Have your horse photographed like a Stubbs painting

Something I’ve often unofficially offered clients is a natural background portrait, and by natural background I mean that I don’t put up an actual backdrop, instead shooting the horse against the natural landscape.
These kinds of portraits are heavily inspired by the work of George Stubbs and Thomas Woodward, some of the best known equine artists of the 18th century. They were known for their stylized portraits of horses against a natural backdrop, the horse being front and center against the English countryside, often commissioned by owners with the intention of these large paintings to have pride of place in the home.

Now I’m aware that some horse owners don’t have the indoor facilities that we require for the black or white background portrait shoots - Those shoots need to be done indoors partially for the lighting control required to get the desired result, and partially for safety, as setting up a large fabric backdrop in even the lightest of wind causes it to turn into a giant sail, not ideal when you’re working with a flighty prey animal!!

This particular portrait of the stallion Dartmouth was shot in the client’s front garden - you wouldn’t have guessed that location!

With a natural background shoot, we take the need for additional facilities out of the equation, and add in a unique twist of creating a classical painting-like portrait, still using off camera flash to accomplish this look.

So with all things considered, I’ve decided that this is an excellent addition to the portrait packages I already offer.

Now I can already hear a few people thinking “I’d love this but I don’t really have a nice spot around the yard for a portrait like this…” Fear not dear horse owner! One thing us photographers are excellent at, is spotting a good location for images.
There are more locations than you realise that are excellent for portraits like this, which gives you a number of options.

Your horse’s paddock might actually make the ideal spot, with a relatively clean backdrop (Basically minimal fencing such as post and rail, no electric fencing, and there’s no modern looking houses/ buildings that might clutter a backdrop). If there’s any natural features such as a lovely tree then that’s a bonus! We want our background to fade into insignificance or enhance the image, just like those classical paintings I was talking about earlier.

A quiet country lane is another great option, the leading lines of the road framed by our beautiful British hedgerows (bonus if there’s a large tree available to overhang too!) makes for a beautiful portrait option. If your yard has a nice driveway this can also have the same affect, with elegant leading lines drawing the eye straight to your beloved horse.

If you’re local to a woodland, this is yet another option available to us for these portraits. Having photographed my own horse in his full winter woolies amongst the hoar frosted bracken, I can assure you that this gives a drool worthy native backdrop to set your horse up in.

And if you’re willing to travel, or live very close to any open land, such as heathland, rolling fields or hills, then that’s a further option too. There’s really so much variety we can choose from, and if you like, we can shoot multiple locations with your horse against them to add even more variety to your shoot.

So we’ve gone over all the options for your natural backdrop shoot, what’s the cost? And what’s included in that cost?

This portrait shoot comes in a little more competitively priced that the artificial backdrop shoots at £295 (Artificial backdrop shoots come in at £325), simply because there is less setup involved.

And just like every other shoot package I offer, you’ll receive a full portrait session, all of your images in low resolution on a gorgeous crystal USB, and a private viewing session when your images are ready.

Have you been tempted by this alternative portrait option yet? Get your horse booked in for his shoot in minutes via the online booking page! Or if you’d like to have a chat about your shoot before you commit, please do get in touch to see how I can help you achieve your dream shoot.