Black Background Equine Portrait Tutorial
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 เม.ย. 2017
- Go behind the lens and behind the scenes as I create black background portraits of some VERY beautiful horses! In this video, I share my lens choice and other gear choices, behind the lens and behind the scenes footage with resulting photos, a full edit of one of my favorite images and the lessons I learned along the way!
Also, see the new vlogging studio setup and hear about my plans for future vlogs!
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Gear Used in this Video
Canon 70D: amzn.to/1RGVYZf
GoPro Hero 5: amzn.to/2pCKM56
Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Love this. So helpful. I'm just starting my equine photography journey...at age 65! More of these please! Thank you!
Will do!
Loved that thank you, eager to go and try it out.
Absolutely loved this x
Great information thank you Shelley, can't wait to try your lightroom techniques.
Thanks so much - I'm glad you liked it!
Loved watching this and found it very helpful. Thank you for the taking the time to make the video.
Thank you for your kind words - I'm glad you found it helpful!
Loved your video, this is something that I have been wanting to try with the black background. Thanks so much and I look forward to watching all your videos.
Thanks, Arlene! I hope you have a lot of success with it!
Thanks for sharing! Being an equine photographer myself, I love watching your videos and see how you do it. I always learn a tip or trick that I haven't known.
Thank you Anett! I'm glad you enjoyed it!!
Loved the tutorial ! Thank you for sharing
You are so welcome - thanks for watching!
Thank you for sharing! I Always learn when I watch your posts an videos.
You are so welcome! Thanks for letting me know my videos help you learn!
Thank you so much! This is the information and inspiration I needed to give this a try. I really enjoy your teaching style, and all that you share.
Thank you Sabrina! I'm so glad you found it helpful!
@@shelleypaulsonphotography hey, love this video so much. I was wondering what app you use to edit?
@@islatiley9493 Lightroom from Adobe!
Thanks, Shelley..........you make it seem so easy that I'm going to try it.
Great - let me know how it works out!
This was great! Thank you
Can you do a video of you export setting fro LR to PS please! Love the video!
Great video! Loved seeing some of your process, especially in Lightroom.
You are so welcome!
Thank you so much. This is very valuable information! I am a photography student looking to get into equine photography. I wanted to get some black background shots for my projects this semester and this will help me so much! Looking forward to your next videos.
I'm so happy this video will help with your project! I would love to see some of your results!
I am not yet into photographing horses, but I would love to and I loved this video of yours. Hope to see more.
Thank you so much! I have lots of ideas for more videos, so stay tuned!
thank you for the video, it was very helpful. I do hope to see more editing videos in the future. I enjoyed it.
Thank you!!
Thank you, excellent!
I’m a photographer down in South Florida and I’m just getting into horse and pet photography your video was very informative and I appreciate you taking the time to share and show your methods ThankYou Very Much.
You are so welcome!
I enjoyed seeing how you edit your image! Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is perfect, thank you!
You're welcome!
I still tend to "point and shoot" - most often with my iPhone - but I would NEVER skip watching your videos. You pictures are in a class by themselves, Shelley, and you are a great teacher. Thanks.
You are so sweet Nancy - thank you!!
Generous as it comes. Thank You
You are so welcome - thanks for the kind words!
Helpful another new way to try these edits and I like the idea of a mop to attract the curiosity of the horse just when you require it.
Glad it was helpful!
This is super helpful! Thanks for sharing!
You're so welcome!
Great video. Stuck to the topic and easy to understand
Thank you!
Super Vlog, you have such a calm kind approach, so nice to be able to share mistakes or changes you would make, will subscribe and be following you from now on, thanks for a great tutorial:)
Thank you for your kind words - they really lifted my spirit today. And thanks for the subscription! I hope to have some new content soon!
Awesome thank you
wow! cool
I know I'm late to the party (it's now Jan 2020) but I'm really enjoying your videos and photos. The technical side is my favourite with you showing your shooting set up and then your processing. Excellent stuff!! Greetings from Newfoundland.
Thank you, Pat! That means a lot to me!
Thank you. I will be trying this in the UK x
Yay! I hope it goes well for you!
Thanks, tomorrow 29/06/18 is my first shoot for a long time and I'm changing everything! I am trying to be more structured in my shooting workflow, streamline in my after shoot workflow too.
Thank you for sharing! Really inspiring. What lense do you use?
That was so useful, Shelley. I love watching how you shoot and edit. You briefly mentioned a preset at the start of your LR workflow. Is there more detailed info on that somewhere, or do you have plans to share that in a future video? Beautiful work. Thank you!
Hi Molly! My preset is something I probably won't share in detail because it's a big part of my signature "look" to my photos. I might share some Lightroom tips and tricks in the future, though!
I understand. Thank you.
I also live in mn and LOVE horses!
Same!!
Little extra tip: You can also hit the 'o' key in LR when using an adjustment brush to show the overlay :)
qrosdunkit thank you! That's going to be a great help when using adjustment brushes!!
ahh super handy tip!! thanks a mil for sharing!
@@shelleypaulsonphotography.
Love low key.
Nice pic.
Thank you!
Love your work, so glad I found you! Do you have a video on how to deal with not losing the whiskers when doing a black background? Or putting them back when they get lost in the editing of black backgrounds? Appreciate your help!
Sometimes you can fudge around the whiskers using content aware fill or the healing brush. Or you can just let them disappear. 😉 Honestly, in my area, the background is usually black enough that it's not a big issue.
So helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
thank you for the video. it was very good to unterstand, how to black background horse photography
You are so welcome!
Hi Shelley, i love your work. On this video i see a backlight for separation but are you also using a light at the front.
Thank you! The only light source at the front is natural daylight. 😀
Great video Shelly!
Thank you, Marie!
Great video for those of us who are new to all this!
I'm so glad! Thank you!
We are standing a stallion and need photos to launch the stud service and that dramatic headshot has become the standard… this was so helpful!
I'm so glad it was helpful! :D
Wow. Great little video!!! I tried this the other day at my barn and failed miserably...thanks for the help!
I hope your next try is a great success!
Excellent
Thank you so much 😀
very beautful
Thanks a lot!
Thanks so much for this. You make it so easy to understand. Any done in PS6?
You are so welcome! In this case, I worked only in Lightroom, but most of these things can also be done in Photoshop.
Super sharp images with animals is a hell of a lot easier using back button focus and AIServo. No focus recompose though. You have to pick your focus point.
I love this video, the best one I have watched, so informative but yet simple (explaining the editing wise!) I am now hooked on your videos!
Thank you so much!
I'm so glad you found it helpful! Thanks for your kind words!
Wow, Nicely done! What flash did u use and what setting was it at?
Thank you - great question! I used a Canon 580EX. I started off at like 1/64, but ended up at 1/128 because I wanted it to be super subtle.
Hi what do you use to edit you pictures ? Great video and love love love the pictures
Adobe Lightroom!
Love this. I suggest you open with a few example then explain how
Very nice. Especially the editing. Very minimal. Great result.
Thank you very much!
Shelley, do you use bbf and focus and recompose? If you do recompose, what's the best method for not having the focal point moving. Having trouble with that. Thanks
I do generally focus and then recompose. There are times when I am shooting at a more shallow depth of field or far off the center of the frame where I will use a different focal point. It’s probably 75/25 between them. I think the key to keeping your focus with the first method is to move as little as possible so as not to move out of the plane of focus. I hope this helps!
Great tutorials ! Can I ask what was the preset you used?
Thank you! I have my own that I've developed over many years. 😊
Hi Shelley, thanks for great tutorial. I'm an underwater photographer, howver I'll shoot some horse photos for my friend. Just wondering using flash, does it disturb the horse ?
Kindr gds, Cem
I've only ever had one horse not acclimate to it. You can certainly do this type of photography without the flash as well!
Hi! Can you post a tutorial solely editing eyes for a black background? Thank you! I’m still learning how to use light room and photoshop but so far I prefer Lightroom !
I actually keep it very simple with eyes. There are other photographers who do a lot to enhance eyes, but I only lighten them slightly. I recommend looking at resources from www.katiedamon.com/shop if you want to go more in depth!
Did you position the hair light behind the horses as a backlight? Or was it from the side? This was such a helpful video!
I did! It was off and slightly to the side so the stand wasn't in my photos. :)
I’m really wanting to give this a shot, but don’t have a clue what lighting equipment is best/needed. Would you possibly be able to advice? I have the Canon EOS 1300D if that helps for compatibility. Thank you!
Hi there! The main thing you need is a lens 85mm or longer. The lighting equipment is totally optional and not commonly used among photographers doing black backgrounds.
Shelley Paulson thank you so much for your reply! I have a 75-300mm zoom lens if that’d work? Ah right, in all the tutorials I’ve looked at for black background photography, they’ve all used a flash light kit. Thank you for your help again though, I’ll definitely be giving it a shot :)
Hi Shelley, am working in LR Classic now and am trying to go through the selection of a horse from the bg. However, the mane, forelock and tail are not cut out well. Do you have a tutorial that shows how to achieve that goal? I'm kind of stuck there regarding the brushes and don't know where to go with it. Thank you!
Hi Anne! Did you see this video? th-cam.com/video/vQM2LKm5xWI/w-d-xo.html
I really want to do this black background effect.
Give it a try!
I Will! :) To do this correctly the background needs to be all most black?
It's the least amount of work! Some people will just cut the horse out of the background in Photoshop.
Okay. I like your idea! 😊
Thanks for Sharing Shelley! Do you think I'd get away with using a speedlite remotely triggered off camera or were you using something more elaborate? Thanks in advance M
I was just using a speedlight with no modifiers so that should be fine!
@@shelleypaulsonphotography thanks a mil for getting back! just invested in a remote shutter trigger (self portrait challenge ;-) so flash trigger might be the next investment!
thanks for the tutorial, super concise, its kind of how I started approaching it myself (with no other training) so nice to see a pro using a similar approach and that its not always necessary to go masking super carefully - i sometimes think the results of some of those can look a bit too fakey (for me ;-)
Have you tried to completely kill the ambient with low iso, max sync and aperture? Probably need 2 flashes then though.
Nice work!!
Thank you! I have, but then I would need to light the horse as well and would lose that natural feeling. If you look on my site, there are some images on a backdrop. I used two strobes in soft boxes for front lights, and a strobe behind for a hair light. www.shelleypaulson.com/photography/
Is Lightroom and photoshop what you usually use? How do you like those two? I’m trying to find a good way to edit on my laptop, and I don’t want to buy these twos plans if they aren’t the greatest with editing my horse shots.
They are really all I use for editing, so I do highly recommend them!
My photo looked great - but when i printed it - there was a sort of halo banding effect - any ideas what i did wrong - great tutorial
Did you print it yourself? Many printers cannot handle that much black ink.
Hi, is there any reason for doing it this way? I mean, why not use a faster shutter to darken everything behind the horse and get more power from the flash?
Or did you only use the flash in the back for separation? Then I already have the answer :D
I was using it for background separation. The reason for the shutter speed problem was that the flash triggers I had at the time didn't allow HSS. I've now solved that problem! 😉
@@shelleypaulsonphotography got it, thanks :)
I remember having no HSS - NEVER want to miss it....
Greetings
Thanks for this video, so nice made. Why do everynody want the black background?
I think because it's a classic, clean, fine art look.
What software are you using to edit the pictures on the computer?!?!
Adobe Lightroom 😊
What kind of flash do you use? TTL of manual?
Canon 580exII. I use manual - I like to control the amount of light!
Do you use flash?
I did for these as a backlight, but I don't always.
I'm not familiar with LR, is there a video in photoshop I can watch and learn to do this background with my horse?
Hi Sonja! If you search "photoshop remove background" in TH-cam, there are a ton of tutorials. You just want to make sure and retain the floor underneath the horse so they don't look like they are floating.
Shelley Paulson thank you!!
What Lens did you use?
I used a 135f2 for this video, but I normally use a 70-200 2.8.
Is it possible to know what flash you used ?
I was using an older Canon 550ex flash. I have since moved to Godox flashes and flash transmitters to allow for high speed sync!
@@shelleypaulsonphotography is their a flash tha you would recommend ?
@@kettlyrancourt9927 Here's the one I use: amzn.to/3rafZfU (affiliate link!)
Sadly I don’t have a professional camera so I will attempt to take a quality photo on my iPhone 🤣 might take some trial and error but I’m determined to get some cute Christmas photos of my horse that I have the skills to edit 💃💃
The iPhone just gets better and better! I hope you're able to get some great shots of your horse!
I am a portrait photographer and work at an Arabian barn and will be trying this tomm.......wish me luck
I wish you great success!
That was so cool. I am a fine artist (judilyautey.com) and an Arabian horse owner too. I am always searching for ways to capture pics of my horses. Your vlog was informative and articulate. Just spot on! Thank you!
Thank you so much - glad you enjoyed it! 😊
Don't flashes scare horses?
Not usually. I've had maybe 1 or 2 that didn't like it, and if I just let them check it out, they got over their fear.