Q.
Hi Jack,
I need some help, I am self taught regarding taking horse photos.
Please go to my web site and look at the horses for sale page as
this will let you see what I am trying to accomplish.
I am using a Cannon Rebel 2000 with a 70-200mm F/2.8L USM EF lens,
I am doing ok I guess but I feel like I could get a much better
look to my photographs if I had more light, I have been trying to
learn about flashes and I am totally confused at this point what I
could use that would work with this lenses and camera body.
I would like to accomplish a better look to the hair coats on my
horses, an overall better and brighter look to the photos of my
for sale horses.
I hate to bother you and have put off asking you as I am sure you
are busy but due to looking on your web site I know that you would
know what I would need to do to improve my photos and get a better
overall look to the horses.
Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you.
Penny Cates
A.
Dear Penny,
Thanks for the E-mail.....I looked at your site and was impressed
both by the site and your photographs. In the "Horses for sale"
section, your lighting is generally OK, But, photographically,
you need to remember that horses have FOUR legs. Many of the
photos would be MUCH improved if all four legs of the horse were
visible. Since you breed and sell "western type" horses, check
the pages your national publications, study them carefully and
see how professional photographers manage to have all four legs
visible in their photos.
As far as the photos in your "leased horses" section, they do need
more light. I don't want this to get too complicated, but your
Canon Rebel has a flash synchronization speed of 1/90 of a second.
That means that if you set your camera speed at 1/90th of a second,
a flash unit, like the Canon 420 EX, will cover the entire negative
with fill-flash in addition to the light already on your subject.
Normally, you would be using a faster shutter speed, but I believe
you can safely shoot a standing horse at that shutter speed and not
get any movement if you hold the camera properly. Please, check
your manual...holding a camera properly will allow you to shoot
without movement of the subject at slower shutter speeds. Set
your camera on TV, which is shutter speed priority, and set the
speed at 1/90th. The flash will then fill the subject horse with
the flash highlights you want and incidentally give you a much
greater depth of field then at the faster shutter speeds. You
need to remember, however that the flash will only carry no more
than 30 feet or so.
Also, when shooting western halter horses, make sure that the lens
is BELOW the level of the horse's heart. That will show the horse
to be taller than if the camera were held above that point.
I hope this helps, please let me know.
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