An Attempt Was Made

One of the things I really regret not doing when Rico was young and in shape (or even last year when he was just in shape) is getting some portraits of him. Ideally portraits of both of us together (which is hard because no one knows how to use my camera off auto mode and I can't really afford to have them done professionally), but even just of him.

When he got sick this winter and we almost lost him multiple times I was really feeling that regret. I felt like I took for granted when he was healthy and now I might lose him and I really didn't take enough pictures and video. One thing I've learned over the years in general is that you can never take too many pictures or too much video (and I actually haven't learned, because I haven't taken very many pictures/videos of TC). Yet now that he's healthy again, I put the pictures of him out of my mind.

Until Britt posted about how she does the black background pictures. I don't comment on basically any blogs anymore because I'm almost constantly reading on mobile (thanks to my work tracking what we do on the internet, thanks guys, now I have to procrastinate on my phone) and it's tough to comment. So allow this to be a thank you to her for inspiring me to give it a try at my parents' center aisle barn.

Phone picture. Rico was like "my modeling contract said I was
going to receive MORE CARROTS THAN THIS" 

I really didn't set myself up for success here. I mean I made the decision to do it in like five minutes time, not at all prepared.

I unfortunately didn't have help and my wireless remote needs new batteries, so the actual picture taking was a bit difficult and time consuming. But the point was to just get the pictures done so I could stick them in photoshop and start learning how to do the post processing. Then if I wasn't satisfied, I could go out and (buy new remote batteries for a start) redo the shots. I also totally realized that I used the wrong lens to shoot this, I don't really have a portrait lens so I used my 18-55mm and wasn't zoomed in enough, oops.

Rico was super dirty, but he luckily was dirtier on the left side than the right, so I decided to just shoot that side. He really should have gotten a bath but I was pressed for time because of the light. And it wasn't quite well lit enough, my shutter speed ended up being too slow so he's a touch blurry. I know that's a cardinal sin, but there was so much wrong with this shoot, what the fuck ever. It was fun and that's all that matters.

I couldn't find my double bridle, which is in itself concerning, so I left him in his ugly halter. Ugh that halter is the worst. I wanted to buy him a nice new one with a plate on it, but I never could bring myself to do it since I knew he'd just retire and wear it like five times total. Maybe he needs one for another photoshoot. Or maybe I should find my damn double!

Ammy tip: sweep the fucking barn aisle
first! But I do like this one, even though at
this point I'm just dying to reshoot them all.

Rico was... not the best model but he wasn't the worst either. He stands still, but I really love that oooo cookies look that most horses in these types of pictures seem to have, and Rico refuses to stand still when cookies or carrots are anywhere near him. If you tell him "no cookies, just stand and look at this cookie" he gets kind of annoyed. So either we'd have a super cute face and weird legs, or good legs but a I can't believe you aren't going to give me a cookie face.

I used my 10 second timer and kept yelling "stand, stand, STAND" while running back to him, offering him a cookie, pushing him back into standing square-ish (or at least not totally dorky), hearing the camera go off, abandoning him, running back to see the picture, cursing (usually), and repeating the process. I only got about 30 pictures to work with and a lot of them were of Rico wandering away, which is hilarious, but was frustrating at the time.

Next time I'm bringing a minion and/or having a remote. I'm surprised I got any usable pictures but for the first time trying, I'm happy I had something to work with in photoshop. The post processing was tricky for me, I think I'll do it in a slightly different way next time. Major thanks to Britt for the blog post that inspired/directed this abuse of my horse session and hopefully I'll be able to do better next time. For now, I'm just glad I have more pictures of my pony.

Ammy tip: don't have the barn door in the way or your ground
will come out all wonky. I tried to clone it in but didn't have
enough ground/skill to work with and it looked even stupider