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Ponies. The love of my life. I was honoured to be asked to come photograph some absolutely beautiful horses recently under studio lighting and I figured why not set a camera up to capture the antics on the off chance that it may be useful. After posting one of the images to Instagram, it was clear straight away that you wanted to see this footage. And so here we are…

Now, let me preface this by saying this was a real client shoot, I’m at work, things do not always go perfectly to plan but we do the best we can to do the job for the client. In this case, the job was certainly done. The video complete with VoiceOver and a whole host of tips can be found here, but I’ll summarise the tips below:

Top tips for equine photography in studio:

  1. Safety first – ALWAYS have an escape route planned into the set so that the horses can move out safely and quickly if they get worried
  2. Following on from point 1 – desensitise horses to the set, the strobes, the flash pops and the backdrop BEFORE you bring them into the set
  3. Always weight your stands and barricade them if possible – anchor and secure anything flappy too!
  4. Where possible, firmly secure a wide backdrop (6m is good!) to a wall for an easier and quicker editing experience
  5. Learn conformation and use the knowledge to get the best out of every animal you photograph
  6. Always make the effort to check and change things on the spot if the final image will be improved
  7. Alter positions and tack for variety in the final gallery

Other than those, just apply the principles from the past equine photography videos and you’ll be good to go!

Here’s a few shots from the shoot: