MartinM
FollowHorse
Horse
Read less
Read less
Views
607
Likes
Awards
Staff Winter Selection 2015
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Top Choice
Superior Skill
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
The picture was taken near to Graz (Styria, Austria) in a beautiful stallion called "RC Murhof", exactly at the entrance into the riding hall.Time
As always for shooting outdoors, you need to take care about the location of the sun. Normally you will try to shoot during morning hours or later in the afternoon, because at high noon the colours get weak and the shadows are pretty hard, which causes high contrasts, sometimes too high. BUT, for that it was needed, because of the location of the entrance.Lighting
The horse was placed that way, that it was standing directly in the entrance, head till approx. the shoulders where directly in the sun, and the rest of the body in the shadow, inside the hall. So also the background was pretty dark. No additional flash or bouncer were used, jut the sun.Equipment
I used (and still use) the Canon EOS 5D Mk II and the 70-200mm f 2,8 @ 160mm and f5,6 and 1/320 ISO 400.Inspiration
The amazing thing about that horse and reason for choosing the view is the pretty forelock.Editing
Of cause the picture is not out-of-cam. It got manipulated with the "Silver Effex" from Nic-Filter (in the meantime owned by Google).In my camera bag
Always too much :-) Well I shoot with the Canon EOS 5D Mk II as main camera for almost everything, but for the fast shootings like horses running, or let say generally "sports", I use the new 7D Mk II. The 7D is faster with the AF and the frames per second, what helps, but not a must. You need to know your camera and when to "pull the trigger". Lenses: Well I really love the Canon EF 24-105 f4, but for shooting horses it is to short, so I use the 70-200 f2,8, and the (rather old) EF 35-350 f3,5-5,6. It is always good to have a bouncer (pop-up, good to hide from the horses, some are really afraid of it - which can help to get nice mimics from the horse). For shooting additionally portraits together with the owner/rider, I sometimes use the Speedlite 600EX or off-camera flash from PRIOLITE.Feedback
For shooting horses you need to know some things about horses (not all). Behaviour of them, which phases of the movement looks good and a picture, and which not ;-) The ears: They show you many things like who is interested, bored, and so on. If you can´t see them, because they are flat and behind, the horse is very angry, so you better stop shooting :-) Having some knowledge about the races, helps to impress the owner, and gives you a better stand. Use a reflector carefully! Try to use a bag to make some sound next to the camera, to get the attention of the horse and both ears. The neck-line is important, also the position of the legs.