Photographing your ponies

[applejackbunny]

Yeah, very tricky!! BUT I think you're on the right track! I love your photos of Jenny in the daisys and I can tell you're trying to get creative! Just take lotssssss of shots! I can't wait to see more from you!!!

Aww, that's very sweet - thank you!  My fav is the one with Lemondrop on the yellow butterfly with the purple clematis in the background, because they match her colours. Jenny in the daisies is a very close second! She's very photogenic though  It sounds a bit mad, but I really do think that some ponies are more photogenic than others! Lol!

[Nekronyte]

If you are interested in taking pictures with plain solid color backgrounds I would suggest getting a light box/light tent, it's what I use for all my pictures. Example:

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You can find many online that come with lights, but I have found that it's best to use natural lighting if you can, otherwise you will have a harder time making the colors come out right for your ponies. I also recommend experimenting the angle at which you take pictures, I personally like to take pictures at angles where it looks like the pony is looking into the camera, but you may like something different. I look forward to seeing more of you work, good luck!

[Leave a Whisper]

If you are interested in taking pictures with plain solid color backgrounds I would suggest getting a light box/light tent, it's what I use for all my pictures. Example:

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You can find many online that come with lights, but I have found that it's best to use natural lighting if you can, otherwise you will have a harder time making the colors come out right for your ponies. I also recommend experimenting the angle at which you take pictures, I personally like to take pictures at angles where it looks like the pony is looking into the camera, but you may like something different. I look forward to seeing more of you work, good luck!

Ooh! She's cute! Who is that?

[applejackbunny]

If you are interested in taking pictures with plain solid color backgrounds I would suggest getting a light box/light tent, it's what I use for all my pictures. Example:

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You can find many online that come with lights, but I have found that it's best to use natural lighting if you can, otherwise you will have a harder time making the colors come out right for your ponies. I also recommend experimenting the angle at which you take pictures, I personally like to take pictures at angles where it looks like the pony is looking into the camera, but you may like something different. I look forward to seeing more of you work, good luck!

That is very useful info - I didn't know you could get such a thing! I will look into it as yes, I would like to try what you have achieved - she's very cute! The weather here means that often, the light isn't too good, so I have tended to take a lot of mine indoors and taken a chance with the light or compensated by using a flash which tends to distort the colours as you say. The idea of a proper light box sounds interesting...thanks!

[Strawberry Swirl]

If it helps, I think your photos are really neat!

Mine are usually not too fancy. What I usually do is use a blanket or something like that as a backdrop-
it makes the attention focus on your ponies. Like so!
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-in the Lyrabon image, they're seated on my robe. Very comfortable, very expensive.
But it works.

Sometimes you can find props in anything you can think of. You used household decorations-
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I used Yankee candles!


Sometimes fancy chairs make good backgrounds.
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Or the packaging of MLPs themselves. (I think a big Fluttershy plush came in this one?)


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Everybody likes cats, right?


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How about family photos...?



Ok enough bragging for me. Point is, get creative and have fun with it! They don't have to look perfect.
But yours are pretty dang close if you ask me.

[Jocelyn]

There's some very good advice in this thread! I need to keep this in mind. I always have a hard time incorporating a pony into an environment in a natural way.

[applejackbunny]

Sapphire Rain thank you, that's very kind! I know the shots in the first post all look very simple/plain but I tried so hard with them, lol! It really isn't as easy as some make it look 

I do have a cute chequered, velvety blanket I could try now you mention it and I know what you mean about finding ordinary, everyday objects to use in creative ways - that's kind of what I was trying to do. I love your starry sky-at-night blankets and robe etc. - perfect for a pony backdrop!

My trouble is that I *love* sparkly and glittery things (hence the mirrors and gem thingys!) so I am still going to try to incorporate those sorts of things...somehow!  I'm also a bit of a minimalist so I don't like too much clutter in a photo

This has all given me so much to think about and has got my creative juices flowing! I might wait til the summer here so I can do more outdoor shots and then I'll post them on here and I can see yours as well!

Thanks for all your advice and critiques guys - I'll let you know how I get on 



Post Merge: March 01, 2016, 04:20:34 AM

I went away and did some quick experimenting! Some, I think, are quite nice (my fav is the lavender and butterfly backdrop for Flowerbelle because it looks as if she's playing with the butterflies!)...what do you guys think...improvement...or no?  I think the towel makes quite a good snowy backdrop for Baby Stockings and Merry Treat (who is her Mum, according to me!). Here goes...

An old ironing board cover for Little Flitter!

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I tried the blanket idea:

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In the surf!

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Christmas time with Baby Stockings and 'Mum' (and some random friends)...

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In the flower meadow with Tulip and friends...

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I think on the whole I find the paper backdrops the most effective...and they're by far the easiest! Amazing how the simplest things are often the best. It amazes me how you can spend an *age* setting up a scene with various props and at the end of the day it still looks as if you've done just that...cobbled a load of bits together and taken a snap of them! I suppose the skill lies in  being able to do that and making it look integrated and natural! Think I'll stick with simple backdrops and work on the more complex stuff when I've got more time and inspiration, lol!

Thanks again for all your comments - they've all been so helpful! 

[Leave a Whisper]

The sea pony looks good and I like the last two pics alot.

[Sweet_Stuff]

These are all amazingly cute photos and all great ideas!

I majorly need some help in the pony photoshoot area!

[aquamarinemolly]

I'm so inspired to photograph my ponies now! What a fun little project.

Do most collectors use Deviant Art, Facebook, or something to show these great photos off? Are they aggregated anywhere?

[applejackbunny]

I did use Photobucket, but it's painfully slow and keeps crashing/freezing so...I've just finished uploading all my pony pics to Flickr and it seems much better! I'm a little OCD so I like to keep all my pics organised and in one place but everyone's different. With them all uploaded it makes it very easy to share them. Anyone know if you can upload pics from Flickr onto the Arena or do they only support Photobucket?

Post Merge: March 01, 2016, 11:43:39 AM

The sea pony looks good and I like the last two pics alot.

Thanks! Yes, my fav is the last one with Flowerbelle - those butterflies seem to leap off the paper as if they're real! 

[hathorcat]

I think it kind of depends on the reason for your picture. If you are just looking for standalone pony images then I will second a cheap light box or just a sheet of foamex (you can pick up a large sheet for about £5 from a craft store and cut down to a background). Then getting your natural light or spot lights in the right position and the proper camera settings will work.

However if you are more interested in the art or creative side then perhaps some pretty wall paper and accompanying small accessories/sparkles would work better for you.

[Shileah]

Regarding a picture hoster, I recommend Imgur. Never had problems with them and uploading and organising your collection is very easy!

I've build myself two light boxes out of old amazon boxes and transparent paper. There are two simple IKEA LED flexible desktop lamps behind each, and they sit on a wooden foldaway table. I use scrapbooking paper, fabric or wrapping paper as backgrounds, and rarely accessories - if so, it's either pony related or some decoration stuff. I am a fan of the background and decoration not taking too much attention, I want my pictures to be about the pony, and I tend to get distracted by too much stuff on a photo, which is why I try to avoid it on the pictures I make.
Scrapbooking paper and fabrics are usually matte, which helps a lot as I don't have to deal with any light reflections on it. Wrapping paper can be tricky, I've found a gorgeous one with butterflies on it, but it didn't prove useful.

A few examples:

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Just the pony, without any accessories or decoration.

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Pony with her accessories

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Pony with some simple decoration

I'm still not completely content with everything, the lightning could be improved, and I need some additional backgrounds for more variety. But maybe I could provide a bit of inspiration!

[BuckinghamAlice]

Lots of great advice (and pictures!) in this thread!  I haven't much to add (my photography is terrible) but applejackbunny, I love the picture in your first post of Sealight, and the picture of Baby Stockings and Merry Treats!  Mine are mother and daughter too.   

Also Shileah you have one of the prettiest Bow Ties I've seen!

[lostpony]

First, I especially like the picture in the garden with the pony peeking out behind the leaves.

I don't have any photo hosting setup yet so I have no evidence that I know anything but, I learned some very important things taking eBay pictures of a wide variety of objects 15 years ago when digital cameras were much less tolerant than they are these days.

LIGHTING is most important!  To shoot indoors you must have adequate wattage of full-spectrum lighting.  This can be easily accomplished by a "daylight bulb" and if a better/cheaper alternative isn't available you can purchase a twin 48" fluorescent shop light really cheap and good daylight bulbs are only slightly more than the cheapest cool white bulbs (this can be had at Home Depot for well under $30 total).  Do NOT point the light at the item you are shooting.  Just point it generally at the ceiling, at an oblique angle is best, and it doesn't need to be anywhere near what you are shooting.  The room will be filled with very even, full spectrum, indirect lighting which will make your colors show up very true, without any hot spots or glare, and with very soft shadows.

Backgrounds:  Make sure the background is flat finish, not shiny or glossy (true for supporting objects too in general)!  Likely why someone here said there was trouble using wrapping paper.  If you must shoot at something shiny, especially mirrors, make sure it is not perpendicular to the camera, or at the same angle to the light source as it is to the camera (which makes the light reflect into the camera), in particular one edge should be a little bit further away from the camera than the other edge, even if just a few degrees.

Other objects in field of view:  Be sure your camera is focusing on the subject, not the surrounding objects.  Surrounding objects should be at similar distance to the camera as the subject, and (especially if your camera is low quality) can sometimes be made deliberately "soft" (less sharp) by making them a significantly different distance from the camera than the subject.  You can play with funny perspective stuff this way too if that is what you are after.

Moving the camera:  If you are holding your camera by hand, let your breath out steadily while pushing the button if you have any motion blurriness.  I find I hold more still breathing out, than holding breath.

Optimal focus range:  Your camera has a minimum distance to the subject to focus which can be at least a few feet away except in fancier cameras which can have shorter minimum distance.  If you are having any trouble getting crispy sharpness, move the camera back a little.

Supporting objects (which I think was the primary focus of the initial posting in this thread):  Requires artistic talent! Not my forte.  Great work on many of the pic in this thread.  Nonetheless, pick by color, subject, emotion or action and pose ones you want to be sharp in same plane (relative to camera) as the subject.  The best bit of advice I saw here is to shoot many!  Move things a little, shoot some more, move the light, shoot some more, move the camera, shoot some more, change the distance to the background, shoot some more, do anything that comes to mind and shoot some more.  Make sure to try the camera at different heights; height makes a huge difference in the feel of the image.  Also try pointing to one side of the subject, not just right at it (especially watch the autofocus when the subject is not at the center of the field of view); you never know what is going to affect the feel of the image until you try it.

As far as staging, you are setting up a little reality scene (or surreality scene as it may be).  Make it look like a moment in the life you want to portray, like the objects would make sense where they are if it were real and you were there.  Be the pony...ok ok that's enough of that, haha.  Like I said you'll have to supply the artistic talent; I'm just nuts and bolts.

I hope something I said here is useful, good luck!