In the case of equine photography, to capture a black background photo takes a certain process. A barn aisle creates a perfect lighting setup with its already dark background and lots of natural light on the subject. This also helps avoiding flashes, which can potentially spook the horse, creating a dangerous situation. Adjust your camera to the appropriate setting, depending on the light that day. I recommend using manual, and adjust the ISO and aperture to your liking. Keep the shudder speed at around 1/100th of a second, again, depending on the light that day. Have someone help you keep the horse in the correct position, and start shooting!

Today we will use this image, Image 1, as an example for the editing process to achieve a correct black background.

Step 1: use the paint tool in photoshop to color the background black. It takes time, be patient. Change the size of the paint took to get every nook and cranny of the image, make it crisp.

Step 2: Use the paint tool again in photoshop to add light to the horses eyes if there isn’t any in the picture before. This gives the picture life. Try to make this as subtile as possible, use a light gray rather than white to help it blend in.

Step 3: Export the photo out of Photoshop and enter Lightroom. Use tools like exposure, clarity, shadows, and vignetting to make the photo blend in more with the black background. I also use linear gradient to make the subject look like it’s emerging out of the darkness, as seen to the left of the photo. Use the healing tool to clean up the subject, in this image I cleaned up the horses nose since it had some dirt on it. And voila! you have a beautiful black background photo.

Feel free to have fun with these photos, this photo used the same basic steps as the black background photo, but I used white instead. I then used the linear gradient to add the colors to the horse, making a very fun image!