I usually don't go for blocked up shadows, but these appeal to me for some reason.

They are from my first try at horses.









I don't care for the framing on the last one, but the owner sat right with me and showed me the crop she wanted.

I'm not sure shooting them on an artificial background would have been my first choice either, but we were experimenting.

I think the headshots look fine, I would not use the blue though. It is not a complimentary color

Yeah, you're right. I should replace it with something more earthy like with the Greyhound a while back.

Here are a couple reworked versions of one of them. I did several and presented them to the client. I really likd the gold, she prefers the blue -- go figure

I am just not a huge fan of the PS backgrounds. I do like the gold one the best though

I'm definitely looking for some more "real" backgrounds to add to my selection.

The red one is a real BG, but the horse is pasted onto it.

What about using what you have at the farm? It is fairly rare that horses are shot on backgrounds

Sure, I'm all for the natural backdrop, but we were just sort of experimenting here. She wants me to go out an watch them in the pasture to get some action shots while they run, play, etc. Those will be fun.

I'd love to find a custom location on the property for several of her dogs & other animals. Lots of opportunity there.

Just a though Jim, why not take an image of natural background, maybe a farm setting with a barn or a fantastic wheat field blowing then add some nice Gaussian blur and use that? I think the shots of the horses are nice but I think horses need to look like they are in a natural setting vs in a studio.

Good idea Bob.

Scouting for "real picture backdrops" is definitely on my to do list.