Dressage and CC

A few from yesterday, we're finally getting some sunny weather!

Beautiful shots! That fourth photo is absolutely stunning! What sort of lens did you use? I am going to be shooting at a dressage show later this summer and am looking forward to it.

Hey Dee Dee,

Very well done, indeed. Great shots! I like them all, though I think I find the one with the black background to be my favorite. I also like the side profile of the horse all lathered up (#2).

James

Thanks James and Ingrid
These were all shot with the MKII and 300 2.8 lens I brought it to try it out for the first time on the new tripod and ballhead...but some of the knobs all froze up on me, boy it's easy to do that! So these were hand held, very heavy. I also had my 20D and 70-200 2.8 lens with me (love to hand hold that and like the versatility of the zoom but the 300 2.8 is hard to beat for sharpness). But the ones posted here are with the 300 2.8. It was hard to get used to a fixed focal length but now I kind of like it becuase it forces you to do some crops you wouldn't have thought to do. The top one for instance was not cropped further, I wish I had not cut off the horses hooves but I couldn't move back any farther.

I noticed the "official" photographer there (they already had one durn it so I was just there to practice) was using a 70-300 I believe. (canon). Good luck on the dressage shoot Ingrid! I hope we'll get to see some of your shots. Nice thing about dressage and cross country is you can get really close to the action, I kept moving from jump to jump to get different jump shots but you can usually walk right up pretty close.

Very sharp crisp images, I can almost touch the wetness of their coats.

The one critique I have is to make sure you get all the feet in the jumping shots, You are missing the hooves in the first shot. I would have actually liked to have seen the jump also to give it perspective.

As a rider, the behind the verticle shots drive me nuts. Gorgeous shots of the muscling, foam, and detail, but, it really highlights what you are not looking for in a dressage horse. Not atypical of eventing dressage though. Most eventers due the dressage only so they can jump!

If you are looking to sell, there are specific things people will buy. Technically, you nailed them. Can't fault you a hair on any of that stuff.

Just like dog show formals, people are looking for something very specific and won't $$$ if it isn't that.

"As a rider, the behind the verticle shots drive me nuts. Gorgeous shots of the muscling, foam, and detail, but, it really highlights what you are not looking for in a dressage horse. Not atypical of eventing dressage though. Most eventers due the dressage only so they can jump!

If you are looking to sell, there are specific things people will buy. Technically, you nailed them. Can't fault you a hair on any of that stuff. "

Hey Julie,

Thanks for the insights. So, if you were shooting this for a $$ perspective, how would you have gone about it?

James

The first shot I would have pulled out a bit. To get the hooves and some of the jump. Other than that, the timing is great.

Eventing dressage is really hard. You have these super fit, hot horses that usually don't find dressage their favorite thing. event riders are bold, brave and love to jump.

Dressage horses should never look like they their heads are being constricted, which all of these do. I personally would not display this as a photo of my riding. Event riders know they don't do (for the most part) classical dressage, but, not sure they would prove it with photos.

I don't know how you can shoot this differently, as this horse in particular may have had a heavy handed rider or just been about to explode and she was riding defensively. I do want to take and loosen that flash noseband though.

I have never shot a 3 day event, but, my guess is the majority of sales are off of the jumping phases. I might try and do more shots of the extended trot when the horse will be naturally going forward and lengthening its neck/body.

Artistically, 2 and 3 are beautiful.Dressage wise incorrect though. 4 just looks painful. Granted, they are just moments in time and the test as a whole might have been lovely. He is a beautiful horse and I am certain the girl is a lovely rider.

Dee Dee, smack me if this is too critical. You are a wonderful photographer and your exposure, sharpness, color ect; are perfect. I just know what I would buy and would not. I know how bad I ride and I don't want to prove it

Hey Julie,

That was an awesome response. Thank you very much. I learned a lot from your post. While I am not normally into the equines as part of my business, you just gave a lot of helpful info.

James

Thanks for that Julie, of course you are not being too critical! I love getting input like this. I agree with the first shot, I was using a prime lens and sitting on the ground, turned and just barely got this one, I too would have liked to have included the hooves and a bit more of the jump. I have been staying close in with this lens a lot hoping to get unusual crops, I am kind of going for a more intimate, artsy style rather than the traditional full body poses all the time, but I imagine those are more of what people will want to buy...?

I am going to go shoot (for practice) at some dressage events that are much higher quality than this, this was a smaller schooling event. Glad you pointed out about the horse being behind the vertical, I should have noticed that but got caught up in the photographic moment!

All very helpful comments, please always feel free to critique away!! Thanks!

Definitely shoot the FEI level riders. Most will enable you to get very correct artsy photos. Eventing dressage is a whole other world. Riding one of those horses is like riding a stick of dynamite.

The dressage only horses, especially at 4th level and above will generally be big, muscular, powerful moving horses. The piaffe and passage can be made into beautiful fine art prints. There isn't much more beautiful than a horse going well at FEI. It takes my breath away.

If you are shooting for yourself, I think doing so in a manner that pleases you (and will please 99% of the population that doesn't ride!) is fine. If you are shooting to sell, than you aim for what riders want. They want to see their horse at the perfect point in stride( driving from behind with the front at max extension) or at the apex of the jump.

A 3/4 view of a jump will give the best effect and even more so in portrait orientation. Watch your backgrounds and try to get ears and feet in. Sometimes you can work around it, but that is the goal.

Riders want to see themselves as riding well. I would tend to think that dressage sales would be lower than hunter/jumpers. You have to get almost the perfect shot for a DQ(dressage queen) to want to purchase it. All the H/J people want is good photos of their kids. As a buyer, I bought up 6 photos and I had one child in one class. I even purchased a picture of my son being led on a friends horse.

I have a two day horse show to do this weekend and I am sweating bullets. I hope I can physically hold up to 12+ hours straight for 2 days. It will be a challenge at least. Losing 10lbs wouldn't hurt me

"I have a two day horse show to do this weekend and I am sweating bullets. I hope I can physically hold up to 12+ hours straight for 2 days. It will be a challenge at least. Losing 10lbs wouldn't hurt me "

Good luck, Julie. Do you also work the shows you are at?

James

I haven't shown my horse in years. She is sitting around getting fat. I am trying to lease her out for awhile, as I just have lost my drive to ride. Ironic as I finally have a fancy, competitive horse and I no longer want to ride.

So, it will just be photographing and I have two friends coming to help me with showing proofs on the laptop.

Stunning images! I particularly like the third image. The rider being just kissed with some light so that she fades, allows the viewer to connect this the horse. Lovely!
This one stopped me by your title since my geldings name is CC.

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... Glad you pointed out about the horse being behind the vertical, ...

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DeeDee I thought of this thread when I was looking at magazines the other day, and the thread today on showjumper closeups reminded me. The cover on a Dressage magazine this month is a very close closeup of a horse's lower face: no eyes or ears, just the lower cheek, nostrils, lips, wearing - yes - a dropped noseband! And not looking truly comfortable. Just underlining that there are no rights and wrongs, only the end-user's perception of what is wanted. I'm going to start putting a few of my "reject" shots into competitions and see how composition/lighting/focus stack with the judges opinion against what would be an animal's non-winning attitude from the rider's or dog-owner's perspective. (Camera Club-level comps, not the Nationals (yet)).