Hairy Cob

Hairy Cob, originally uploaded by The Puddock.

Over the last year or so, due to owning our own horse, I have become quite experienced in taking equine and equestrian portraits. These tend to be much harder to achieve than other animal based portraits.

Firstly it is rarely that flash or even simple reflectors are able to be used, as these spook the horses and thereby ends the photosession. This means that you are entirely reliant on natural lighting and in getting the horses position in relation to the light just right. There are some days that lend themselves perfectly to this, and some days it is much, much harder.

Secondly horses are large animals and can tend to look awkward or unnatural unless the whole of the animal is shown, however being domesticated and used to human companionship getting them to stay at a reasonable distance can be pretty tricky.
For most horse portraits I tend to use a 75-300mm f2.8 lens, which enables a wide aperture to be used to render the background out of focus.