Equine Head Studies

To motivate myself as a photographer, I decided to enroll in an on-line photography class.
The best part is that it involves my two great loves - Photography and Horses!

I have photographed horses in the past and know many of the challenges involved, so why not learn even more and try to conquer some of these factors.

Our first real assignment began in Week Two.

Equine Head Studies.

Attention to details is especially critical for good headshots! For a standard posed head shot it is very important that the horse is well groomed. (Even the slightest bit of dust and dirt will be obvious in the final photo!)

The classic head shot is one in which the horse is showing a great deal of expression.

To accomplish this, the right "ear" person is a tremendous asset!

Like Murphy's Law, whenever you hold a camera up to a horse - the ears go back.  Not a good look for a horse. 
So, instead of saying 'Cheeeeese'!! - a horse photographer needs to do something out of the ordinary to get the horse to look, pose, and perk those ears!!

It's not unusual to get the suspicious eye, or camera shy horse. 

Others just want to know what is in that feed bucket that keeps shaking in front of his face!

The effects can be quite nice, but if you were to take a video of some of these photo shoots it could also be quite comical.

Handlers walking in circles trying to reposition the horse, an "ear" person running back and forth shaking a bucket filled with tempting grain, and even another helper lunging her pony around to grab the 'models' attention.

Nobody ever said horse people were completely sane.  But, at least we can all understand each other and share in our love of horses.