Camera Settings for Horse Photography: A Professional Guide

Updated: April 2026

What are the best camera settings for horse photography?

Without doubt this is the question I am asked most often. Here is a quick summary before we dive in to the detail.

Here is your quick summary.

For most horse photography, use shutter speeds of 1/1000s or faster, an aperture of f/4–f/5.6 to ensure we get the whole horse in focus, continuous autofocus (AF-C), using manual exposure. Set the ISO to keep the shutter speed and aperture a those settings – they are more important. The exact settings vary a little by discipline, more on that later.

I will cover:

• What is Horse Photography
• Where Should you buy Camera Equipment from?
• Choosing the Right Camera for Equine Photography
• The best lenses for horse photography
• RAW vs JPEG for Equestrian Photography
• Exposure Modes Explained
• Autofocus Settings for Horse Photography
• Camera Settings by Discipline
  • Cross Country
  • Showjumping
  • Dressage
  • Racing
  • Polo
• Common Mistakes and how to fix them.

At the start of each section I will give you my setting choice in case you are in a hurry.

What is horse photography?

If you join some groups on social media you could be forgiven for thinking that horse photography is equine portraiture alone. The truth, though, is that equine photography, or whatever you choose to call it, is a very very broad and varied subject.

In this article I will describe how some of the different equine disciplines require different tools and techniques, but in no way will I pretend to cover them all. Many of the principles will transfer, some will not!

Where Should you buy Camera Equipment from?

Everybody has a favourite place to buy their camera equipment from.

I’m in the UK and I buy all my equipment from two places: WEX Photo Video or MPB.com.

Choosing the Right Camera for Equine Photography

QUICK VERSION: Any modern DSLR or Mirrorless camera (see notes below)

Within reason, any camera body should be fine for photographing horses.

I say within reason, because it needs to be able to either autofocus reasonably quickly or allow the user to manually focus. It also needs to be able to carry (or have built-in) a lens of 70mm or more.

DSLR vs Mirrorless — which is better for horse photography?

Most people I work with use mirrorless cameras, where the image seen through the viewfinder is the one recorded by the sensor. The ability to see the photo you are going to get is a huge bonus, and worth having.

Mirrorless is a fast-moving technology and we now have some game-changing bodies on the market from Nikon (Z9), Canon (R1) and Sony (A1 II) which have great battery life and reasonable focusing in dark situations – problems mirrorless cameras suffered from previously. An added advantage of these is that the new autofocusing mechanisms with great eye-detection systems improve their usefulness for video too, and in these times of social media obsession with video, this can be very useful.

Don’t panic though. Although these cameras are very expensive, each of these manufacturers has other camera bodies which are much more affordable and still excellent for equestrian photography. The NIkon Z8 and Z6 III both fall into this category, as do the Canon R5 and R6 models, and the Sony A7 and A9 variations.

If you are starting equine photography on a budget, then look for a secondhand dSLR. These are the mirrored camera we all used to use a few years ago and they still perform brilliantly, especially some particular models designed for low light. The recent NASA Artemis II mission to the other side of the moon used a mirrored Nikon D5 as well as a Nikon Z9. The former cost about a sixth what the latter cost.

How many megapixels do you actually need?

One word of warning though. Don’t be too obsessed with pixel count. You don’t need 45-60 megapixel cameras for your equine photography, and by choosing one of these you are reducing the cameras performance in some situations.

The camera I use has 45MP, but that badly affects its performance in low light. I almost prefer it had only 25MP, as the Canon R1 does.

Frame rate — why it matters more than resolution

Another downfall of high-pixel cameras in their slow frame rate. We don’t need 20 frames per second or more, but it is nice to have 10 or more for some disciplines, and high megapixel cameras tend to be more in the 5-10 category, especially when you are shooting RAW.

Body Size – why is it relevant?

Cameras tend to come in two body types, those with a portrait grip built in, and those without.

The bigger bodies have a second set of buttons ready for where your fingers naturally grip the camera when shooting in portrait orientation. You simply turn the body in your hands 90 degrees anti-clockwise and there is a second shutter button, a second ISO button, exposure compensation etc.

These bigger bodies have more space for batteries and therefore the batteries are bigger and last a lot longer. They also have room for professional features like ethernet sockets and remote trigger connections which some of the other cameras don’t have room for.

The downside, a considerable one, is weight. The Nikon Z9 is 430g heavier that the Z8 and has almost the same set of features (the Z8’s smaller battery and lack of a ethernet port being the most significant, but there are ways round this). If you have smaller hands or want a lighter camera, try the smaller format bodies and add a battery/portrait grip later if you want to.

Recommended camera bodies in 2026

High End: Canon R1, Nikon Z9, Sony A1/A9 III. All Excellent.
Slightly cheaper: Nikon Z8, Canon R3/R5 II, Sony A7 IV.
Even Cheaper: Nikon Z6 III, Canon R6 III.

One last caveat. Before you go out and buy a camera body, be aware that you will almost certainly stay with the brand you buy. Some manufacturers offer different lenses to others, and if you want to use a specific lens you might need to opt for that body manufacturer too. For example, the Canon 100-400mm lens is relatively affordable at Don’t be taken in by social media influencers who are being paid to persuade you to buy a camera which might not be the best for you.

The best lenses for horse photography

QUICK VERSION: Perfect: prime lens with focal length greater than 70mm. Good: a zoom lens like a 70-200mm or 70-300mm

The one lens every equestrian photographer needs

The key reason for using SLR cameras, mirrorless or otherwise, is because they have interchangeable lenses. We can choose the right tool for each job, dependent on the situation.

If you have to choose a single lens, then the 70-200mm F2.8 is my go-to lens for nearly all equestrian photography. It lives on my main camera body.

When to use a prime lens

A prime lens is one which has a fixed focal length e.g. 85mm or 300mm.

If you are only photographing one fence or situation and don’t intend to move very far then you might get away with a prime lens, which is great; they have fabulous quality. However, in the vast majority of situations you will want to experiment with different horizontal and vertical shooting angles, or indeed fences (e.g. showjumping) and may be taking each shot from a different distance, so a good quality zoom is perfect.

A good situation where a prime lense can really excel is indoors in low light. Here the maximum aperture of a prime lens gives you a clearer view of the action and lets more light into the lens.

When you need something longer

Equestrian disciplines which require the photographer to be further away from the horse may need longer lenses. I’m afraid a 70-200mm won’t be much good to you when photographing polo, for example.

Big arenas need bigger lenses and sadly they are much more expensive so if big arena show jumping or polo is your thing then make sure the lens you want is available for the camera you buy.

Wide angle — when and why

Likewise, there will be times when an artistic wide angle could make for a good shot, like with the featured image for this article or for use with a remote camera – another topic entirely. You will acquire lenses over time.

RAW vs JPEG for Equestrian Photography

QUICK VERSION: RAW, unless you have to print on site, in which case JPG.

If I am shooting for editorial, commercial or private client purposes then I will always shoot RAW, to give me the most information to work with when editing the file. This can make a big difference with high contrast situations, where deep shadow and/or highlights might need attention.

If I am shooting at shows for event photographers then they need to be able to take my card and send the images straight to the viewing screens without editing so JPEG is the only option. This also reduces file sizes which is important with modern camera sensor resolutions.

Exposure Modes Explained

QUICK VERSION: Shoot in Manual. Shoot in Manual and use Auto-ISO if you don’t want to worry about exposure.

Why you should avoid Auto mode

Leave the P and Auto (green box) setting well alone. Clever as modern cameras are they will get confused by most of the situations we face as equine photographers.

Don’t panic though, there are several ways to use the camera’s technology help if you are not completely comfortable using Manual mode.

Shutter Priority Mode (S on a Nikon, Tv on a Canon) – when it works and when it doesn’t

If you are happy for your camera to choose your aperture for you then you can choose Shutter Priority mode, where you set the shutter speed you want and let the camera do the rest.

So what shutter speed for horse photography?

if the horse you are photographing is stationary then you can go lower but In general we will want to set your shutter speed at 1/800s or greater.

Set your ISO at a suitable level which takes into account the lighting conditions but also doesn’t go higher than it needs to be. If you are lucky enough to use a modern DSLR with good low noise levels at high ISO settings then you could go as high as 4000/6400 or higher and still get a usable result.

Pros: less to think about so you can concentrate on panning and framing your shot. You can be confident your subject will be sharp.
Cons: If the light levels drop then you can end up underexposing your shot

Aperture Priority Mode (A on a Nikon, Av on a Canon) — the depth of field question

If you are happy for your camera to choose your shutter speed for you then set your aperture at f4, f5 or f5.6 and set your ISO at a suitable level which takes into account the lighting conditions but also doesn’t go higher than it needs to be. If you are lucky enough to use a modern camera with good low noise levels at high ISO settings then you could go as high as 4000/6400 or higher and still get a usable result.

I often get asked why I don’t take advantage of the wider apertures that my lenses offer. Why don’t I shoot at f2.8 or wider?

Two reasons. First, at their widest apertures lenses do not perform at their best. I won’t go into the details but in a nutshell lenses are generally much sharper when they are a stop or two away from their widest aperture, hence my choice of f4-f5.6. Secondly, we have to worry about depth of field. A horses is not a flat object  and in order to get the whole horse (or at least the most important bits, the head or horse and rider) in focus we need a depth of field of a 2-3 feet. A wide aperture will only give you that sort of depth of field when the subject is a very long way away.

Example: at 200mm and f4 I get about 3ft of depth of field when the subject is 40 feet from the camera, and roughly the same at 100mm and f4 when the subject is closer, say 20ft.

Pros: less to think about so you can concentrate on panning and framing your shot. Control of the amount of depth of field to blur backgrounds if necessary.
Cons: If light levels increase you might reach the maximum possible shutter speed for your camera and overexpose your shot. If light levels drop you might end up using a low shutter speed and find it difficult to keep the horse sharp and blur-free.

Manual Mode (M) — the professional’s choice

Manual mode scares a lot of users and understandably so. With practice and experience, though, it has many benefits over the automatic and semi-automatic modes.

Cameras want to average out all the images they take to a middle grey. Take a picture in an automatic mode of a white board and it will come out grey. Do the same with a black board and it will come out grey. With horses this presents a problem, as they are rarely the same colour. Horse arenas often have white boards, white tents, white fence wings and lots of other lighter shades around them. As a results a camera in any automatic mode will rarely “guess” the exposure correctly. Also, lighting doesn’t tend to change very fast, giving manual users a chance to adapt and alter their settings if a cloud comes over. Almost every professional I know shoots in manual.

A few tips for shooting in manual:

Lush green grass has a pretty close luminance level to middle grey. In the UK during the Summer months it is 1/3 of a stop or 2/3 stop lighter than middle grey.

1. Take a photograph of a nice even patch of green grass at the same angle from you as the horse.
2. Adjust the exposure until the big peak in the histogram on your camera is 1/3 or 2/3 above the middle point on the graph.
3. Now re-frame your photograph around where the horse will be. Take another and make sure there are no blown highlights or too many blacks.

Now you have a pretty good starting point you can adjust slightly when the first horse appears. The great thing is that whatever colour the horse is you know your image is going to correctly exposed.

Pros: you are in complete control of your camera.
Cons: you are in complete control and if the light changes you are responsible for adjusting.

Manual with Auto ISO — the best of both worlds?

If manual mode scares you too much switch on Auto-ISO on your camera while in manual.

Pros: you will now have the control over the shutter speed (to make sure there is no motion blur) and aperture (to keep enough of the horse in focus but no more) and the camera can adapt by using the ISO scale. With Nikon models (I can’t speak for Canon) the increments with which the camera changes the ISO are smaller than the usual 1/3 stop, so the results have the potential to be very accurate.
Cons: If you shoot a very dark horse or a very light horse the camera will still get the exposure wrong.

Autofocus Settings for Horse Photography

QUICK VERSION: Continuous AF/Servo

Why continuous AF is non-negotiable

One of the most important camera settings for horse photography is the autofocus setting.

I sometimes stand next to pro photographers who have a camera which is beeping when they focus.

This tells me two things. First, that it isn’t the first thing they switch off on a new camera, like it is for me, and second, that they are shooting in one-shot/single AF mode. This is no problem with a static target but if your equine subject is moving, the focus (boom) of this article, then by the time you finish pressing the shutter, the horse will have moved and your focal point might not be where you want it anymore.

Set you autofocus mode to AF-C or Servo so it continually focuses and even predicts focus when the shutter release is pressed.

AF point selection — single point vs zone

QUICK VERSION: Single point or small “smart” point group

Before I start, if you are using a reasonable aperture of f5.6/f6.3 then leaving your cameras autofocus target in the default position in the centre of the frame will be fine. Your depth of field will cover the horse and rider. If you need to shoot wider then being able to choose your focus target is vital.

Move your focus point to where the required target is going to be in the frame before the horse arrives. Mentally picture where the rider or horse’s head will be and move the focus point in the viewfinder to that position. Then, as the horse and rider approach, position the focus point on the target and start focusing as you pan through the scene.

In terms of AF point modes, I use single point or what Nikon call D9. This stands for nine-point dynamic mode. If I waver with my focus point as I am planning, the camera will move to the focus point next to the one I chose in order to stay in the subject which the middle.point was originally on. Useful in high speed situations.

Back button focusing — why I never use the shutter to focus

As an aside, I always shoot using back (or front) button focusing which will be the subject of another blog.

Back button focusing separates the focus from the shutter and enables you to pre-focus very easily without then focusing again when you press the shutter. I found that once I’d started using it I never wanted to go back to doing it the “traditional” way. Google it for more information.

Camera Settings by Discipline

As a preface to this section I will point out that for a lot of these disciplines the settings will be very similar. The skill in photographing the separate disciplines is mostly in timing, position and framing, of which I have written more in other articles.

Cross country eventing — shutter speed, positioning, anticipation

For cross country we want our shutter speed quite high, but not necessarily as high as some other people suggest. Horse travel around cross country at between 20mph and 30mph, and we need to freeze that movement while panning (moving the camera with the horse) at the same time.

Lens: 70-200mm, 70-300mm, 100-400mm.
Shutter: 1/800s or higher. In low light on an overcast day or in the evening, you can get away with 1/500s if you pan well.
Aperture: f4 – f5.6 to ensure that at least the front half of the horse, and rider, are in focus.
ISO: Set the other two first and then change you ISO until you are happy with your test shots.
White Balance: Manual. Set for the lighting conditions. 5400K (sunny), 5800-6000 (overcast).

Showjumping — indoor vs outdoor, artificial light challenges

Two completely different sets of settings here. There is less emphasis on shutter speed as the horses are not galloping.

Indoors

Lens: 70-200mm.
Shutter: 1/800s or higher. You can get away with 1/500s if you pan well.
Aperture: f2.8 – f5 to ensure that at least the front half of the horse, and rider, are in focus.
ISO: Set the other two first and then change you ISO until you are happy with your test shots. YOu will be going quite high but a bit of noise is better than blur.
White Balance: Set it manually by taking test shots of something white and adjusting until the results also look white.

Outdoors

Lens: 70-200mm, 70-300mm, 100-400mm. Zooms are generally better if you want to get a variety of fences. If you are shooting for editorial and only need a fence or two then a 300mm or 400mm prime will be great.
Shutter: 1/800s or higher. In low light on an overcast day or in the evening, you can get away with 1/500s if you pan well.
Aperture: f4 – f5.6 to ensure that at least the front half of the horse, and rider, are in focus.
ISO: Set the other two first and then change you ISO until you are happy with your test shots.
White Balance: Manual. Set for the lighting conditions. 5400K (sunny), 5800-6000 (overcast).

Dressage photography — the settings change

Small dressage arenas (20m x 40m) can generally be covered by a 70-200mm or 70-300mm. High level 20m x 60m arenas will require a 100-400mm to cover the whole arena.

Indoors

Lens: 70-200mm, 70-300mm.
Shutter: 1/800s or higher. You can get away with 1/500s if you pan well.
Aperture: f2.8 – f5 to ensure that at least the front half of the horse, and rider, are in focus.
ISO: Set the other two first and then change you ISO until you are happy with your test shots. You will be going quite high but a bit of noise is better than blur.
White Balance: Set it manually by taking test shots of something white and adjusting until the results also look white.

Outdoors

Lens: 70-200mm, 70-300mm, 100-400mm.
Shutter: 1/640s or higher. In low light on an overcast day or in the evening, you can get away with 1/500s if you pan well.
Aperture: f4 – f5.6 to ensure that at least the front half of the horse, and rider, are in focus.
ISO: Set the other two first and then change your ISO until you are happy with your test shots.
White Balance: Manual. Set for the lighting conditions. 5400K (sunny), 5800-6000 (overcast).

Point-to-point and racing — a range of lenses

You can get away with a surprising range of lenses for horse racing because you can generally get quite close to the track and to the fences.

Lens: 35mm, 70-200mm, 70-300mm, 100-400mm, 300mm, 400mm. 500mm.
Shutter: 1/1000s or higher. In low light on an overcast day or in the evening, you can get away with 1/500s if you pan well.
Aperture: f4 – f5.6 to ensure that at least the front half of the horse, and rider, are in focus.
ISO: Set the other two first and then change you ISO until you are happy with your test shots.

Polo — why your 70-200mm won’t be enough

Polo pitches are huge, 300 yards long and 160 yards wide, and the play moves all over it very very quickly. Long primes give great quality images but limit the parts of the field you can cover. Ideal lenses are long zooms with fast apertures like a 100-400mm f4 or a 200-400mm f4.

Lens: 100-400mm, 200-400mm, 400mm, 500mm, 600mm.
Shutter: 1/1000s or higher. In low light on an overcast day or in the evening, you can get away with 1/500s if you pan well.
Aperture: f2.8 – f5.6 to ensure that at least the front half of the horse, and rider, are in focus.
ISO: Set the other two first and then change you ISO until you are happy with your test shots.

Equine portraiture — slowing everything down

This is where the primes come in useful, because you are in control of the situation and can position the subject and yourself wherever you want. Use a focal length longer than 70mm to avoid distorting the horse’s features. Shutter speed can be lower because the subject isn’t moving.

Lens: 85mm, 135mm, 70-200mm, 300mm.
Shutter: 1/100s or higher.
Aperture: f1.2 – f5. Be careful with very wide apertures that at least the horse’s head is completely in focus.
ISO: Set the other two first and then change you ISO until you are happy with your test shots.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

The biggest mistake you can make at the outset is to spend more money on your camera body and buy cheap lenses. Good lenses are expensive and cheap lenses can be terrible.

If you are in doubt, buy a good 70-200mm f2.8 secondhand from someone like MPB.com and then buy the camera you can afford to go with it. That lens will be useful for longer than the camera will.

I hope this has been useful. Please comment or suggest amendments below.

About the Author

I have been a professional photographer for 35 years. For the last 20 years my work has been almost exclusively equestrian, working for clients like Land Rover Defender, Fairfax & Favor, Ariat, The Pony Club and The British Horse Society, to name but a few.

I have worked in various official capacities at the top equestrian events, including Burghley Horse Trials, Badminton Horse Trials, Bolesworth, Hickstead, Horse of the Year Show and Dublin Horse Show. My work has been published worldwide in books and magazines and I have had front covers of well over 50 national and international titles.

Further Reading

• Equine Portraits 101 – A primer for getting started with equine portraits
• The best websites for photographers – How to present your images online
• 11 “Rules” of equestrian photography – which photos of horses work and which don’t
• How to shoot jumping hoses in low light – how to deal with shooting in low light
• How to photograph horses – some professional tips.