Back in September I met up with Ellie and her horse Hallie for what turned out to be pretty close to the ultimate equine sunset photo shoot.
It really was the perfect example of what can be achieved if the lay of the land is right and the weather plays ball.
Ellie’s mum, Joanne, had booked an equine photo shoot with me as a surprise for Ellie’s 30th birthday.
Hallie lives at a yard a few hundred metres over the Cambridgeshire side of the border with Northamptonshire. Unfortunately, he’s carrying a long-term injury at present, so sitting on was as physical as we were going to be able to get. That being the case, my mind was immediately drawn to maximising what we could get of Ellie & Hallie together.
Hallie enjoys a nose rub at the start of our equine photo shoot
Equine Sunset Photo Shoot Groundwork
As is the case whenever I get an enquiry, the first thing I do is to check out as much of the location as I can on Google Maps and Street View. It can help massively to form a picture of what’s going to be achievable at a given location. In this instance it wasn’t hugely helpful on its own. The yard is set quite a way down a private track, which Street View obviously didn’t have coverage for.
I always try to avoid getting my subjects staring at the sun, as it usually just makes everybody squint really badly, but Ellie & Hallie were absolute stars!
What I could see, though, was that the track itself appeared to have several rises and falls and was tree-lined. I immediately had visions in my head of shooting Ellie & Hallie together somewhere close to one of the rises, over distance, from a low-angled perspective.
I also pulled up a topographical map of the site to help judge the prospects for a sunset photo shoot. Using another tool at my disposal, I checked the sunset time and precisely where the sun would disappear. By marrying this up with the topographical map, I could be fairly sure that there would be no reason why a sunset shot couldn’t be achieved – assuming the weather co-operated, and we could get access to the west-side of the site, of course.
Equine Sunset Photo Shoot Yes / No Decision
Ellie was sooooo excited when she found out about her birthday present. We touched base the day before the first of the three potential dates Ellie was available. The forecast looked OK, but the following day looked more solid. With Ellie’s agreement, we decided to go for the second date, which was definitely the right decision as it transpired.
The Photo Shoot Itself
It had been a lovely day and was still extremely warm when I arrived at the yard. Ellie was already in her dress and was making the finishing touches to her horse. Her farrier had even engraved “HAL” into Hallie’s fore shoes.
Hallie had the first three letters of his name engraved into his shoes for the occasion
The Groundwork Pays Off – The Track
The track from the main road was pretty much how I expected, except gaps in the trees were few and far between, and, with the sun off to one side of the track, it meant we needed to head in the opposite direction to find some light but find it we did. It’s a location that I think would be awesome for another equine photo shoot with the sun straight down the track.
Shot on a long lens, the track and the avenue of trees running either side of it produced almost exactly the image I had in my mind’s eye when first planning this equine photo shoot
Really strong backlighting combined with a very shallow depth of field produced quite an interesting effect on this shot
The West Side
Ellie changed from her dress into some more conventional riding gear, and we headed out to the west side of the yard – the direction we’d be concentrating on for the rest of the photo shoot. The sun was just starting to sink a bit lower in the sky, but we still had almost an hour to play with before sunset proper.
I love how the backlighting really highlights Hallie’s whiskers in this pre-sunset shot
The light was absolutely gorgeous, and we filled our boots with all sorts of poses, both mounted and dismounted.
Ellie gives Hallie some well-deserved fuss
The Equine Sunset Photo Shoot
It was time for me to go and grab my portable studio lights from the car. I absolutely love using them as the sun sets. They give you the ability to pull out some really different colours from the sky, and it’s an effect that looks really cool, too.
My portable studio lights really make the colours pop in the sky
The sunset itself wasn’t quite as good as it might have been, in truth. There was a band of haze right on the horizon, and it sapped much of the colour from the scene. The tones were still nice, but the sky just wasn’t that dramatic.
A band of haze on the horizon meant the sunset wasn’t as impressive as it otherwise might have been
Equine Silhouettes – Blue Hour
It’s not all about the lights, though. The other great thing about sunset is turning the lights off altogether and under-exposing the image to create a silhouette. It’s a method that also produces some amazing colours – often very different from those the studio lights find.
Sunset equine shoots can provide the most amazing results, if the lay of the land is right
Hallie dips his head for some fuss during our sunset equine photo shoot
We ended up calling it a day about 30 minutes after the sun had officially disappeared. By then the sky was pretty black, and the lights were back in action, creating some more images with another different look.
My portable studio lights allow for some very different photos of you and your horse once the sun has disappeared
The Results – A Resounding Success
Our 2-hour session probably ended up being closer to three, in all honesty, but sometimes you just have to stop looking at the clock and go with it. Too many times I’ve given up on a sunset at the point the sun has disappeared, only to have been left kicking myself on the journey home when I’ve seen what it’s turned into.
It had been a thoroughly enjoyable equine photo shoot. Even if I do say so myself, I was really pleased with the pictures that came out of it. Ellie & Hallie were both amazing throughout, too!
Time to call it a day
Book your own equine photo Shoot
If you’d like to arrange a session to get some pictures of you and your own horse, please check out this page containing details of my equine photography packages.
Thanks for reading!
Karl
