I not only took photo's of these very cute foals that I think most of the horse girls would like to cuddle and watch all day, I also did some sales shoots. The content of these shoots depend on what the client want, the horse and its potentials. In this blog I will show and tell you some different sales shoots and why I did it this way, watch and learn!
As I probably have said earlier in one of my former blogs Haras du Coussoul is a Lusitano and Lusitano crossbreed studfarm, aiming to produce high leveled dressage horses. The biggest part of there horses are Pure Lusitano's (Puro Sangue Lusitano), they have at this moment 2 German breeding mares and are breeding 1-2 crossbreeds per year, this can also include breeding a Lusitano mare with a KWPN stallion, an example of this is Farah Jazz du Coussoul, a beautiful mare from Olivi (from Jazz) and Quiara du Coussoul.
As you can see this photo is taken as a movement photo, with these photo's you basically don't have to take too much stunts out of the closet. The essence is to show the potential buyer what kind of movements the horse has in its potential. This concludes in how does it use the hindquarters, does he have suppleness, does he have a foreleg, uphill or downhill? If you take a photo at the right moment you can show this to the potential client.
The art of photographing a dressage horse in trot is taking the photo when the hindquarters are most active!
Photographing the galop of the horse is a bit alike. You always want to photograph of the horse when its inside hindquarter is as far as possible under the body.
As seen on the photo on the left Eole reaches high and far under his body, this highlights its movements and potentials.
With a horse that moves more casual horse you make the photograph just before the inside hindquarter touches the ground.
*** This is not a photo taken at the Haras du Coussoul.
The walk.. The walk is the four beat pace of the horse, which is probably the hardest gait to photograph. The best moment to photograph this gait is when the forelimb is suspended and is reaching forward, all the legs should be clearly seen. Dressage is a flattering discipline, other paces of this gait can make it look like the horse has 3 legs, which does not look flattering.
Following by that we also have the head shots,
actually very logically they show the potential client how the head and neckline look like(depends also on the photo). For example there are clients who love the traditional Lusitano convex head, but there are also people who do not love it at all, with a head photo it is more clear of how the head looks like, and if you have a very photogenetic horse or you are able to capture the horse in a great way it can make the potential client fall in love with the horse on the photo and their following step is probably making an appointment to see the horse in real life.
Good luck photographing dressage horses, if you didn't knew this already these tips will definitely help you make better photo's!!
“Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.”
XOXO Lisa
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