Horse Photography Workshop

I recently had a very rare and exciting opportunity to receive photography training from a new friend of mine, Bev Pettit, who is a renowned Equine Photographer. Her work is featured in galleries, magazines and books all over the US. She was very gracious to offer her instruction to a group of us "girls" that treasure her work and knowledge and want to tap into what she sees when she is behind the lens.  [ I had a lot of catching up to do to get up to speed with the other girls in our group so she trained me one-on-one.] She came to our ranch probably thinking she would only be working with me for an hour. But I think it ended up being an all-day event.


This is how it went... 

We used 3 horses, 1 cowboy as a model, and A LOT of different locations around the ranch to catch the light.

I shot the pictures with my Canon 7D and a 70-200mm lens.

We worked on head shots, scene set-ups, action and panning and what settings work best for those type of shots.

This is an old metal barn on the ranch that I have always wanted to shoot some pictures but never had a horse with me when I had my camera.

Bev showed me how to take the shot in full sun and still capture the details important to making it a great shot.

I did the editing in Photoshop CS5.

This is one captured the sunlight on his mane nicely.

This one is great to me because it sets a mood.

Faithful horse waiting for his cowboy.

This was taken in mostly full shade, ISO 200, Shutter Priority mode.

Eddie and Fancy were great models! 

We did a lesson on action and panning, I still need A LOT of work on those two.  What I did learn is that getting great action shots requires the right settings on your camera, a steady hand and a lot of practice!

Cowboy scene with shade.

This is taken on Shutter Priority mode with ISO set at 200.

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of our day, I took 500+ pictures and learned more than I thought I could in one day! I'm forever grateful to Bev for the training and techniques she taught and can't wait til "the girls" all get together  for another fun shoot.

Go check out Bev's photography website! She is an amazing photographer.