I just returned from a fabulous two week holiday in the Greek Islands, where every view was right out of a picture postcard. Over and over again I marveled that I would never find the words to adequately describe the beauty of what I saw and how it made me feel.
The same can be said for the time I spend with my horse. Grooming, riding, hacking out in the woods. It seems impossible, but after so many years I still feel the same joy when I am around horses as I did when I was a little girl. I resolved after my trip to Greece, that I would take my camera up to the barn with me more often, to try to capture some of the richness that my horse brings to my life.
When I got back to my office, I took a fresh look at some of the 12,000 photos that members have posted on Barnmice in the past year. Do you know what I saw when I looked through these thousands of photos? The same images over and over. People hugging their horses, horses playing in the fields, mares cuddling foals, and horses and riders in perfect partnership. All the joy and love and friendship that horses bring to our lives, expressed eloquently in personal snapshots and candid moments.
If you have always wanted to take great pictures of horses, but were not sure where to begin, here are a few tips I found by Linda Ann Nickerson on Associated Content:
1.Keep that shutter clicking as much as possible. The simple rule is this: click off as many shots as you can, for as long as you can. You can always delete the lesser-quality shots later.
2. Set your camera for SPORT/ACTION (fast shutter speed), and start shooting.
3. Slightly overcast days tend to be better than over-bright ones.
4. Early morning and later afternoon provide softer lighting, which generally produces better pictures.
5. Whenever possible, shoot OUTSIDE. Most barns have terrible lighting for photos.
6. It's better to get closer than to zoom, although this can be daunting at times.
7. As you shoot, try to fit the whole horse inside your viewfinder (your camera's visual frame). You can always crop your photos later.
8. Consider your backgrounds. A truly classy shot will showcase your intended subject against an uncluttered backdrop.
9. Shoot as many frames as you can, particularly if the horse if moving. If a rider is aboard, shoot even more. You're looking for that magic moment, when the horse and rider look their best together. You want the horse's ears forward, the rider's chin up.
10. The secret to wonderful digital photographs is in the post-editing process. Good photo editing software is money well-spent. You can crop right to the focal point, adjust color and contrast, convert to black and white (or antique sepia), and even correct focus and background problems. Just don't forget to compress those photos before storing or uploading!
I hope you enjoy the following snapshots, and if you have some special photos of your own, I invite you to share them with us in the Barnmice community!