Horse photography beyond the trends

I recently read a long discussion on Reddit where horse people talked about what they want from photographs of their horses. Not horse photographers talking to each other but actual horse people.

And while I know that this is only one point of view, I was a bit surprised about the comments.

Turns out you do not care so much about technical perfection. You don’t all want that black background image, on the contrary, you’ve had somewhat enough of those. What you care about is indeed authenticity.

What you’re actually looking for when you commission portraits with your horse

Personality matters more than perfection

A technically perfect image is not the goal of my horse portraits. What is important is telling the story of your horse and the connection you have with them. The personality of your horse should be evident, whether that is easygoing, or (very) opinionated.

Heavy editing is not necessary

Many photographers go heavy on the editing, resulting in images that stop looking natural.

A black background photo can be done in camera, creating a natural image, simply because the lighting makes sense. When done in Photoshop, it’s often obvious that the lighting on the horse does not match the dark background. The same goes for very dramatic skies that do not match the rest of the background. Or changing the entire background. The edges of the horse often become too clear-cut.

And once the editing becomes too visible, the image stops feeling honest, or yes, authentic.

Movement feels alive

Obviously not all portraits can be active movement. But a simple standing portrait becomes that much more interesting even with the slightest movement added. Like a hand on the nose or neck of the horse, heads looking in different directions, or simply one leg lifted.

I also like to take portraits while you and the horse are walking, or goofing around.

Trends don’t age well on walls

As mentioned before, the black background portraits were very trendy (remember the christmas wreath portraits?!). Static conformation-style portraits are very common as well. I occasionally take those images as well, there is nothing wrong with them. And in some contexts they work perfectly, for example in advertising horse products, or on a breeder website.

But because you see them everywhere, there’s a certain fatigue around these styles. And there’s hardly any personality in them.

How does that relate to my horse photography?

I’m glad you asked ☺️.

Even before I was aware that photographers should do market research before starting a business 🤣🫢, so even before I was aware of what you -as a client- are looking for, I based my horse photography on values that embody all this.

I have said this so many times, and I truly mean it: I want to give you images that show the connection between you and your horse. And not some “trendy”, bland images.

Let me know if you have any questions!