the quality of light is very very important because of horse's coat, especially if the photos are meant to be used for selling horses.