The meaning of 1/1000th of one second and capturing a moment in time

Ears up and alert:

As I was listening to some other photographers being interviewed in podcast interview, I was considering a common thing that happens with my equine portrait (horse portrait) clients. During an equine portrait session at a farm or boarding stable I usually have an extra person with me that is in charge of getting the attention of the horse. Now I have to explain to the person in the portrait that they need to pay attention to me and my instructions and not worry about how the horse looks as that is my responsibility.

Ears are the RADAR animals use to protect themselves

Horses like other animals have ears that can be turned every which way like radar to find out what is happening around them. It is something that God gave them to help them to more effectively deal with predators and dangers. When you are around horses, you will see their ears twitching this way or that continuously. The movements are very quick and effortless.

Client Seeming disappointment

Now as I am taking the portraits involving horses and humans, the person in the portrait hears the shutter firing, then they look up at their horse and they see the horse with their ears in various places, but seldom do they see ears pricked forward and looking interested.  Every fraction of a second that horse moves its ears this way and that as it explores its environment and surroundings. It takes a moment or two (lets say two full seconds) for the human subject to look up at the horse. So the impression they have is that I am capturing portraits of their horse when he looks like a mule (not to insult mules), he looks disinterested or distracted.

Trying to help someone get a better portrait / timing is everything – or at least it is VERY important

I have also noticed this when I’m around a mom or a dad with a camera or a grandma with a camera it’s in my nature to try to help them get good portraits of their daughter or son or gand-kid with their horse. In one case, I even stood behind the person with a camera explaining that I would help them with “ears up” so they could get a better portrait. Every time when the ears were pricked forward, I would say,”now!” and in every case about 3 full seconds later they would depress the shutter button (or in some cases if they had a point and shoot, there was a shutter delay of several seconds). By then the horse’s ears had gone several different ways, but were no longer pricked forward and at attention. From a professional point of view, these would be failed portraits or perhaps what we might call it just a “snapshot”, not a portrait.

It’s the same with other animals. Each kind of animal or breed has a list of things that have to look just so for the image to be outstanding.

The meaning of 1/1000th of one second

Now for the meaning of 1/1000th of one second. When my subject opens their web page at the proofs page from their equine photo session it is not uncommon for me to get an email something like this, “Wow, how did you do that? These are great….oh my gosh.” You recall from above every time I clicked the shutter they would look up at their horse and they saw their horse with its ears back or cockeyed (looking mulish, not to insult mules), but what they did not realize was that I had captured 1/1000th of one second and that was 50 1/1000ths of a second ago. EVERYTHING had changed by the time they turned their eyes up toward their horse.

Choosing One 1/1000th of one second from 7 million 200 thousand others

There are ONE THOUSAND 1/1000ths of a second IN EACH SECOND and I picked  JUST ONE to create an enduring moment that could be cherished by the horse owner for years to come. Think of it just a little more. In a two hour farm call session there are 120 minutes. Each minutes has 60 seconds in it for a total of 7,200 seconds and each second has one thousand 1/1000ths of a second shutter click opportunities for a whopping total of 7 million 200 thousand shutter click opportunities in a two hour session. Not that we need to go there, but my camera has a 1/5000th of one second shutter speed option…Whew!

After about an hour with Kristen, she was exhausted from pulling her horse’s head up out of the green grass an exceptionally green early fall. Every time she looked up her horse was distracted and each ear was going a different direction. Her dad who watched from afar was skeptical that there would be much of anything to look at from the session. Both Kristen and her mom said, “Oh well, we tried (or something of that nature).” I said, “I think you are both going to be pleasantly surprised.”

As you look through her senior portrait session with her horse, consider all the moments that are not recorded. As photographers we have many, many choices as to the exact moment we choose to record. And this is just one aspect of what is important for good animal and animal with human portraits.

To see Kristen’s session with her and her horse and her puppy just click on this link.

As an equine photographer and senior portrait photographer her in SW Ohio (Greater Dayton area including Miamisburg, Springboro, Centerville, Kettering, Oakwood, Beavercreek, Xenia, Fairborn, Troy, Tipp City, Englewoood and Vandalia) I really enjoy combining the two. Other senior portrait photographers, even if they are willing to come to your location, seldom know much about horses. Nothing can ruin a senior portrait with a beautiful young lady more than a beautiful horse that looks like a mule (again, no insult intended for mules).

Also, for those in Tennessee visit my friend JULIE POOLE’s web site. She photographs horses, but along with humans she is well known for portraits of dogs and cats and their humans. Look at how alert they look and consider how many different moments she has to choose from when taking these portraits.

This post is on my web site: http:www.photosbypdemott.com . It will also be on my facebook fan page and on my personal facebook page. It will be linked on my twitter account. You are welcome to follow or friend me in any or all of these locations.

Susan Sexton, internationally known equine photographer dies, but the wee horse project lives on

When I joined Equine Photographers Network 5 or 6 years ago I had lots and lots of questions. Susan Sexton was a regular participant there and willingly shared her knowledge with me from time to time. She was willing to give me a kick in the pants and challenged me to grow as a photographer and in the equine specialty as well. All my association with Susan was through that forum.  In recent weeks I had noticed several posting of these “wee horse” project photos. I heard that Susan died this week, then I read Terri Miller’s blog posted about the project that a group of photographers, “sisters” of the Vision 18 Collective (a group of nationally and internationally known equine photographers and all friends of Susan) had embarked upon when they found out that Susan’s Leukemia was incurable. On Terri’s blog she explained what the wee horse project was and that the wee horse project will live on in Susan’s memory.

Here is Terri’s blog post about the wee horse project:

http://terrimiller.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/susan-sexton-the-wee-horse-project/

In the post she explains that this project was started as a way to entertain and bring a smile to Susan’s face as she became more ill. At the end of the post is a link to all the wee horse galleries which were continuously being emailed to Susan in her last months, weeks, and days. I have to say that this simple and creative project is a wonderful and creative expression of love, caring, and a testimony of friendship.

http://vision18.smugmug.com/

There are many more posts about Susan’s passing. If you want to learn more about her, I’m sure a quick google search will provide lots more information.

Fall Colors created a blanket of leaves at our home

Just thought I would share this because I have a spring and a winter picture of our home near Germantown, Ohio. Our home is a perhaps 1910 Farmhouse with hand hewn beams in the basement under the oldest portion of the house. At one point we had to lift the front of the house to replace a rotted out sill plate which was a 10×12 solid mahogany beam. We’ve re-sided the home, added insulation (it had none) replaced all 33 windows and replaced the barn. Here is a fall picture with a blanket of leaves surrounding the front of the house. Some time in the furture I hope to convert the large room in the barn into a portrait studio. I also want to have a long overdue barn warming and invite my friends from the Equine Photographers Network to come and take pictures for a day. We have three photogenic horses and my wife makes a great model too.

Equine Photographers Network

Several years ago I joined an on-line forum called the Equine Photographers Network (EPnet) because I wanted to learn more about taking pictures of horse. This network has a general forum for people who just love to take pictures of horse and a professional forum which focuses more of the business aspects of equine photography.

I was surprised at how many things there were to learn. Various breeds have different standards on how they should be photographed. Along with those differences there are ideal moments for capturing images of horses in action. Dressage has particular expectations. Western pleasure has certain expectations. Hunter jumper images need to be just so.

If you are interested in learning more about taking better pictures of horses then the best thing you can do is to join that forum. They have a 30 day free trial to get you started and you will learn a lot just from that. After that you can determine if you want to join the forum and continue the learning process.

I have been an avid photographer since I was about twelve. It is always exciting for me to learn new things and grow as a photographer. I continue to learn more new things each and every day and I hope that never ends. It can be the same for you if you enjoy photography. Don’t let things get stale. Join a photography club or a professional organization to continue learning and growing.

Here is my portfolio on the Equine Photographers Network: Peter DeMott

Here is my profile page there: Peter DeMott

Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance & Ctr

Endurance ride photography is both challenging and fun. For endurance rides I have to get up early to find places on the trail where the light is good and that say something about the ride. I want the pictures to bring back good memories of the event. The people in endurance and competitive trail riding are great too. This is a sport for people that enjoy riding their horses. There are no big cash prizes to taint the sport, just lots of competitive spirit and interesting interesting people.

This ride was staged at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and included a 50 mile endurance ride, a 25 mile “limited distance” endurance ride, a 25 mile competitive trail ride and a shorter novice ride on Sunday. The trails were wide and well cared for and the meadow gave us plenty of room for camping. The Appaloosa Nationals were piggy back with this ride with 13 participants from as far away as Canada.

Morning brought some heavy fog and mist until the sun came up.

The mist quickly burned off revealing a horse eating photographer in the woods. I try to talk to people as they approach to help the horses know that I am just another human being. This horse found the large lens interesting indeed.

At endurance rides and competitive trail rides there are vets, timers, pulse checkers, and other volunteers to help things work smoothly. Here Bill Cartwright logs the time in and time out for riders who have arrived at the vet check. Great job Bill.

Below is a special request for a portrait session at the ride. I have decided that I will offer no charge sessions at endurance rides. Of course, it is not exactly easy to find a time between everything that is going on during one of these events, but this one fit right in. Best time for these is evening.

The next two images are portraits of the winner of the appoloosa nationals , Cat Carter, with her horse.

Shannon Loomis always buys a hand full of pictures from each ride that I shoot where she is an participant. This is a picture of Shannon with our horse April. There was a minor problem with her horse and she could not ride him on the second day. Patty had brought April along hoping to find the right person to ride her since Patty would be riding Cocoa. Here April notices Cocoa across the meadow. They are good buddies, so Shannon had to keep April from trotting off to be with our other horse. From the looks of it both Shannon and April had a great time.

Here Patty waits for her out time. Is it time yet?, is it time yet?, how about now?, is it time yet….? as she teases Bill, the ride timer. Bills response was a very low tone, No, not yet, no, not yet, 10, 9,8,7,6,5.4.3.2.1… Okay, NOW you can go.

To see all the pictures taken during this weekend click on this link: Cracked Oats Crunch Pictures.