Just as a movie film is a long chronicle of a fantasy story, so a good photograph of your model horse also captures a dream. With model horse photography, your goal is to make your model look like a real horse. You aren’t just limited by that rule, but on the whole, digital photography tips for model horse showers are geared to make the model as real as possible. These photos are then sent to be compared to others in a high-tech but low-cost version of a model horse show.

Go Outside And Play

The fist big digital photography tip for model horse lovers is take your models outside and photograph them in natural light. Indoor lighting just doesn’t do it for models – even those that look super realistic, such as incredibly expensive resins. But unless you have professional indoor photography lights and a couple of digital photography courses under your belt, your models will wind up looking flat and lifeless.

Must Have Zoom

The first digital cameras were not equipped with any kind of zoom function. This was in the age of the dinosaurs, but some of those cameras are still being used today. Here's a digital photography tip that will save you a lot of hassle – unless your digital camera has a zoom function, use a traditional film camera instead. You will not be able to get a focused picture without zooming in.

Don’t Center In Performance Shots

The usual model photo is of the horse in the exact center of the frame so you can see the coloring and detail. However, this implies the horse is absolutely still. This doesn't work for performance classes like hunting, jumping, dressage, barrel racing or whatever. You want to imply movement. Here's a little digital photography tip – make sure your model is just off center as if he's coming into the shot.

Resist The Dark Side

One of the big temptations is to "clean up" or digitally manipulate their images to make their models look better than they really are. The best digital photography tip here is to resist this call from the Dark Side! You are allowed to touch up ONLY lighting. Other than that, you must not retouch your photo in any way in order to compete at model horse photo shows. This rule can be avoided if you are going for a particular comedic effect and are only going to enter the images in fun classes.