January Q & A
Q: What type of lighting equipment do you use for fine-art portraits?
A: I actually only use natural light! I shoot all of my black background portraits in a barn aisle using only the sun as my light source. I position the horse at the edge of the barn with the most shade so that there is no harsh lighting. Most of the fine-art look to my images comes from my editing process in Photoshop!
Q: Any tips or tricks on taking photos solo? I do everything by myself.
A: For paid equine sessions, I always hire an assistant! Photographing horses by yourself can be tricky, but here’s what you can do to make the most of a session when you don’t have an assistant:
The Handler and Horse: Give the owner of the horse the task of squaring their horse or adjusting legs as you see fit. You can also have the owner move the horse’s lead onto the side of the bridle opposite the camera so that you do not have to edit it out later. Encourage the owner to give their horse a pat once square so that the horse knows that standing still is what you want!
Attention & Ears: I often use crinkly things and horse sounds on my phone to get a horse’s attention. If shooting solo, you can photograph with one hand and use the other to i.e. wave a bag around, toss rocks, shake a broom, etc. As for whinny sounds, some Apps and phones will allow you to set a “shake” feature to cue the sounds. You can then put your phone in your boot, and then stomp your foot, which cues the whinny sound.
Breaks: If I have a horse begin to get fidgety, I encourage the owner to walk a few laps. Breaks helps them to focus on something else so that they can come back refreshed. Horses read energy well and often mimic it, so if you have a nervous horse, you probably have a nervous rider. Encourage the owner throughout the shoot and let them know that their horse looks stunning and that they are doing great. This will help to reassure them and relieve any anxieties they may have about their horse’s behavior. Once I have my rider calm and relaxed, a majority of the time, the horse immediately follows suit!
Q: When doing white background photos, do you use a white and/or bright background setting or do you photograph with a black background setup and then edit the white background later in Photoshop?
A: I have done this both ways, but most of the time I will photograph using a black background setup and then edit the white background in Photoshop later. I do this for two reasons: 1. it keeps the horse in a familiar environment where they are often more relaxed and cooperative, and 2. it allows for consistent natural lighting throughout the gallery, especially when shooting a session mid-day. When I do begin to photograph white background portraits in the barn aisle, I always try to correctly expose or slightly overexpose so that the images are not too dark for editing the white background later. I often shoot black background photos in the middle of the day, so if I were to go outside and shoot white background portraits in direct sunlight against the bright sky, my lighting would be significantly different than the black background images shot in the barn. You could certainly shoot white background images against a backdrop or outside. It is just a matter of personal preference. I like shooting them in the barn aisle for consistency.
Q: How do you get such a clean looking floor for full body black background portraits?
A: I completely replace the floor and repaint the shadows in a majority of my black background portraits!
Q: Could you offer marketing advice from the fine-art equine standpoint!? I have a difficulty getting my clients to see the value in artwork. I know part of that is not reaching the right clients.
A: There are many approaches to marketing strategy, so I will base my answer upon my own experience and what has worked well for my business. That said, you may need an entirely different approach than I use, and that is ok! I encourage you to mold your marketing strategy to fit you, what you do, why you do it, and what you offer! Marketing has greater value when you mold your strategy to fit the goals of your particular business. Below I’ve touched on how I market on social media, how I reach my ideal client, how I prepare potential clients prior to contacting me, and how I use welcome guides and mockups to make the client experience seamless and easy.
Marketing on Social Media: What you show is what you sell! I frequently share various types of artwork on my social media. After I started doing this, I noticed that a lot of my clients started selecting "interested in printed art only" when inquiring about a session via my website contact form.
Marketing to your ideal client: Take some time to sit down and think about what your ideal client might be. Grab a piece of paper and make a list of characteristics and demographics that you think fit your ideal client: i.e. age/gender, what discipline(s) do they ride, do they have kids and are they younger or older, where do they prefer to shop, etc. Everyone's ideal client will be different, but doing this exercise is so helpful in pinning down truly what your ideal client actually looks like as far as demographics and personal preferences go. I try to do this exercise a couple of times a year to keep my marketing on track. About 75% of my clients are female, 40+, with grown or no children. Most also do NOT have social media, so they often prefer printed artwork.
Prepping your client to invest before they submit the contact form: Include images of the artwork you offer on your website. In the contact form on your website, ask what type of artwork your client would like from their session. This gets them thinking about what they want out of their session. I base every client’s experience off of their preferred end goal, so once I've built and established value, my clients know what to expect and are excited to select artwork once it comes to that time. As far as selling artwork goes, I never push a sale. My clients know from the start that the goal of the session is creating their preferred artwork, so the sale comes naturally.
Get your client talking about their dream portraits before you even pick up your camera: After a potential client contacts me, I send a welcome guide and set up a time to get them on the phone to talk about their session. I always preface that the call will be quick, we will go over their goals for the session, decide on a package that fits them best, and I can answer any questions they have. I let them know that I shoot their session based upon the end goal: i.e. the artwork that they want in their home. This helps them to understand the importance of starting with the end goal in mind and gets them excited about what they could have for their own portraits.
Welcome guides: When a client inquires about a session, I send them a welcome guide that is full information and example photos so that they know exactly what to expect before they commit. This does two very important things for me. 1. Weeds out price shoppers 2. Begins building value for potential clients.
Mockups: After I complete a client’s portrait gallery, I show them what their finished portraits will look like on their own walls! This takes out the guesswork on sizing, orientation, and other wall art details. I've found that I can tell someone about sizing all day, and they still will be undecided, but if I show them their own art on their own walls, they will look at the mockups and say after a few minutes, "that's the one." What I show and what I make easy to purchase is what I end up selling. By the end, they are usually telling me what wall art they want!
My #1 tip for marketing: If I could only give you one tip for marketing, it would be that your client should have an idea of what the end goal will be for their session before they contact you. For example, I specialize in large prints of fine-art black background portraits. Because of my marketing on social media and on my website, my clients know prior to contacting me that at the end of their session they will be left with printed artwork that means the world to them. Once I begin working with a client, expectations and value are established before they book, so there is no question as to what they can expect moving forward. This allows them to enjoy their session from start to finish with me because all of their questions have been answered and they know what is coming next!
Q: Do you have a course on how you edit fine-art style photos?
A: I have a fine-art black background course in the works that I am aiming to release over the winter!
I will share course updates on my social media and email newsletter. Subscribe to the Education Newsletter below and follow Learn Equine Portrait on Instagram and Facebook for updates!
Thank you to everyone who submitted such great questions for the first Q&A! I hope you found this helpful! Let me know what questions you all would like answered in the next Q&A!
LEARN EQUINE PORTRAIT | ASHLEY PAYNE PHOTOGRAPHY