Horse and rider portrait gallery

Some of these are senior portrait sessions with students that own a horse. Others are portraits of horses with their owners at local boarding stables. It’s always interesting to try to find the best place to set up the portraits. Each stable has its own flavor and areas that will work well.

One of these girls is looking toward a career in horse management. She is also trying out modeling as well. Several pictures from her session became the building blocks for addition modeling work.

Schedule or Discuss your Horse and Rider Portrait Session

If you would like to discuss scheduling a portrait session with your horse, please send me a note or give me a call. For senior portrait sessions we can do some with your horse and some without so that you have a nice variety of meaningful portraits. For Megan, she wanted some portraits in her prom dress and I thought it would be really fun to have some of those with her horse. I think they turned out lovely and she selected one to make into a framed canvas print for her home. She picked others from the session for wallets and gift prints and of course I included some Facebook images with her purchase which her friends on Facebook went nuts over.

At liberty and Under Saddle

Although I am not showing any here, I do photography of horses at liberty and under saddle as well. Go up to the menu of this website and explore some of the other areas to get a good idea of what your horse and rider session can be. And since I have horses and I know horse photography, not only will you look good, but your horse will too. There are senior portrait photographers that will come out to your boarding stable for part of your sessions, but sometime they look at your horse more like a prop, similar to a basketball, a football, or a musical instrument. They don’t understand that if a horse is photographed with the wrong angle or the wrong lens it just won’t be pleasing to the horse owner’s eye. If you horse’s ears are back like he is angry or he looks bored and uninterested (ears every which way and eyes half-shut), it doesn’t matter how good you look, the portrait becomes average and a disappointment to you, the horse owner. I guess I look at your horse as your companion or your friend rather than as a prop and I think that makes a difference in the end result.

Peter DeMott Photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222 • Located in Germantown, OHIO • Serving SW Ohio, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Eastern Indiana and NW Kentucky.

What little thing can you do to improve your images? Video podcast

I’ve been talking for a long time about starting up some podcasts. Today I am giving it my first try with a short video podcast about one little thing that you can do to improve your images. Tell me if you have any questions that you would like me to answer. This first one is for fun, just to see what people think of it and if there is an interest for more small tips that will improve your pictures.

Check out this link for more reasons to use your lens hood: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-Lenses/Lens-Hoods.aspx

This Nature Photographer blog shows a before and after example of with and without lens hood:http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0507/rb0507-1.html

Now, tell me what you think. Am I a goof? Are you interested in any topics. Marketing, networking, advertising, pricing, etc?

Equine photographer means senior portraits with horse

This Friday evening at about 7pm (weather permitting) I will be taking portraits of Ceili and her horse to complete her senior portraits package. Earlier I did a session with her best friend with lovely outdoor farm settings.

Lately the heat and humidity have been terrible here in the Dayton area, but gladly we have had consistent rain from time to time so grass and foliage have stays nice and green, ideal for on location and outdoor portraits. Ceile and her mom LOVE, LOVE, LOVED the pictures from the first session.

If you have an interest in an evening session (when things have cooled down some), now is the time to schedule an appointment. For equine (horse) portraits, after evening feeding is a great time when things have cooled down and your horse is content. It also gives you time to clean and prepare and the light is great then as well. Peter DeMott 937-478-6222. Please don’t wait for the grass to burn out and become ugly brown before you call.

Scioto Run endurance ride by equine photographer Peter DeMott

Last weekend I covered an endurance ride near Chillocothe, Ohio at the Scioto Trails State Forest. Mollie Krumlaw-Smith was the ride manager and was able to give me a couple good places to try to capture the experience of the riders on trail. My wife, Patty, told me that these are some of the most difficult and yet most beautiful trails in Ohio. In several places you ride along a ridge that gives you views of grand vistas of hills and valleys. On the first day there was mist and clouds rolling up the hills and running through some of the valleys. It was breathtaking.

For this ride I tried to capture some scenic shots as well as the rider favorites of one rider at the trot.

Here is junior rider Morgan. At awards that evening she won lots of prizes.

The trails are wide and well kept here at Scioto Trails State Forest. Then in the evening when the light was better and riders had a chance to clean up some I was able to do some “mini portrait sessions” for those who were up to it and wanted them. The heat during the day was grueling with high humidity and temps over 90 degrees most of the day. Many horses were pulled related to the heat.

On the second day I was able to shoot at one of the vista views. My telephoto lens does little to show you the view, but I gave it a try anyway. Most of the riders would pause at the top of this ridge and take in the view before figuring out how they would get down the very steep trail presented to them in another 10 feet.

These photographs are copyright protected. To purchase photos from the ride go here: Scioto Run Endurance Ride Photos

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post on twitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

Megan models for the Senior Portrait photography workshop

I had a great time at the senior portrait workshop sponsored by PPSO here in the Dayton area. There were about 30-35 photographers from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky here for a full day of learning. My son Evan and his friend Megan were two of the three models for the event.

Today, I thought I would just share a couple senior portraits of Megan. Although she was nervous at first, it was a really fun experience and she did a great job.

Many of the photographers talked about Megan’s beautiful eyes. Actually everything about here was lovely, but my gosh those eyes are something, wouldn’t you say. Creative pictures for girls involve softening whatever they do by bending in as many places as possible and shooting at an angle from the body rather than straight on.

Megan’s lovely smile was also a hit with all the photographers participating in the workshop.

This girls senior portrait has a secret garden sort of feel because of the leaves that I am peeking through to get the picture.

I got to meet several photographers that will be joining PPSO because of the great day they had with us learning to take better senior portraits. I enjoy friending other photographers as well as people who enjoy my style and are considering me for their senior portrait sessions. A phone consultation is the first step in scheduling your senior portrait photography session here in the Dayton and surrounding area. Peter DeMott 937-478-6222

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post on twitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.