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Aurum NNT

Aurum NNT - stallion from PRE stable in B&W.

Aurum NNT - stallion from PRE stable in B&W.

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Feb, 2022

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Awards

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Outstanding Creativity

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken during Portfolio Day organized in a stable in Tatra Mountains. Horse on the photo is a pure Spanish stallion. Stallion was cantering around on a restricted arena.

Time

This photoshoot we had in the afternoon. It was May, around 4-5pm.

Lighting

To take the picture like that - on the black background with the light on the horse, I needed dark background in one color. It happens usually in the afternoon, when the light is lower and it's highlighting an animal, but the background stays in the deep shadows. This way I could focus on the horse.

Equipment

This was shot on Nikon D7100 with Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. No other equipment was involved in this.

Inspiration

Black and white photographs are my favorite. When you see a beautiful stallion showing off, with a mane dispersed by the wind, you can almost see a sculpture in the museum, made by ancient artists. If you use a color on a frame like that, it doesn't have this effect than when you use black and white. Shadows and contrast between your subject and background must be significant so the viewer will focus on a main subject - a horse, instead of anything else.

Editing

On this kind of pictures first what I do is a simple post-processing involved contrast, sharpening, dodge and burn to highlight horse's skin and face. Next step is changing picture into black and white. After many years of taking pictures I have my own presets so I'm looking for a perfect one. The most important here is deep black and shadows, without losing details on the horse, especially in the mane. If the background is still lighter than it should be, I need to make it black with a brush with the lowest exposure you can get in the Lightroom. After that I'm working with brush with lighter exposure to "pop" the mane and some other small details on the horse. All of that you can achieve in the Lightroom.

In my camera bag

In my bag I carry Nikon D850 and Nikon D7100 as a backup. My main lens is Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 and for portraits Nikkor 85mm f/1.8. I also have Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 - lately I'm using it to make short videos for social media with it. I don't need a lot of equimpment so other than this, I don't carry much more.

Feedback

If you want to take picture similar to this, you need to find a background that is in the shadows and have one color (in this case - spruce trees). Your subject needs to be in the light and you need to make a narrower frame, focusing on the face with neck, sometimes a little bit more. The rest is your process in the Lightroom. Good luck!

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GettelPhoto

Aurum NNT

Aurum NNT - stallion from PRE stable in B&W.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow GettelPhoto

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