Horse owners love a gorgeous photo of their horse. Equine photography is not just taking photos of your horse, it is an art. If you are struggling to get that perfect shot of your horse, or just wanting to learn more about equine photography, stick around! I asked award-winning photographer, Kirstie Marie some questions and tips for taking photos of your horse.
Kirstie Marie has had her photography featured on many publications such as COWGIRL Magazine, Young Rider, Western Life, and many more.
Q: How did you start your equine photography journey?
A: “The journey began while I was riding for TCU's equestrian team. My senior year in college I purchased a camera and started practicing by asking my college teammates to model for me with their horses. I had to sell my show horses before I left for school and since then I had longed for imagery that showed our relationship together. I had shown proofs and plenty of pictures of awards we won... but I didn't have portraits that depicted our relationship.
I was in an upper-level marketing class my last semester of college where I started drawing up a business plan and felt like there was a hole in the market that I could fill by offering emotive, story-telling portraits of girls with their horses. I studied finance in college and was working my dream job in investor relations while building up my photography business on the side. Eventually, my photography business grew to the point where I essentially had two full-time jobs and I needed to choose between the two.”
Photo by Kirstie Marie Photography
Q: What advice would you give someone that wants to start their own equine photography business?
A: “This is first and foremost a business, so I suggest studying business and, specifically, your weak points. Owning a photography business is far more about entrepreneurship than it is about being an artist. I spend more of my time on marketing than I do taking pictures. For the success of an equine photography business in general, I would say that profitable pricing structures, a fantastic client experience, and a whole lot of hustle are essential.”
Q: What are some tips you have for capturing breathtaking photos? Lighting, working with the horse, and different poses?
A: Here are a few tips I have:
Always do personal work — work that fuels your soul and recharges your creative energy — to find your distinct style.
I schedule my sessions at "golden hour" right before the sun sets in the evening because I prefer the pastel colors that the soft light produces.
I always have an assistant with me on photoshoots to work with the horses — and try to use the same assistants who know me well and know exactly what I'm looking for. It is the assistant's job to set the horse's feet, get the horse's neck down, and get the horse's ears forward. All my assistants are horsemen and can read the horse's body language to understand when he is stressed or uncomfortable. They know how to motivate the horse to get the look we are trying to achieve!
Pose what is in front of you. Make sure that your posing prompts are flattering for the specific horse and human that you are photographing.
It takes a lot of practice!
Q: Your work is absolutely beautiful. Tell us a bit about your accomplishments and opportunities.
A: “Thank you! I have been extremely blessed over the course of my career. Truth be told, every single person and horse that have come in front of my lens have blessed me tremendously. Creating a portrait is an honor I don't take lightly.
A few of my favorite opportunities have been working with the Compton Cowboys (and having the images published in PEOPLE and Western Horseman magazines), photographing fashion collections for Hobby Horse Clothing Company, being named an NCEA Distinguished Alumni (2018), and COWGIRL Magazine's 30 Under 30 (2020).”
Photo by Kirstie Marie
Q: What is entailed after your photos are captured? What is your editing process and how do you get a perfect final photo?
A: "When I get home from a session, the images go through 2-3 rounds of culling, where a session with 1,600+ images will be reduced to about 300. The remaining images are uploaded to my computer and brought into Adobe Lightroom to begin color corrections. They remain in this stage for 2 rounds of color corrections, where I reduce the gallery further by removing duplicates and selecting my favorites. From there, roughly 120 will be exported and brought into Adobe Photoshop for retouching. I bring the edited images back into Lightroom for final color corrections and covert my favorites to black and white. After this export, they are ready to upload to the client's gallery and delivered both in print and online."
I thank Kirstie for taking the time to give some tips and advice about equine photography. To learn more about Kirstie, you can visit her website here.
Photo by Kirstie Marie
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