Settings for horse shoot

Annette

I might have myself in a mess here. I am supposed to take a portrait of an owner and her horse next week. It will be right after the sun goes down. Could anyone give me some advise as to what I should put my settings on and if I should put it on auto focus or single focus? Are there any certain angles that would make a great horse picture? I would be so thankful for any advice on this shoot. Thank you. :-)

ohyeahar

Wow, this is out of left field. Unless anyone here specifically has experience with photographing horses, you may be better served by just searching on Google for “how to photograph horses”.

Shooting after sun goes down may not be ideal. You probably don’t want to use flash since it may spook the horse. Best is probably on a cloudy day or perhaps during the Golden Hour (right after sunrise or right before sunset).

As with any portrait, keep the eyes in focus. If you have the rider on the horse, you’re going to need to stop down the aperture to increase your depth of field to have both sets of eyes in focus.

I would shoot with a telephoto lens at anywhere between 100-200mm. This for your own safety since it may not be wise to shoot so close to a huge animal which you’d have to if you’re just using the 18-55mm kit lens.

Annette

Thank you! :-)

kravattisolmu

Check the conditions before taking a photo. For example, today go see what kind of settings you need around that time. If using a 100mm I would use at least 200-250 shutter speed. More would be nice because the horse might move her head fast. Too slow of a shutter speed and it will be blurry. S mode could work on this (auto ISO, auto aperture). Take several shots!