Equine/animal photography! *attention photographers*

I am a teenage girl that L-O-V-E'S photography :)

I will post some pics that I have taken with my kodak point and shoot camera...My questions is: Do you think I have any talent?

Last night I got a Nikon D40 off of ebay for around $250... I really want to see if I can get better.. and if I can, I would like to do animal photography... Is the nikon D40 good for that?

Anyhow, does anyone have any idea how much beginner animal photographers charge an hour?

If your a horse photographer, or just a photographer, please reply! Thank you

Here are 2 more of my pics..

Please comment and tell me what I need to do better? Thank you

I'm not a proffessional, but I can see you have talent, that's for sure! I don't know much about the D40, my main experience with with the D90, D200, and D300.

My absolutely favorites are the kitten in the 2nd post. And the dog with the icy background, because you followed the rule of thirds to the Tee! So great job there

My critique would have to be for photo

#4, it looks like there is more space behind him then infront of him which makes the picture kind of squashed, it follows the rule of thirds perfectly, however it would have been nicer if the space was in front of him instead of behind him :) no biggie there. Same thing for pictures 6 and 7. Other then that I see nothing wrong with the others,

I think you are doing such a great job! And definitely keep up the hard work, it pays off in the end :)

The ones with the kittens are just darling! I really like the one with the girl and black dog, too.

You definitely have talent, and you'll only get better with practice. Photography classes would be really beneficial, as well as some business courses. I think you could go far.

I agree with the previous posters. You definitely have a good eye, now you gotta train it! :)

I'd work on watching lines in your pictures. Like in that third picture, the reins being held off frame draw the eye down and away from the subject - the horse! You want the eye to stay on your subject and not get drawn away.
The first one, those trees appear to cut off the horse's line of sight (logically we know they don't but the eye thinks they do) which makes the photo a little awkward to look at.
There's also a matter of movement. When an animal, or human, is gazing out of the picture, you want to give them gazing "room". The first photo is really great that way, you feel like you can see where the horse is looking. The 4th, 6th, and 8th all could use help that way.

And then there are little things like cutting feet/hooves off here and there. You want to watch that. I like to crop the picture smaller when I make that "mistake" and maybe crop it enough so that something else is a little chopped off. So if a foot is gone, I might crop is so the ear tips are cropped out too. It makes your "mistake" look intentional.



Final thing, I LOVE that one with the girl and dog "dancing". Though they're close to the edge, the dog is "keeping" the girl in frame and since they are so far over, it fascinates the eye. That tuft of grass in the background draws the eye to the subjects - girl+dog - and there's nothing to draw your eye away so you stay stuck on the subjects which is exactly what you want to have happen. And the movement in the girl's skirt... I just love it!

Keep taking tons of pictures (I had a teacher tell me once that, if I wanted to be really good, I should take 100 pictures per day, everyday, to really work my "eye") and , if you can, like Jake and Dai said, try to take some photography classes. I think you'll love taking them and you'll learn so much about the art of photography. :)

Thank you, that is very encouraging :)

I agree with you about #'s 4 and 6 - though I can't get myself to not like #7 - lol

Thank you for posting :)

Yes, I noticed the reins too... Though I haven't figured out how to make my horse stand still and not move so I can take his picture! Lol

Thank you for the tips.. I never thought about cropping out the top if the bottoms accidently got cut out- that is too cool :)

Oh, and the pic of the dog and girl dancing - the girl is me :) That was my first pic that I took with my tripod.. I didn't plan on dancing- that was my dog's idea! Lol-I'll post the pic that I wanted to get ^

Thanks :)

I will have to check into that... I think it would be lots of fun :) I wonder if 4-H has anything like that to offer?

Here is the picture that I finally got, after I settled my dog down, after our dance :)

Which one is better? I personally like the dancing one better - more color :)

Ost of your pics are really good the ones that need a little fixing is centering your subject like the dog and the iced trees is gorgeous but he is off to the side I think it would look better if you crop off a little of the right side and make him more center.
The butterfly and the kitten ones are awsome as they not only center but fill the pic.
The girl with the dog in black and white is really good but again should be centered. Keep up the great work you'll get better and better as you train your eye. JMHO


TRR