How to pick a horse photo that prints well

Use the original, not a screenshot

Screenshots and photos saved from social apps are often shrunk and compressed. Upload the original from your camera roll instead. When you upload, we read the photo’s size in pixels and tell you immediately if it is too small. A phone photo straight from the camera is almost always fine.

Our uploader also prepares your photo in your browser before sending it: it applies the phone’s rotation so the horse is the right way up, and it removes hidden location data from the file.

Light is everything

Soft daylight — an overcast day, or the hour after sunrise or before sunset — gives the richest coat colour and the most detail. Hard midday sun creates dark shadows under the forelock and around the eyes, and indoor barn light can turn a bay horse muddy brown. If you have a choice between two similar photos, pick the brighter one.

Framing for each item

Phone cases are tall and narrow, so a head shot or a portrait-orientation photo works best; the photo is enlarged to cover the whole back, which trims the sides of wide photos.

Mugs print your photo centred on the side of the mug, so the whole photo is visible. Landscape and square photos both work.

T-shirts, hoodies and totes print your whole photo on the front, scaled to fit. Photos with a clean background look best on fabric.

Blankets and canvases cover the whole surface, so the edges of your photo may be trimmed. Choose a photo with a little space around the horse, and pick a canvas shape (square, portrait or landscape) that matches the photo.

Sharpness and resolution

Zoom in on the eye. If the eyelashes are crisp, the photo is sharp enough. Motion blur from a horse tossing its head or a moving camera will show more on a large blanket than on a mug, so save action shots for smaller items.

Larger items need more pixels. A phone case or mug is happy with a typical phone photo; for a 50×60 inch blanket or a 16×20 canvas, use the largest original you have. The uploader warns you if your photo is on the small side for the item you picked.

Taking a new photo on purpose

If nothing in your camera roll feels right, it is worth ten minutes at the barn. Pick a bright, overcast day or the softer light of late afternoon. Stand the horse on level ground with a plain background — a hedge, a field or a clean stable wall — rather than a cluttered yard. Ask a friend to hold the lead rope and rattle a feed scoop or crinkle a treat bag behind you to get the ears forward.

Crouch a little so the camera is level with the horse’s shoulder or eye; shooting from above makes heads look large and legs short. Take plenty of frames in a burst and choose later. Phone portrait modes are fine, but turn off beauty filters, and avoid zooming digitally — walk closer instead.

A few things to avoid

Heavy filters and beauty modes can make coats look plastic. Text overlays, stickers and watermarks will print exactly as they appear. And please only upload photos you took yourself or have permission to use — professional show photographers usually sell print rights separately.