01/30/2026
In the digital age, photos are one of the most important pieces of the puzzle when it comes to selling your horse. A beautiful picture is the attention-grabber that takes people to your ad! Fortunately, while most of us won't reach the skills of a professional photographer, we can all learn to take beautiful, flattering photos. Conformation shots and head shots are the foundation of your sales photos for adult horses, and it pays to get them right. Here are our quick tips, in no particular order, from one unskilled photographer to another!
1) You need a good handler! Someone skilled will be able to help position not only the horse's legs, but also their head and neck, and will be shameless when it comes to getting those darn ears. Having someone who is easy to communicate with will also make the process as painless as possible!
2) Similarly, positioning the horse is the majority of the battle. They should stand with the two legs on the side of the camera fairly square under their body weight (not leaning forward over the front legs), and the two legs farther away from the camera should be slightly closer together. Standing them up perfectly square looks incredibly awkward - like they only have two legs. If possible, the neck should be softly arched or reaching slightly down, depending on the discipline and the horse's conformation. A crinkly wrapper in the handler's pocket can help with this.
3) For your conformation photos, where you stand is much more important than you would expect! I prefer to shoot directly at the horse's center of gravity, just behind the shoulder - I find that they look the most balanced that way. Standing closer to the hindquarters or head can affect the proportions of your horse, so if they wiggle around, you'll have to reposition yourself. Ideally, you will also stand farther back than you think you ought to and zoom in - standing close to the horse can warp the middle and stretch the edges. Have you ever noticed how much bigger your horse's ears look in a quick phone pic in the crossties? That's why! A longer lens on your camera helps with this, if you're using one.
4) Be mindful of the weather and time of day, if possible. Sunny days are easiest to work with in my opinion, but they can cast awkward shadows across your horse's body. Change the angle they are standing at in order to ensure they are lit as evenly as possible. Mornings and afternoons are easier than high noon!
5) For head shots, it obviously doesn't matter so much how the horse is positioned, but angles are still important. Most horses won't be flattered best by a straight-on photo, as nothing and nobody in the world is completely symmetrical. Roughly a three-quarter angle across the face is usually a safe bet, and side profiles can be lovely as well.
6) Choose your environment wisely! I like to do our conformation shots on the driveway because the surface is level and clean, and with the gravel and the pine trees there is a lovely line leading the eye to the horse, but the house with the red roof can be the bane of my existence. A black barn accidentally poking out from behind your black horse will make his back look funny (you laugh, but I speak from experience - oops!). Muddy fields are no good, even though we all have them, and long grass can make people think you're trying to hide hooves, whether you intend to or not. Minimize distractions in your photos to keep the attention on what matters - your lovely horse.
7) Get to know your equipment. If you have a nice camera, fantastic! Modern smartphones have cameras that are more than good enough for this, so do what works for you. Practicing with where and how you stand the horse up, the angles you shoot at, and the lines and shape of their body is the best way to get a better eye! Adjusting the depth of field (using auto portrait mode usually works fine) makes a softer background, which can also help minimize distractions. Stand in different places and see how it impacts proportions - experiment!
8) Edit conservatively! I find that square images work best for social media, so I'm no stranger to adding a bit more driveway to the bottom of a photo if cropping won't get me there, but excessive editing of the environment is distracting at best, and changing the background never looks real. My personal pet peeve - don't rotate the photo six degrees to make the horse look more uphill; everyone sees through it! If you haven't shot exactly straight, rotate the photo so the hooves are level. Make corrections to exposure and color if needed, and if you have the ability to remove humans/lead ropes, great! Anything more is unnecessary.
The modern attention span is shockingly short, and a good photo can make the difference between someone clicking on your ad to get more info and them scrolling on by. Hopefully the tips I've discovered help you! Ours are never perfect and won't be, but using this as a general guideline really helps make sure our sales horses are showcased well. Happy shooting!
