Monday, December 5, 2011

Learning About Equine Photography

I spent some time this fall taking an online photography class.  It is a fine art photography class and the emphasis is on capturing the essence of the horse.  I heard about the class from a good friend who is a much better photographer than I am.  She encouraged me to give it a shot and I am really glad I did.  I’ve owned a Canon Rebel XTI for about 3 years, but I was lost when it came to taking pictures off auto mode.  With this class I would be required to get off auto. 

I was pretty nervous in the beginning.  I was worried I wouldn’t understand the assignments or even how to upload them.  I am definitely not a techie.  However, the emphasis here wasn’t going to be about the technical aspects as much as it was going to be about beginning to define our own vision regarding the essence of the horse. 

All that was needed for the class was a DLSR camera and some version of Photoshop.  I bought PS  Elements 9 from Amazon and I was set to go.

I didn’t turn out to be the star of the class.  I also wasn’t a total bust.  I didn’t get a photo that I thought worthy of printing and framing as fine art, but I did get an idea of where to begin my photography education which I intend to follow up on.  I am planning to take some of those technical classes to help me better understand the capabilities of my camera.  I’m also planning to take some classes in photo shop.  I’ve developed a better understanding of what fine art photography is.  The class was well worth the money and the time I’ve spent on it.

Although the actual goal of using photo shop was to take a good photo and then enhance it with photo shop techniques, I did learn how to make an interesting sort of photo out of what most would consider a real dud.  Here are a few examples. 



The website for the class is www.learntotakephotos.com  





5 comments:

  1. Thank you for that link. It sounds very interesting and I am going to look into it! I like your photos.

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  2. Good information.

    A digital SLR camera isn't on my list from Santa, but I did go back to the booklet for my Canon PowerShot SX 10is (already outdated by 2-3 new versions). I am not using all the available features and need to experiment with them. But I find when I go to shows to capture the action things happen so quickly I just go to the sports setting. I'm happy if I can snap the picture mid-bascule over an oxer.

    I love your salvaged "dud" photos. I do want to master the ISO settings to capture action shots at the State Fairgrounds or DevonWood. But I've found creative cropping can result in an arty shot instead of a rider missing a head!

    Can't wait to see more of your photographs.

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  3. I love the middle photo ....and what a cool thing to take part in. Sounds like a challenge- but a good one!

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  4. Would love to do something like this...but I am already spread so thin, Glad you feel good about your experience :)))

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  5. There's nothing more fun than taking a dud and making it a star (I do it all the time:). You did a wonderful job, I really like the middle one.

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