Dearest One
Feb, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken at Hazelwild Farm in Fredericksburg, Virginia (USA). It is one of my all-time favorite photos because it exemplifies what I strive to do when I take equine portraits. It captures the bond between a horse and her people. This young woman was about to leave for college and wasn't sure she would be taking her horse with her. While leaving for college can be exciting, it is often bittersweet for the horse-owning college student.Time
This is one of my favorite images, and has stood the test of time. This photo shoot was from 2007-2008. This particular image was close to the end of our shoot, during the afternoon. She was turning the horse around so that we could start taking barn isle silhouette shots. The two of them stopped a moment at the aisle entryway, and that's when I captured this. It turned out so well because the rest of the isle was dark, and they were framed nicely while in that moment.Lighting
The lighting at the end of barn aisle - any barn aisle can be really nice because it is often filtered light due to the proximity of the subject that is framed in the doorway/aisle entrance. In this case, the lighting was not harsh, and the softness added to the moment. Since we were working towards capturing a silhouette of her walking her horse towards me in the barn aisle. The camera settings were set to capture it. Thus, the settings lending to the light and airy feeling of the entire photograph.Equipment
At the time, I was using my Nikon D90 and a 70-200 mm f 2.8 Nikkor lens. No other equipment was used.Inspiration
As I mentioned earlier, this photo shoot was taken during the young woman's senior year in high school. Most of my clients choose to have some sort of silhouette photo included. This was taken during the "set-up" for the silhouettes.Editing
I shoot in raw, and utilize Adobe Lightroom for most of my basic editing. If I need more options, I will edit the image in Adobe Photoshop. In this case, given the time frame in which this photo was taken, I did not do a lot with Photoshop. Basic exposure adjustments were made, as well as burning in a bit of the horse's ears and back. After that, a simple vignette was applied.In my camera bag
I always have a Nikon camera body and the Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 ready to go. It's the combination that I always choose first. Then, the body was a Nikon D90. Today, it is attached to a Nikon D4s. I also now have my older gear as backups - the Nikon D200 has a fisheye attached for primarily night shots, and the Nikon D90 has a Nikkor 45 mm prime lens attached. On any given shoot, I have been known to switch between all of the bodies, depending upon what I am trying to capture.Feedback
To try and recreate this shoot, study the barn aisle and entry points. Look at how the light filters into the barn - sometimes the sun can be very bright and harsh and other times soft. You can still capture this type of image in harsher light - the subjects need to be inside a bit more. Just recognize that you will have to play with their positioning (further in or out of the aisle) in order for the light to be flattering. Our barn has several entry points, and each are in different locations, so I am fortunate to be able to play in all of the to find the best one. Since we were setting for for a silhouette, I wanted more light in the background to frame the horse and woman as they walked towards me. As mentioned earlier, we were getting ready for them to walk the aisle towards me. She turned her horse at the end of the aisle, at the entryway to the barn, in order to provide more space to walk towards me. It just so happened that this was taken as they were turning. My best advice is to continue shooting at those moments. You'll be surprised at what you'll find!
