Get it Framed!
It’s really quite easy to take good photos when you follow some basic rules! Here’s a common mistake amateur photographers often make. Learn how to improve your equine photography by following these basic steps
COMMON MISTAKE: Photo not framed properly.
Here’s an example of ‘too much room above’ your subject, and ‘chopping off the legs’!
The ‘background is crooked’ due to the photographer not holding the camera level. Read on and see how to correct this.
Compare this image to the one above. Notice how there is more space below the horse’s hooves and less above the horse resulting in a balanced composition. The background is level.
CORRECTION: Take your time when framing your picture.
Set your camera on ‘action’ mode to give you a fast shutter speed or set is manually using ‘S’ with a fast shutter speed of around 1000. Hold the camera lower (than the photographer in the top photo), and level, to get the whole horse in the frame. Look through the viewfinder with your elbows close to your sides. This will steady the camera. Follow your horse through the viewfinder and press the shutter-release button when your subject is in focus and in front of you. And there you have it - a photo good enough to frame!
If you have any questions about photography contact trudy@nicholsonphotography.co.nz (please do not send images over 500kb)
Want to learn more? Trudy Nicholson offers a distance learning course designed for those with a special interest in photographing horses and animals. It's specially suited for people with busy lifestyles and those living in rural areas. The course consists of four modules and assignments and you can learn at your pace, at your place! Find out more
Trudy Nicholson is a published photographer and author. She specialises in animal photography - her images appear on book and magazine covers in New Zealand and overseas. She has ten published books of her own. Trudy continues to write and fill photographic commissions for magazines and is taking photographs for two books to be published in the near future. She’s currently taking canine portraits for a second calendar.