Table portraits 19.

Table portraits from autumn 2021 continue (while I try to cook up something else to publish than just photo piles...). This time everything is monochromatic, and I have changed the settings a bit at times.

The model is Catch Me on the Cantering Warmblood mold. My individual goes by the stable name Maksi (Maxi). He seems photogenic, but maybe his coloration doesn't make hip "pop" from photos well enough... Maybe I should use a dark background instead. 

If you compare the first photo to the ones that came after it, there are tiny reflections which the other shots don't include. I guess I tried to spread the lamplight with the foil-covered cardboards and it didn't do much, so I continued without. When seeing that now, I think I should have continued to use the spreading tools.

Unlike in Ruska's case, I was able to take closeup photos and it didn't feel weird or useless at all. And in case some (many) of my photos look like they have been taken from a bit too above and not so much on the horse's level, the reason for that is only because the backdrop paper wasn't large enough.

These were also edited very minimally. The joys of monochromatic photos. No need to rip nerves into pieces thanks to stupid lamplights (my arch enemy). Though, I mainly left the editing minimal because otherwise I could have taken the contrast too far (I like to make bright brighter and dark darker), and the smooth atmosphere could have been gone then. 

Seriously, the next time I take photos like that from this horse, I am sure to put a bridle on him.

Table portraits 18.

In this table portrait post I show one holiday model: Minstrel. It is a she, unlike what the mold usually is(?), and mine is stable named Ruska. She got her name from some dream, and it just stuck. What comes to this photography session, I learned that not all molds/models are photogenic in the same way; for example the one in this case is too smooth for the detailed portraits I was focusing on.

I included this photo here just in case some people don't recognize the model otherwise.

That also is why I didn't take as many photos as I thought I would. It just didn't inspire me, plus the yellow lamplight and maybe that dull color setting (I assume I used the portrait mode, which usually desaturates colors noticeably) were a stupid combination. 

This is a bit brighter than the previous one, hence why I included it.

Overly bright horse - but her halter is very visible.

A bit darker. Apparently we are on the shaded side here.

Taking closeup shots did not help. 

Trying to focus on her eye.

Taking the halter off "out of the way" did not help neither. I came to the conclusion that this horse is not suitable for anything with a very melancholic atmosphere. 

I just don't like how yellow these all are. Desaturated colors look better if the colors are overall colder, but these have yellows and oranges...

Ruska is my first and so far only OF silver bay.

I'm never sure if people read these or not, or if my thoughts are interesting or not, but I feel I can give the readers more if I also explain whys and whats which go with my photography. One important aspect is that I also memorize these to myself here. I have forgotten a lot of what I thought during and soon after the photos were taken. This is just as much of a personal hobby documenting as is writing about customizing processes, too.

Table portraits 17.

So, this is the second pile of photos from the autumn 2021 photo batch. As with the previous ones, these were also taken on a table under a yellow worklamp and I could whine about how that ruins the pictures. Maybe nobody wants to read than again and again, so let's just go straight to the shots instead. Many got heavily edited and many are black and white.

This horse came to me in the same order where was Myrcho. I no longer remember what I thought about the Marabella mold or this model before I decided I wanted it, but something in the fact that she's a solid red bay with no markings appealed to me. I have understood the hobby community generally claims average bays with zero white are boring, but that just is not true... I like the variety in bays, and they are nice to paint. I also often feel that if I add a lot of white, that white will basically cover all the details there are or what I worked hard on. So here's one solid bay enthusiast, blll! That is why the model's name is "I Just Want The Boring Things", alias Floora. 

Reducing the yellow with blue.

The original version is much redder and yellower than this.

The backdrop is still the one I painted by myself with watercolors, to avoid the solid white which I got fed up with already. I have to say, the next time I paint a blue texture for photography, it should be of the delicious blue already in the palette. Hmmm. I actually do have washable markers I could use for that! No need to mess with watercolors... Hah. Another color option could be black and white, for a neutral paper with only textures. I could not use these on the table.

Most recognize this mold when it gets photographed from the left side, but I feel the right side, where there is no mane on the way, is much less seen and can cause a "wait, what mold is that?" reaction, at least in me. Unusual angles seen in people's photos is one thing which sometimes makes me want a sample of a certain mold. 

I like this angle.

At one point I decided to put Floora's personal halter on her. This halter is one of the older pieces, judging by how the throatlatch is not rolled (twofolded) and how the hooks are of thinner wire than what I prefer now. 

Had to record also that in black and white, of course. I often like to take the same kind of photo with varying settings.

The next post in the series will include a holiday model.