You've decided to schedule a photo session with your horse and now you're searching for a photographer. My advice? Don't pick just anyone.
It might seem obvious, but hiring an equine photographer for your equestrian and equine sessions is CRITICAL to getting the best photos in the long run. Short reason - we know horses. Long reason - keep reading.
BIG HEADS AND TINY BOOTY... NO THANK YOU!
Have you ever seen a photo of a horse with a huge head and tiny booty and it just looks... off? That's something called distortion, and if your photographer doesn't have the right equipment, there's no way to prevent that. Hiring an equine photographer ensures your horse is going to look correctly proportioned!
SAFETY IS A BIG PRIORITY.
I think we've all seen amazing shots of a girl on her trusty steed cantering through a field of flowers and thought how gorgeous that image is. A lot of us have probably wanted to recreate that, however, sometimes that's just not in the cards for a session. As an equine photographer, one of my biggest concerns during a session is the safety of both horse and rider. The last thing I want is to push a team to do something out of their comfort or safety zone just for a shot. Before each session, my clients fill out a questionnaire that includes what level of posing they are comfortable with and feel is achievable. If you are only comfortable on the ground, I won't ask you to go beyond that. I also feel out the session and if your horse is a little nervous, I won't push you to go into the more advanced and difficult posing. We can get a wide variety of images with simple posing!
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Courtney felt comfortable hopping on Bunny bareback during their fine art black background session.
EARS UP!
Horses look happiest when their ears are up. Photographers without an equine background might not know this, resulting in your images being full of your horse looking uninterested. If you look through my work, you might notice some shots with a horses ears relaxed or off to the side, but most of my images have the horses ears up and perky! The ears truly determine the feeling and vibe of each photo. Besides knowing that ears should be up, equine photographers have lots of tricks and tips of how to get those ears up (without spooking your horse!).
Brittney and Bombshell, both expecting mommas, look happy in this image! Bombshell has perked up ears and looks interested and happy. This is what we are aiming for!
BREED STANDARDS AND TIMING.
Not every equine photographer is going to know the breed standards for EVERY breed off the top of our heads, but we're easily able to understand what you want in your images. Quarter horses, saddlebreds, and miniature horses all desire a different look, and equine photographers can address and achieve that. If you're going to work riding images into your session, it is ESSENTIAL your photographer knows WHEN to take the picture depending on your horses breed or discipline. The difference between a perfectly and poorly timed photograph is shocking and can make or break a session.
READY TO HIRE YOUR EQUINE PHOTOGRAPHER?
Contact Hannah at hannah@hannahrosephotollc.com, 515-971-6435 (text or leave a voicemail), or by filling out the contact form here.
