10 Tips For Improving Your Equine Photography - 1

Ever wanted to get better photos of your horse? When I first started out with photography, landscape and nature was what interested me the most. It took some time before I started photographing horses, but when I did – there was no doubt that this would become my niche :) After doing it since 2013 I thought I'd gather some of my experiences in a list of tips for you guys! This blog will be concisting of two pieces: the first 5 tips will be focused on how you can become a better photographer, and the last 5 will focus more on how to actually use your camera and a little bit on working with the photos afterhand. I hope you find some of this useful, and don't hestitate to ask questions in the comment field below if you have any. I will answer every question as best I can!

1. Get blogging! When I got my first DSLR camera, I started a blog. At first it was just for myself, but after a little while I published it and got some feedback on my photos. You really have to be prepared for the negative aswell as the positive. No matter how great you become as a photographer there will always be someone there to find something to complain about. Sometimes it's legit, and sometimes it's not. Don't let it get you down :) Also, a blog is very nice to have when you want to see if you are improving or not, by looking back at your photos. 2. Join a community There are a lot of great websites where you can create an account and publish your photos for free. The very first community I joined was DeviantArt. The members are overall very friendly, kind and last but not least encouraging! Encouragement is very important at the beginning when you are learning how to work your camera – because most people are not very good when they first start out. So have patience and give it time :) Other good sites to join is 500px.com and Flickr. 3. Do it again and again! Set up a shoot, at a location with something that you can recreate at a later time. At least twice a year I went to a beatiful place in Vestfold, Norway called “Mølen”. I have for the past 4 years photographed every season at this place, and the difference between each time is stunning. It's easy to see the improvement, and it helps me to understand what I did wrong the previous time. It's a real booster to see that you can master the conditions better and better, and if you don't get exactly what you wanted it will be a motivator to do it again :)

The first portrait of Annie & Kylie from May '14 (above).

And the second one is from December '14 (below).

4. Photo Critique There are a lot of great photo critique groups on Facebook. They are usually categorized between amateur and professional photographers, so pick the one matching your level. People tend to keep it light and stick to the compliments, so make sure you ask for some serious CC (contructive critisism) every now and then. 5. Other photographers Whether it's someone you know, or someone you look up to – use others that have knowledge and experience to learn. The best way is if it's someone you know, then you can (if you ask nicely) come with them on a photoshoot or maybe just have a nice chat about photography and get some helpful insight on how to proceed. Check out if your favorite photographers have articles or tutorials you can learn from :)

This was the very first (out of 2) part of this blog! Check back later this week to read the rest of it, and hopefully learn more about manual settings, photoshoot setups and retoching! Thank you so much for reading my blog – I hope you liked it :) Now – go ahead and fire away your questions!