White River Quarter Horses

For this week I really wanted to challenge myself and shoot in only manual settings in the direct sunlight. I really wanted to see if I could make it work.

I searched Pinterest high and low for some other photography blogs for their take on it.  I found one blog in particular, that recommended shooting in 1/250 sec; f/2.5 and ISO 250 for in the shade and 1/500 sec; f/2.5; and ISO 100 for in direct sunlight.

Now, this photographer had been shooting people, not horses. So I had to make a few adjustments that you can see below. I still will add in my edited photos as that is something I love and are learning to do as well.

f/8; 1/1600s; iso 100

This was the first shot that I took. So the settings are just what I thought might look good, but I added my help from Pinterest in the later shots.

Final Edited Photo
Location: White River Quarter Horses 

I have been using Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos and I have been loving it! I decreased some of the shadows and added some more green to the photo. I ever so slightly like to bump the saturation and vibrancy up.

f/5.6; 1/320s; iso 100

 First of all, who doesn't just love a blue roan? White River Quarter Horses's pastures are full of color! I wanted more light to come in the photo than the last one, so I decreased the shutter speed. I wanted the background as blurry as possible so this colt would be the main focus.

Final Edited Photo
Location: White River Quarter Horses

I didn't do too much to this picture in editing; I added more green and added an ever so slightly made the photo more warm.

f/5.6; 1/320, iso 100

I liked how the other photo turned out so I kept the same settings basically. The F-stop only wanted to decrease to 5.6. These boys were being ornery and wanting to fight with each other so I really wanted to catch that on camera. It is a tad blurry where I would have wanted a more crisp image but now I know for next time.

Final Edited Photo
Location: White River Quarter Horses

I just edited the photo to make that green pop and I cropped it in a little bit tighter. I turned the shadows up because it almost looked a little too washed out.

f/4.5; 1/1000s; iso 100

I just fell in love with this little guy. I increased my shutter speed because he was just swishing that tail and I didn't want it to be blurry.

Final Edited Photo
Location: White River Quarter Horses

For editing, I really wanted that sorrel coat to look more glossy, so I bumped up the saturation and made the photo more warm.

f/4.5; 1/320s; iso 100

So this guy is way washed out, but I didn't lose hope in the power of editing. I got a perfect blurry background and no harsh shadows with my settings.

Final Edited Photo
Location: White River Quarter Horses

I decreased my exposure, increased the saturation and made the photo more magenta to make the red in his coat pop.

Overall, I am pleased with the way my photos turned out. It was really harsh conditions, but everyone at White River Quarter Horses was pleased with them and plan on using them for social media and adverisements for sale.