Icelandic Horses Tolting across the Kentucky Horse Park Arena

Perfectionist

If you know me from my miniatures work, the fact that I state that I'm a perfectionist isn't new or a surprise. The hard part about this is that I mercilessly beat myself up over not having watched my background or if I miss a shot or if a shot is out of focus etc. I do have photoshop elements 5 but I don't know how to swap out backgrounds.

I finally got over myself enough to go back through some of my photos from Breyerfest that were taken in the indoor arena. Although I rented the Canon f2.8 70-200mm (non IS) lens, I didn't get the shots I was hoping for or expected. There just is not a way to get a good shot in the Kentucky Horse Park arena (that I know of, but I'm still a newbie with digital SLR photography) without extra lighting. A flash is wasted in the stands though because it doesn't go far enough, and there is an unwritten (or in some cases written) rule about no flash photography in the first six rows of the stands of a horse show.

I expect entirely too much of myself, ALL of the time. In some ways this helps me tremendously and in some ways it hinders me. I am always searching for a balance.

Anyway, I reconsidered some of the breyerfest photos that were taken in the ring, especially of the Icelandic horses. Those suckers can "tolt" like nobody's business and the pretty girls on them made for nice pictures.

After renting the lens above, I bought one. WITH the IS and USM though because that danged lens is VERY heavy. I've had it a day and I am already eager to go try it out wherever I can! I don't know anyone with horses here in Louisville though so I'm taking a lot of pictures of my son and my cats! ha!

Been Working Hard..

I've been trying to mentally work out how I was going to build a website where I could do ecommerce and print ordering. I've been reading some on how to customize my current website www.abounaderphoto.com but there just not enough hours in the day for me to be able to figure it all out. Because a lot of folks on the equine photographers board use www.smugmug.com, I decided to give it a try. It's only been three days but so far I like it A LOT! http://abounaderphoto.smugmug.com/ Many more images to come but I have to tweak them all first. This is going to take a few weeks so please keep checking back!

I realize now though that I'm going to have to tweak a bunch of high resolution images but I think that the intial work will be worth it in the long run. I'm so hoping that this move will help me generate some sales of my photos!!

I don't think I'll be able to photo any horses this week but that is for the best I think... I have enough images to play with for now.

Next weekend is the Shelbyville Horse Show so I'm hoping I'll be able to get a few images for my portfolio then!

I have to confess, I'm weak. I loved that Canon f2.8 lens so much that I bought one..hehehe The decision was pushed somewhat by the fact that I had to send my fast 75-300mm zoom back into canon for repair which means I'm stuck with my slower zoom now. I will definitely need a faster zoom for any of the horse shows coming up..

The above images were taken yesterday while I was playin around with my camera. There was a bird outside of the office window that was protecting it's territory and driving the kitties crazy because it was flying from one window to another. I got lucky in that it landed on a decoration I have in the landscaping out front so I snapped a photo of that sassy bird!

The other picture is of a spiderweb. While I don't care much for spiders, I think that spider webs are wonderful! This particular web was on our paperbox. I used a mirror to shine light on the web so that I could focus on it and get the picture.

*yawn*

I should be in bed. Mr boy gets up promptly at 5:40am and I am always dragging my butt out of bed.. I couldn't resist posting more breyerfest photos though. I'm really fond of the photos of Unraneo the bay andalusian. I should've taken a lot more. I also should've been more aware of Alborozo and taken more photos of him but I missed that opportunity unfortunately.

I like the freedom of the woman on the white horse while he is galloping out of the ring.. I like that she has no shoes on..hehehe

My teacher in my Equine Photography course really liked the photos that I put up this week and her words gave me such a mental boost! I really needed it about now...

a Few more photos..

I'm still working on Saturday's photos but here are a few I'm particularly proud of..

Breyerfest photos For Sale!

Hi Folks!

YES The Breyerfest photos are for sale. I don't normally do that but since I took my class and there is no conflict with the official photographer I'm going to go ahead and sell them. I'm still working on a bunch from Saturday but I have all of the Good Alborozo Photos up as well as all of friday's photos tweaked. Unfortunately my main website is having issues so I've uploaded everything to Flickr.

Alborozo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/desertnightcreations/sets/72157606297295629/

The Rest of the horses : http://www.flickr.com/photos/desertnightcreations/sets/72157606301137814/

My prices are very reasonable because I'm building a client base and a portfolio. Please contact me for rates and photo sizes. heather@abounaderphoto.com To show me which photo you like just provide me a link to the photo so that we're on the same page.

Breyerfest 2008

This past weekend was the weekend for Breyerfest 2008 at the Kentucky Horse Park. For those folks that don't know what that is, it is a Celebration put on by the Breyer Model Horse company of model horses, and real horses. It's also "model horse mecca" for anyone that collects model horses. I had a great time and it was good to see old friends.

I rented a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens so that I could try for some decent pictures in the Kentucky Horse Park Arena. Unfortunately the place where I rented the lens didn't hear me say that I wanted the Image Stabilization Version of the lens so I got the one without. Needless to say, that was challenging to shoot with. It'll probably take me a few days to go through all of my pictures but here are a couple that I've already "tweaked".

One is of the Celebration horse, Alborozo. Alborozo is a Grey Andalusian and is also trained in Haute Ecole. He can do the Capriole and a few other very impressive maneuvers!

The second horse (the bay)is also an Andalusian and I believe is owned by the same ranch that owns Alborozo. Unfortunately I didn't get his name.

Both looked glorious on Friday morning in the Sunlight so I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures.

Sometimes Good things happen when one isn't trying...

I know that Yesterday I said I was giving up photographing hummingbirds until I had a better lens... well.. like I also said yesterday, I'm a "tad" stubborn. Today I got the best photos yet of the female hummingbird! I'm fairly pleased but I'm going to try a faster shutter speed this afternoon.. not because I want to stop the wings but because I want a good clear picture of her.. but we'll see...

The flower that I've posted is one of our flowers in the same flowerbed as my beloved day lilies. I think this flower is beautiful too but the japanese beetles and the ants seem to like it as much as I do. I have to photograph these as soon as they bloom because if I don't, the bugs will eat them.

I've been surfing the net for more daylilies to plant. So far I like Black Ambrosia really well and some others with different colors. I have no idea where I'm going to plant them but I want them anyway.

This weekend I will be at "Breyerfest" at the Kentucky Horse Park. I intend to get a lot of photos of horses this weekend! I can't wait!

ok.. I give..

Normally my big stubborn butt doesn't give in very easily. Normally I'm tenacious to a fault and stubborn about banging my head against something creative until I figure it out. This time, though, I just don't have the right equipment. Today I was shooting pictures again of those beautiful hummingbirds and I had a terrific vantage point and opportunity. But my lens just isn't clear enough. I'm definitely going to have to get a Prime lens if I want to take crisp, clear pictures of birds, dragonflies and whatever else tiny I find in my viewfinder.

Canon has two 300mm IS US lenses. One with an f stop down to 2.8 and one with a f4-5.6 range. The one that goes to 2.8 is $4,000. The one with the f4-5.6 is about $1200. I'm going to have to start selling more photos if I'm ever going to have the kind of moola it takes to get those lenses! ha!

monday

I've still been trying to get some better pictures of that danged hummingbird! Actually, we have a ton of birds in our yard because we have a small patch of trees in the back yard. Everything from Herons to Bluebirds fly around.

My canon IS 70-300mm zoom is still soft at 300mm so I never get decent pictures of the birds. I got an "ok" one this morning though.. a lovely male eastern bluebird sitting on our garage roof. We have several breeding pairs of bluebirds and the males are always feuding about something! Makes for good photo ops though.. and yes, I know, I need a 300mm prime lens and canon makes a couple of nice ones (and expensive!) ;-)

We have a screened in back porch that the cats go out onto to "hunt" birds. I should spend more time just sitting out there waiting for the birds to land on the deck railing..

Hummingbirds

I've heard a lot of folks say that Horses are very hard to photograph. I agree that there is a degree of difficulty in photographing them, but I'm telling you that Hummingbirds make Photographing horses look like a piece of cake!!

We have a pair of ruby throated hummingbirds that love our "black salvia" bush. We didn't know until after we bought the flowers that it was a hummingbird "Draw". Last year we only saw the hummingbirds as they flew away so we had no idea what kind they were.

This year, we're staking out the window in our laundry room which looks out over the bush. I have the 300 mm zoom lens with the Image Stabilization on the camera and it hasn't helped us capture a good image of them. Either the image is over exposed, or blurry or under exposed. It's difficult to set a camera for lighting conditions for the OTHER side of the window. This is the best we've (me) gotten so far..

I've looked up online how folks get good photos of Hummingbirds and it seems to involve several flashes and prime lenses...

New Lens and New Watermark

I bought a new lens recently. It is a Canon zoom lens with image stablization. It is really heavy compared to my other lenses. Thank goodness it has image stabilization because I can barely hold it still!

I've become aware that folks may be snagging my images from my flickr, webshots, website and my blog. Because of this I'm going to have to go with a more aggressive watermark. I hate that I have to do it but I need to protect my copyrights. I've also removed most of my photos from Flickr and webshots. I am working on getting the photos watermarked on my website.

I found out yesterday that two more of my photos have become editors choice on betterphoto.com! This is pretty exciting! Unfortunately, as of July 1 they have done away with entries into their contests by free members. Paid membership is $45 and that is money that I currently need. At least I have the three photos entered for June's contest. hopefully they'll place!

Tired today..

I'm a little tired today for some reason. I think it's the heat! I'll post another photo from the photo shoot on sunday that I enjoyed so much! I already have business cards but I really should put THIS Image on there instead.

I did shoot some Dragonflies with my new canon Zoom lens that has image stabilization. (BLESS YOU MARIO!) The handheld shots were still a bit blurry but there was a lot more detail in the wings than my old lens. I can't wait to try this thing out on an equine photo shoot!

For some interesting reading on who's allowed to shoot photos at Horse Shows you can read trot.org or this Chronicle of the Horse thread.

I won't say which side I'm on, but I will say that everyone has the right to make a living and there has to be a compromise somewhere in those threads that makes sense.

I'm looking for more horses to take photos of, so if you live close to me, tell your friends with horses!

Betsy's Horse Playboy

Last night I had the privledge of photographing "Playboy" an arabian owned by a friend. He was very photogenic and very sweet. I learned how to photograph a horse at liberty and how to time my shots with his stride in order to get the right photo at the right time. He was a joy to photograph and I think I'm improving!

Success!.. Well Almost..

Last night, my neighborhood clubhouse did indeed set off fireworks! YAY! It was a bittersweet time though because I was so worried that the fireworks would wake our baby! Happily he sleeps like his dad and slept through everything.

There are trees between us and the Clubhouse so a lot of the fireworks bursts were slightly in front of the trees. I think it makes for an interesting photo of a shillouette of the tree but I'm sure other people will say "man, that would be a nice picture if the tree wasn't in the way". So I'll leave those on my hard drive and share the few bursts that did clear the trees.

I have to give credit where credit is due. Jeff Roush sent me the "formula" for getting the fireworks photos. You can find his website here: Jeff Roush Online

This morning it is very foggy. I wish that I could go drive the country side and look for horses to photo in the fog but I don't want to wake the whole house to leave. (I'd have to wake hubby to have him watch munchkin)

And yes, I took more pictures of my daylilies this morning...

I am going to a friends this evening to photograph her and her arabian. It's for my class. We are photographing action this week. Horses at the Trot, canter and at liberty. I'm hoping he gets all "Arab-y" for me so that I can get some nice pictures.

"even the best laid plans......"

Last night, the clubhouse in our neighborhood did not shoot off fireworks. Everyone else did but it was pouring. My camera isn't waterproof so I just played around with the settings, shooting images of the houses in the streetlights. I wasn't using my tripod so everything turned out blurry but I did get some interesting photos - if they were in focus. I'll have to give that another shot in the snow or at some other time.

On his way to the store, my husband stopped by the clubhouse and found out that they will be shooting off fireworks tonight, (well hopefully) so I have another shot. Our back yard has some "rough" inbetween us, the creek and the golf course and the clubhouse. I hope that the trees aren't too overgrown for some good shots of fireworks.



I was complaining to a couple of people about my lack of focus once I get around horses. I guess that everyone has their "inner child" and mine tends to take over. I didn't have any horses growing up (I'm a SOLID suburban kid) so I am still in awe when I see one.



I'm actually not one known for "being in the moment". I tend to plan things out most of the time. (For instance, I plan my birthday almost hour by hour so that I can get the most out of it.) At my last shoot, I at least kept my class objectives in mind(too literally) but I forgot a couple of settings on my camera. I Forgot to change my ISO and I really should've shot in AV mode instead of Manual. I just don't trust that my shutter speed will be high enough when a horse unexpectedly takes off and does something fun. I also have to remember to keep looking at the scene from a perspective of "is this a good photograph" instead of just enjoying being around horses. I got two pictures in some really great light and if I had been alert enough, there would have been a lot more.



I am going to start keeping a list of things to check on my camera before I shoot in my bag.



I also have to remind myself that I haven't been seriously shooting for very long and try not to overwhelm myself with all of the things there are to learn.



The next time you see a horse show photographer and you like their work, tell them so. They make it look a whole lot easier than it really is.

Ok, I fibbed....

Since my Red Daylilies are almost finished blooming, I had to go out and get a few more photos of them while they were still wet from the rain.. I've also read an article about photo-ing fireworks and i think I'm going to give it a try - IF the clubhouse in our neighborhood has a fireworks show..

I also took the flies off of one of the Photos of Mocha the Arabian from the Stonyridge shoot and recropped one of the quarterhorse photos. My assignment was to get headshots and I took the assignment too literally. I think I may have to go back through those photos and redo them at some point. I wish though that I had gotten more of Mocha's neck in that beautiful light..

I haven't gone upstairs to work on tack yet.. maybe during munchkins next nap.. just seems like there is so much to do around here!

Rain

Thank Goodness it's raining today. I can focus on making tack and not worry about what I'm missing by not taking pictures..hehehe I'd say about 75% of the time, it rains in Louisville on July 4th.

This will be my son's first July 4th celebration.. I hope that he's not going to get scared at all of the noise.. To be honest, I'm sure my cats will be more afraid than he is..

Happy July 4th Everyone!!

Daylillies and Balloons

I went out this morning and took more pictures of my glorious red daylilies.. They are so gorgeous in the morning in the shade. They're almost done flowering which means I won't have them around much longer.

This morning I was joined by a bumble bee. I don't care for bees because I swell up a bit when they sting me. I took a few pictures of my new friend but the fear I have of them showed in my shaky pictures.

Last night we had some hot air balloons float over our yard. We live close to a park and some wide open land so seeing them isn't uncommon. I've posted my three favorite pictures of them. I know that they're not the normal hot air balloon pictures but they're the three I liked the best.

Tonight a friend of mine and I are going to go take pictures of HORSES! Yay! I'm really looking forward to this shoot!