Horse Photography Questions

[Doug_Karcher]

I've been invited to shoot photos at a horse arena next spring. I think this might be an opportunity for me and so I'm researching what I can before jumping in. I currently do quite a lot of action photography from motorsports to more traditional sports. I'm always interested in technical advice, but the main reason for this post is to gather information/advice about the business end.

1. What types of shots generate the most sales?
2. How to distribute information to the club or at the event about the photo services
3. Ideas for how to handle the order taking/sales side. I use a web storefront for much of my other action work, but have found sales to be very weak and I'm not wild about going to (same day) on-site sales.
4. Recommended packages and/or pricing
5. Techincal advice
6. other advice

I would appreciate any advice or comments.

thx,

Doug

[BobBranam]

Doug,

I sent you a privat message. For you and others....your question is kinda like I do sports photography what shots sell.

BTW I am wild about sameday onsite sales. I am a Show me the Money kind of guy....I shudder at the thought of interNet Sales.

I keep it simple. They either buy a CD with everthing, 12x18, 11x14 (same price as 12x18), 8x10, or 2 5x7's of the same pose. If they insist on a single 5x7 then I will sell it to them at the same price as one 8x10. I want their money.. not their time picking out a second 5x7 pose to go with the first one, while someone else leaves because a customer is taking up too much time. I price my CD for about $10.00 more than two 8x10's. I let them do the math....2x45 is 90 for $100.00 I get it all. Then I have a race between the credit card machine and the cd burner to see which one finishes first. My burner is about 55 sec. Can you tell I love this business.

Tech. advice: Go with the best equipment you can get....i.e. Nikon D1X, Epson printers, lots of ram, multi work stations, great fast sorting programs, best printing programs i.e adobe 6.0 or better. Top of the line CD's the cheap ones will give you stress the following week redoing them. Stay away from laptops.. they just can't keep up with a Pentium 4 desk top.

[Lee_Allison]

Doug, I don't have a ton of horse shows under my belt (YET!) but I am already seeing some trends...

1) The 'Jump' photo: You pretty much HAVE to nail this one. Inside every horse-kid's mother's head is a little horse judge and she will spot hands out of place or heels in too tight or not tight enough, or whatever. It's tough to get a really good jump shot, BUT if you do, they are almost like printing money. Very high sales ratios on the really good photos. Practice the timing on these and it's very obvious which ones are good and which are not.

2) Turning shots: Get the young lady on her mount out at the end of her turn to come back into another jump. Her head facing into the arena, looking ahead, the mount at a good angle with lots of dust and some blur to show movement.

3) Grooming: Never hurts to get some good images of the girls taking care of their mounts. Plenty of options there.

Hope these help.

[RickMoore]

bbob,

Someday I hope to meet you in person. There is something about your personality that I have gleened from your past posts keeps me grinning inside.

I do events, small ones, and private order shooting for the big bucks clients. I have fought my way through the make the customer a deal stage, to the keep it fair stage, to the real place where we belong as event photographers: forget perfect, collect the money. If I could have saved myself the first couple of stages I would be much further along today. I can't believe that I used to sell 8x10 prints with a tapco folio for a lousy $25.00.

Appologies for the tangent.

Doug,

Horse shows were the topic. Besides the general business advice which one can get from any economics book on the racks at Barnes & Noble, the primary problem will be learning when to click the shutter. Too early on a jump and the shot will not sell, too late and it will not sell. The difference can be on one jump, even running burst mode, unless you hit the shutter at the correct time you still will not have the perfect shot. Get your self and camera to some where there are horses doing what you will be shooting and practice for a day or two. It will make a huge difference, horses are not motorcycles so plan on practice time and someone that is in the horsey sports to look over your shots and tell you whether the timing is correct and what to look for.

Second, I would attempt to find clients that will reserve your shooting time during an event to concentrate on their entry. You know that you have a buyer, and you can charge a premium fee for the personal service. (Just make sure that you collect a deposit prior to the start of their event, and make sure that you can produce. <grin&gt

Get to the event early, as in really early, like the day before when the trailers start arriving and pass out cards when you talk to the owners of the stables and their grooms. Try to sell all your time at the event before the event begins. If you are alone or with only one other shooter you will not be able to handle a busy event and try to take pictures of all the entrants.

Good luck, horsey stuff can be very much worth the effort.

[rolland_elliott]

http://www.equinephotographers.net/

has all the information you need. They even have a yahoo mailing list that has covered this topic over and over again. Work smarter not harder.

Peace, Rolland

[Paul_Smith]

My input fron across the pond.

I've been shooting equine events for about a year now, and it was not until I worked as a second photographer for a guy who has been in the game for 10 years that my sales took off, as he taught me the angles and the timing for the shots that sell.

GENERAL
You have to sell on the day, post show sales are a no no, it's all about impulse buying while they are wrapped up in the excitment of the event
Don't rely on a motor drive, Even when I have access to a Canon 1d with 8fps I still shoot singles, it is in multi shot mode in case of a fall, but I shoot single shots.
Pre focus the fence then track the rider in
Practice loads, check out horse magazines, typically the published are cropped heavily, but it gives you a start

The following is based on showjumping.

Depending on the event, will depend on the shot to a small degree, but the 3/4 shot over a spread fence (two fences with a small gap between) or a fan Fence (1 upright on oneside and 2 uprights on the other, so the poles fan out as they go up) will produce the best shot. The perfect shape for the horse is with the front legs tucked under his chin and over the far pole, just as his rear legs lift off. Get that shot right and then worry about others. The second and third shots that sell are the 90degree to the fence again with the same timing, and close crop almost head on in Portrait mode. With all shots make sure you get the bottom of the fence as while keeping the head of the rider in the shot. Make sure you fill the frame with the horse as much as possible.

Cross country / Horse trials

Pretty much as before withregards to angles, but as the fences tend to be spread out the chances of getting more than one jump shot are lower, so additional shots that sell reasonably well are gallop, canter shots of the rider between fences. Water jumps always sell, and you can get 3 shots out of a good water jump, the jump in and the splashing looks , and sells well.

Dressage / Showing

The straight leg trot shot is the seller here. The front leg nearest you should be fully extended, with the rear leg fully back, the far legs will then form perfect triangles, take the shot when the horse is at right angles to you.

In dressage, when you are happy with the Trot shot then get some shots as they turn towards you so the front sholder is just turning. Also the final stand shot can work well, and give 2 shots - the full shot and a tight zoom on the head (include some shoulder) If the ears are not pricked, then delete the shot


Presentations.
Take a 35mm film canister (remember those?) and have a small pebble or coins in it. When posing the shot, either go for a full body shot with all 4 legs in view (make sure the horse is not resting one) or from the withers up. Take the shot from about 75degrees, once you are happy with the composition, and the rider is looking at you (they so often don't) shake the film canister in one hand, the horse should then prick his ears and you get the shot. No ears pricked = no sale, other tricks are getting someone to throw grass up, a cap etc - anything to get the horse attention.

NB - The better the horse is at jumping, the less likely he / she will stand still !!

Hope this helps - If I get time I will mail you some examples

[Gene_Sowell]

Hey Doug
I'm Kinda like bbob I want to leave any event with their money in my pocket(or to be more accurate my wifes money bag) besides it getting to a point where event promoters and organizers will not give you the information (names and addresses of competitors) you need to send out proofs or notices of website posting, back in the prehistoric days of film and before the privacy issue become a major part of things we have to worry about, it was easier to get the info we needed for proof mailings, then you just set around and waited and hoped they ordered enought to make some money I'm Glad those days are long gone

We do both onsite sales and printing and web sales (doing our own printing ) I've found that doing both is the best route, at least for us, At horse events a rider may ride several horses during the course of the day (or 2 or 3 days) and compete in 4 or 5 or more events and they could end up with 20 to 30 images in different folders, those are the ones that the websales appeal to if they don't have the time to vist the trailer between events, or you could be there until the wee hrs of the morning (way after they have turned out the arena lights) trying to fill their orders. We promote both using flyers/business cards placed on sign up and registration tables and on our display tables.

I agree with the other guys on the type of shots you need to make any money at horse events they are a pretty particular group.
Gene