BASIC SALE HORSE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
Help us help you sell your horse by sending us great, professional quality pictures. Great quality, well taken pictures will capture your horses true beauty and are the absolute key to getting potential buyers attention but poor quality, badly taken pictures will detract from your horses beauty, make it look inferior to horses with great pictures and will cause potential buyers to pass right by without giving your horse any consideration. Fewer professional quality pictures is much better than a lot of poor quality pictures.

Below is an example of the difference between good and bad photography, same horse, same day.

Which of the two pictures would stop you from scrolling?

#1. Carefully choose the locations for your photography sessions. Be observant of the backdrop and make sure not to take pictures against a busy, distracting backdrop. You don't want a hydro pole in the background sticking between the horses ears. It can be helpful to look through your lens when choosing background and shooting angles.

Open fields, barn walls or trees can make nice backdrops.

-Keep the horses colour in mind when choosing a backdrop, a darker coloured horse will blend into a darker backdrop and likewise a lighter coloured horse will blend into a light backdrop so you'll want to find a backdrop that complements your horse and makes it pop!

- The “bokeh effect” which is a blurred background is achieved by having a greater distance between the subject and the background than the subject and the camera. The greater the ratio between the camera, subject and background, the more the “bokeh effect” and will keep the focus on the horse. Stand the horse at least 30 feet or more in front of the background. It helps to have a quality camera and lense that gives you the ability to get further away and zoom in without sacrificing image quality, this helps keep the horses proportions natural.
#2. Have your horse groomed and show ready. Treat every photography session like you are showing off a world champion! Freshly bathed, still wet or spot-washed doesn’t do your horse, give them time to dry completely before starting the photo shoot.
#3. Shooting from a kneeling or crouching position can help keep the camera angle at the ideal height at approximately mid-shoulder of the horse. Too much higher or lower can distort the horses proportions.
#4. Pay close attention to the angle of the light and shadows keeping the sun behind the photographers back (photographer should see their own shadow in front of them when facing the horse) to keep shadows to a minimum.
- Lighting is usually best in the morning or early evening. Unless it is slightly overcast, avoid shooting around mid-day when the sun is harsh and directly overhead.
#5. Get the horse to focus on something with the ears up and eyes open. You can use a flag or even a broom, a remote controlled car, a squeak toy, someone acting silly or anything that will attract the horses attention so it will prick it's ears. Get creative, experiment with different things and the presentation of them as some horses will not notice shaking a plastic bag but just slowly dragging it on the ground will get it's attention. You don't want to overdo it and startle the horse as this will make the horses neck muscles look tight. Used just enough sound and movement to get the horses attention. You want the horse to look natural with a level neck and the head slightly tilted toward the camera.

#6. Take your time. Being prepared can certainly help photo shoots to go more smoothly but plan to take at least an hour or two for per session and set time aside for it. If it goes smoothly and you get it done in less time, great but don't rush it!
#7. Try different angles, Both sides and the 3/4 angle. Side shots should be taken from slightly more toward the hip, too much toward the shoulder will make them look front end heavy. Being excessively towards the hip doesn't look good either so play around with it and find that balance.
#8. Take a LOT of pictures and then take some more. You can always delete bad or extra photos from your computer later but that's a lot easier than doing another photo session all over again because you missed something or you weren't happy with the pictures you got.
9. Use quality tack. Remember to treat each photo session like the horse is a world champion.

- Make sure your halter or bridle and saddle fit well and are properly adjusted.
- Make sure your tack is clean and show ready.
- For saddled photos, use a clean, quality pad of a colour that compliments your horses colour.

Clean, quality, well fitted tack looks better than cheap, poor fitting tack no matter how much bling it has on it.

- If bugs are bad, use bugs spray to help with your horse stomping and swishing their tail.

TYPES OF SHOTS:
FULL BODY

Each horse is different so take photos from many angles to ensure you get the best photo
- Desired pictures include: side view of left and right, 3/4 view from the front.
#1. Full side view of horse with the horse perpendicular to camera. Tip: Move one step at a time taking pictures at a slightly different angles at each position.

Correct leg position

Incorrect leg position

- Leg position should be staggered (the near side legs should not hid off side legs) with off side legs closer together and near side legs further apart (near side front ahead of off side and near side rear behind of side)

-Avoid the front leg pointing too much in front of the horse and/or the hind leg from being camped out.

-Pawing, stomping at bugs, cocking a hind foot or swishing tail don't look professional.

- Pay attention to the horses over all position and make sure they don't appear to be leaning forward or backward.
#2 Front 3/4, again, move one step at a time taking pictures at a slightly different angles at each position to see what works best for your horse.
#3 While you're at it, take rear shots rear shots are not required for the website as they don't sell horses on their own but they are handy to have to send to people who ask for them.
HEAD SHOT
1. Shoot from the horse’s eye level and focus on the nearest eye.
2. Halter is preferred to a bridle but either way, make sure to use a quality halter or bridle that fits well. If you send pictures with a bridle on top of a halter, seek counselling immediately.
3. You want an alert and pleasant expression with ears up and eyes open but not startled. (refer back to #5 under BASIC SALE HORSE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS)
- Don't send pictures with lazy ears or ears back in irritation as this will make your horse appear unpleasent. (One ear back with handler in view is ok - it can show engagement with the handler, but it needs to be the ear on the side the handler is on.
4. Head shouldn’t be too much higher than withers, level or lower is better. (more like a reining horse loping head position)
5. Pay attention to how the lead rope or reins hang.
- Have lead rope or reins loose or without tension.
- When using reins, pay attention when horse turns it’s head towards photographer, make sure the off side rein hangs evenly and isn't tight.
- try to avoid having the lead rope or rein against horse’s body or chest, this can be distracting and is a lot of work to edit out.
6. The handler needs to stand in the direction where you want your horse looking.