I hope your summer is going well and that you are getting out and behind the camera as much as possible.
I got to spend a lot of time behind the camera a few weeks ago when I went on an Equine Photo Tour in Iceland lead by Phyllis Burchett Photography. It was beyond amazing to just show up and take photos to my heart's content in one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited.
I'm tempted to tell you all about it, but I filmed for a YouTube video where I'll spill the beans on the whole experience and share lots of behind the lens footage. For now, let me just say, it was truly a trip of a lifetime!
Create Magic with Fog!
I'm crazy about fog, dust and steam. I don't know why, but if a scene I'm photographing has one of these, I get ridiculously excited. 😆
It's great when these things occur naturally in our environment, but did you know you can also create fog without having to drag a fog machine around?
There's a product called “Atmosphere Aerosol” that is essentially, fog in a can! You just spray it and fog fills the scene. It may sound easy, but I have learned a few things in the years I've been using it that might save you some time (and some fog.)
It is best used indoors because even the slightest breeze will instantly blow it away. I like to use it in indoor arenas with the doors and windows closed and light coming through the windows.
It's most noticeable in backlight with a dark background.
The fog looks most even about a minute after you spray. Before that, it looks like smoke.
Horses will likely freak out about the sound of spraying to do some practice sprays away from the horse and slowly acclimate them to the sound.
The great news is that Atmosphere Aerosol is having a 20% off sale this weekend. Just use the code July20. This is not an affiliate link, I just really love the product!
Here are a few examples of photos before I used the fog and after, to give you some inspiration:
The fog illuminated the light coming through the windows, making for a much more magical scene. There were panes in the window giving an even more dramatic sunbeam effect.
These two were taken in the same spot, but with different horses. With first one I had no fog so I didn't have enough light in the background to make a silhouette. But by adding the fog, the light coming through the windows was illuminated so I could expose for the fog and turn my subjects into silhouettes.
What I'm Reading and Listening To…
What I'm Reading
Stolen Focus by Johan Hari - What a read! I devoured this book in a matter of a week. If you feel distracted, struggle with ADHD or want to be more creative and productive, I highly recommend this book. There were some parts I disagreed with, but I read every book with an “eat the meat, spit out the bones” mentality. It's great as an audiobook because the Author reads it with a lot of passion and a great British accent.
What I'm Listening To
I haven't been listening to a lot of podcasts because I have been instead focusing on audiobooks. But a few podcasts I would recommend are Deep Questions by Cal Newport and Wisdom from the Top by Guy Raz
It's Time for You to Learn Video! ⏰
Do you work with Equine brands or businesses? Then you can't opt out of learning video.
I know learning video can be intimidating so that’s why I created this online course - so you can skip the trial and error and go straight to making great videos!
Through this course, you’ll get up and running quickly so you can offer video to your clients right away. I will guide you step-by-step through the process, from setting up your camera to filming to editing to a beautiful, effective videos you can sell to your clients.
Photographer Lindsey Long had this to say about the course:
"Shelley is not only incredibly knowledgeable, but she’s a great teacher! With no previous video knowledge, after learning from her I was off and running adding video to my portrait sessions and private show photography clients. It’s a huge asset to my photography business to be able to provide video as well! Equine photographers are lucky to have an excellent teacher like Shelley making it all simple."
I sincerely hope you are enjoying the Pegasus Journal. If you know of another photographer you think might benefit from these emails, would you consider sharing it email with them? Thank you!
And, as always, if there's anything I can do to help you grow as a photographer, please reach out by hitting reply to this email. 😊
