Good news! A sunrise horse shoot on the beach has been arranged for Day 1 (St. Augustine) of my January Florida Photo Caravan. The trip is full, but we have a few spots open for the St. Augustine part of the shoot. Shoot me an email if you are interested.

I didn't take this horse-and-rider shot in Florida, but I hope we can all get similar images.

My gear recos:

• 100-400mm IS lens or 70-200mm IS lens;

• tripod... but be prepared for hand-held shots, too.

Camera settings:
• AI Servo (focus tracking)
• Rapid Frame Advance
• Shutter speed of at least 1/1000 of second to freeze action. (You need to boost the ISO)
• Shutter Priority mode.

Of course, if you don't want to freeze the action, use a slow shutter speed, say 1/15th of a second, to blur the background and keep the subject relatively sharp.

If you do get an out-of-focus shot, you can sharpen it, to a degree, with InFocus from Topaz Labs. (You can save a bundle when you order a Topaz bundle.)

Other tips:
• Watch the background.
• Don't cut off the rider's head with the horizon line.
• Take lots of shots to get an image all the horse's hooves off the ground.
• Works with reflections.
• Bring a lens cleaning cloth to keep salt spray off the front element of the lens.
• Check your histogram to avoid overexposed highlights.

During the Photo Caravan, I'll be giving a free, 2-hour talk in Ft. Lauderdale for the South Florida Camera Club. Hope you can swing by.

Back to photographing horses, when photographing more than one horse, try to get some separation between the horses.

Finally, watch for lens flare, it can ruin a shot. Use a lens hood and share the lens if necessary.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. I took the opening shot for this blog post in Los Osos, CA during one of my Light Photographic Workshops.