Everyone Starts Somewhere

Several years ago, I decided to move my collection online and make a website. I was inspired by the two stables I first came across- http://thundervalleyfarmhorses.webs.com/ and  http://vnvstables.net/vnvsdlist/sdindex.html. I knew I wanted to create a photo gallery-style website to display my collection. But that meant taking pictures of each and every one of them. Back then, I had a basic point and shoot camera, and limited materials. My first setup was horrible.

The background was printed out from the internet, and my grass was a cheap mat bought at a hobby store. I tried taking them inside, and the cheap camera insisted on flash. This caused pretty sharp shadows and an overall dark picture. There was also no separation between the mat and the background.

Gradually my setups got a little more realistic. I added an arena wall and arena sand, with a more natural background. The lighting was still uneven and caused unfavorable shadowing. Half of my photos were in focus, the other half weren't. Again, these were taken inside, mostly because I lived in Wyoming and there was a blizzard outside on any given day.

A little after this time, I bought myself a Nikon D3000. Ah, what a difference it made! I also purchased a better grass mat from an online store and experimented with new backgrounds. Some came out very well!

Nowadays, my photos have a much cleaner color, focus, and shadow placement. My background merges better with my footing and has proper blurring to not distract from the model. I could still make a lot of improvements, but I have to say I am very proud with my results!