My Journal Everything Equine
Behind the Magic – Merged Sequences
The majority of the time I only aim to take one photo at a time but occasionally I will take a few successive frames which when merged together can make a great sequence. The keys to making a good sequence are to be relatively side on to the fence, so you can record...
Behind the Magic – Always be prepared
If you were ever a Scout or Girl Guide the phrase 'be prepared' will be well known to you. Preparedness is vital in becoming a successful photographer in so many ways. My inspiration to write this blog stems from an American photo that went viral of some photographers...
Behind the magic – Behind the scenes studio lit shoot
Have you wondered how I create the beautiful low key black background portraits? This article will give you a behind the scenes look into how I use powerful portable studio lights that I can use almost anywhere within reason. I personally favour a one light set up as...
Behind The Magic – What I will, won’t & can’t photoshop!
Photoshop is a very very powerful tool when you know how to use it and can literally make the impossible possible. I utilise it on an almost daily basis but I try and use it to make photos 'cleaner' and try not to use it for things that are unbelievable. Occasionally...
Behind The Magic – Shutter Speed, Aperture & ISO – The Basics
Shutter speed, aperture and ISO are the three fundamental settings when using any DSLR camera. So what are they and how do they work both on their own and together? Firstly we will look at each individually. Shutter speed - This is fairly self explanatory. It is the...
Behind the Magic – Enhancing an Autumnal image
It's Autumn here in England and the oranges are simply divine but sometimes it is worth enhancing the colours to really make an image stand out. BUT and this is a big but, if you are going to do it you need to do it correctly. I have seen an increasing abundance of...
Behind The Magic – You get what you pay for
Have you looked at three photographers one charging £50 for a photoshoot, another £150, and another £500 and wondered the difference? Let me try to explain to you, and more importantly how and why that is not their 'hourly' rate. To break it down I'm going to let you...
Behind the Magic – Stop, Collaborate & listen!
Last week I took the opportunity to meet up with three fellow equestrian photographers, Rose, Laura & Louise, for an afternoon of idea sharing and education. All four of us are established photographers but have different styles and areas of expertise, so what...
Behind The Magic – Finding stock photography
Do you work in a business that needs marketing images? Do you have a project to do for college, university, school or even work? If so the majority will probably have utilised google image search to find a suitable photo to use at some point. There is no denying it,...
Behind the Magic – Horses & studio lights
Horses are naturally wary animals and many are known as being spooky especially at new things. Portable lighting which I use for my studio lit photoshoots are incredibly powerful and do result in a wide range of reactions from horses. From all that I have photographed...
Behind The Magic – Everyone is a photographer
You may think this post is going to be a rant and it is but perhaps not in the way you will expect... 'Everyone thinks they are a photographer' and the truth is everyone is. In the same way that everyone is a cook. Some do it well, some do it badly, and lots are...
Behind The Magic – The magic of a tight crop
Now I love to photograph tight crops. The reason? The photograph is (normally) all about the subject and cluttered backgrounds detract, tight crops focus in on that subject and allow you to tell a different photograph. Granted there are times where you want the...
Behind the Magic – The golden hour
I love love LOVE the golden hour, although actually it's normally not an hour long and there are two of them per day (weather dependant!). As the sun progresses through the sky during the day it starts low to the horizon moves over head until again dropping down to...
Behind the Magic – Do What You Love
There are so many different forms of photography, even within portrait photography you have everything from newborns, maternity, weddings, family and so on and so forth. Different photographers specialise in different areas, some are jack of all trades some are...
Behind The Magic – Black & White
When I was going through my photos of the action at Barbury on Sunday I had the sudden strong urge to go almost all black & white for editing. I don't normally put so many black and white images in an event but the backdrop and the competition itself just lending...
Behind The Magic – Keeping image quality on social media
You may have noticed that when uploading photos to Facebook and other social media platforms that the quality is somewhat horrendous even if you uploaded a high resolution image. There is a simple reason for this, and that is whenever you upload an image unless it...
Behind the Magic – Quality not quantity
When I started my photographic journey I was keen to share my photos wherever I could in large numbers, it didn't matter if they weren't as good as they could be I just wanted to reach the largest audience possible, thinking this was the best way to get my name out...
Behind The Magic – Following & Breaking The Rules of Composition
Rules are there to be broken on occasion and that is certainly the case with the rules of composition! The 'rules' are great and lead to some fantastic photos but it is ok to bend or even break them on occasion to create something even more special! It is perhaps...
What would you like to know?
Have you got a burning question you would like to ask me? Would you like to know something about how I create my images or how I work? Drop me a line and let me know.