Horse Photography

Horse photography covers anything from a formal photograph of a horse in a stable to more romantic shots of white horses galloping through water.

I tend to treat horse photography like photographing any other wild animal.

I observe it grazing, eating, drinking or interacting with other horses - whatever it does naturally. This allows me to take photographs that show their natural character such as this horse in a meadow.

The ears should be up and alert and ideally the horse should be looking in the direction of the camera. To get the horse to do this get someone to get the horses attention - hold up some grass or food, wave a flag, open and close an umbrella, hold up a plastic bag or mirror - they're all tried and tested techniques that work.

Head portrait shots either straight on or angled slightly upwards look great, especially if you can get the muscles in the neck to show.

When deciding where you will take your shot from, be aware of the background. Try to make sure that there are no man made structures in the background such as paddock fences etc. It can be very frustrating to discover that your photograph was spoilt by a fence cutting through the horses body.

If there is nothing interesting in the background that adds to the photograph then try to blur it so that it doesn't distract from the horse. This is done by using a shallow depth of field. The best time of day for photographing horses is early morning or late afternoon. This is when the lighting is best and won't cast harsh shadows across the horse.

As a wildlife photographer, the horse photography that I enjoy most is when its of wild horses or ponies.

One of my favorite places for this is Camargue - a wildlife haven in the south of France and home of the Camargue horse. They are an ancient breed that have roamed the marshland of Camargue for centuries.

There are plenty of photography courses held here that will setup shots of the horses running through shallow water towards you. Sorry if this shatters any illusion of the horses running like this being commonly seen - they are usually staged for photographers!