Taking it like a Pro...

[Horsepix]

I'm posting this here for two reasons, 1) I'd like to know what others think about the composition, subject etc., and 2) what photographers think of my post editing.

This is one of my favorite images. I also am experimenting with uploading the version I see on my screen. Often times the jpeg doesn't show up the same as the tiff. I've converted this one to RGB and have proofed it many times, so I hope it shows up as my printed version. I'm still learning a great deal about calibrating my screen/printer etc.

I'll stand, suck it up and take whatever you all have to dish out. Hopefully with a smile.

Thank you in advance. I appreciate all feedback, really.

[SloYerRoll]

Sounds like you spend allot of time in pp.
I love the feeling the horse gives in this shot. Since your in the whipping post though...
Colors are way oversaturated. (this is not because of jpeg compression) I'm sure this would come out looking even more artificial in print.
The prominent lines in this shot force my eyes fown to the bottom left corner of the shot and they get stuck there. Mabey you could capture the cowboy/girl could turning their head to the the right corner of the shot to help balance.
Stoop a bit lower when composing so you can see a bit of the subjects face. Even if it's in a shadow, it helps humanize the shot. This would also give more sky which I'm partial to.Your screen name makes it sound like it will be pretty easy to reshoot.
I'm looking forward to seeing your "after", since you have some great subjects and backgrounds to work with.

-Jon

[Horsepix]

Sounds like you spend allot of time in pp.
I love the feeling the horse gives in this shot. Since your in the whipping post though...
Colors are way oversaturated. (this is not because of jpeg compression) I'm sure this would come out looking even more artificial in print.
The prominent lines in this shot force my eyes fown to the bottom left corner of the shot and they get stuck there. Mabey you could capture the cowboy/girl could turning their head to the the right corner of the shot to help balance.
Stoop a bit lower when composing so you can see a bit of the subjects face. Even if it's in a shadow, it helps humanize the shot. This would also give more sky which I'm partial to.Your screen name makes it sound like it will be pretty easy to reshoot.
I'm looking forward to seeing your "after", since you have some great subjects and backgrounds to work with.

-Jon

Jon,

I like to dialogue about feedback... so here we go...

Thanks for the feedback! I agree with all you've said. I also did the over sat with purpose. The desert is so desaturated some days, and this was one, that I thought I'd do the opposite in extreme. With that said I just saw "300" last night and am now in love with the, almost-but-not-quite, mono-chomatic colors of that movie. I can show the desat version of this, however, the moment, that morning sun, that intimacy of her and her horse without being watched, much more difficult to duplicate.

Thanks again, you've made me think more about it... I also agree with the concentrated focus of the lower corner, which I enjoy since it brings the viewer's (me) attention to the moment of the light/action- the foreground allowing for the expanse of the background. It can feel a bit overwhelming to me to be out in the desert, and having the mountain range in the back looming over the girl and her horse felt right to crop it so. To make the moment more immediate.

[LiquidAir]

I like the color and textures. The highlights on the jacket and the hat are blown out. Particularly on the hat I find the blown out section takes on a posterized look that dectracts from the nice textures in the rest of the shot.

As for the framing, to me it looks like like the picture was cropped a little too tight. Everything in the shot to me communicates that the center of interest is what her hands are doing (tying up the up the horse, I presume), and yet they have been cropped out of the frame. What is the story you are trying to tell with this shot? What did you intend the center of interest to be?

[Gary Glass]

Oversat works sometimes. Not sure it's working here. But I don't think it's a disaster. Actually I think it would work better if it was either less or more saturated. If it was less, it'd look more natural. If it was more, it'd look like a statement. If it was me, I'd probably curve a little more contrast into it, then think about the sat.

I agree with others the shot could benefit from a different crop. As it stands, it leads the eye to bottom left. But there's nothing there. All the interest is (to me) in the hat, the position of the head, and the horse's eye. So I'd try cropping out a lot of the top, and some of the bottom. Focus on the essential thing reason why you think this shot is worth looking at.

I think you've got a nice thing going on here, and there's a good story in it, you just need to focus on that story more.

[Horsepix]

Oversat works sometimes. Not sure it's working here. But I don't think it's a disaster. Actually I think it would work better if it was either less or more saturated. If it was less, it'd look more natural. If it was more, it'd look like a statement. If it was me, I'd probably curve a little more contrast into it, then think about the sat.

I agree with others the shot could benefit from a different crop. As it stands, it leads the eye to bottom left. But there's nothing there. All the interest is (to me) in the hat, the position of the head, and the horse's eye. So I'd try cropping out a lot of the top, and some of the bottom. Focus on the essential thing reason why you think this shot is worth looking at.

I think you've got a nice thing going on here, and there's a good story in it, you just need to focus on that story more.

I appreciate all the feedback and it has given me much to think on... I'll up load the orginal maybe...

It takes time to give thoughtful feedback, so again, Thank you!

[HarlanBear]

I like the saturation, but I like those kinds of pictures. And I like the POV with the girl's head down and the horse's up. It's hard to tell on my monitor what a print would look like, but it does seem to need a crop at the top. I appreciate the mountains in the BG, but don't think they do anything for the image, so I would tighten it there - makes the person and the horse more of the focus.

I'm not drawn to the left as the others. If anything, I'm drawn to the right, eye curving over the hat to the horse to the right. And therefore maybe if the leather harnes (?) on the front of the horse was more in foucus that would help. It might also be a bit distracting, again, from the focus of girl and horse.

But overall I think it's a good photograph, and tells a story. I'm also not bothered by not seeing the hands. I know what they're doing. I like the work look of the position of the girl's head and the watchful face of the horse.

[Pixoul]

From a composition and saturation standpoint, I love it! I'm a sucker for both saturation and hidden faces so I'm a little biased! But, since you've come for a whipping:

The chromatic aberration on the mountain ridge is driving me crazy. I don't know if this is a result of post or your lens but all I see is a cyan stripe across the mountain ridge and the sky in the upper-right hand corner. This could be fixed in post by selective desaturation.
The bokeh is also a deal-breaker for me. Was the blurred background achieved by the natural depth of field of the lens or did you blur anything in post? The saddle and fence look chunky like like they were hit with a "this is my first time using Photoshop" filter. :huh If the bokeh is natural to the lens then you had plenty of light to close down the lens for another 3' or so of depth of field.
See comment a few posts ago about the blown out hat. :D

Other than those two things that could be fixed in post (or were introduced by post) the photo itself is awesome! :clap

[jdryan3]

I agree on the OOF background - the sky and mountain don't add anyting and are a little distracting. I would crop down at least the top third if not half of the mountain.

On the right shoulder there is a shadow that leads into what appears to be the gate/fence. I would make the fence less distracting at that point. The other posters make good point on the blown out highlights, etc.

[Swartzy]

Since so much has been suggested and commented about composition, lighting, highlights, color correction...etc. etc. etc., I'll say this. The photograph moves me as a very nice western placement. I feel like I'm there, on the ranch, watching a seasoned hand prepare for a ride. Seeing part of the rancher's face would be a benefit, but not necessary. Good capture all around.

Allow me to whip as one photographer to another, as you are already your own worst critic: IF you were to shoot this again, what would you do differently?

[Mike02]

Except for the watermark, this photo looks great! Nice job =).

[Horsepix]

Since so much has been suggested and commented about composition, lighting, highlights, color correction...etc. etc. etc., I'll say this. The photograph moves me as a very nice western placement. I feel like I'm there, on the ranch, watching a seasoned hand prepare for a ride. Seeing part of the rancher's face would be a benefit, but not necessary. Good capture all around.

Allow me to whip as one photographer to another, as you are already your own worst critic: IF you were to shoot this again, what would you do differently?

Lovely of you to ask...

I've since purchase a huey to calibrate my monitor. Not sure I would do anything differently, I saw what I captured and made the best of it. I also don't think anything, composition wise, is "wrong" with it. I like all the focus on the bottom for the reasons I've stated, and the horse's position etc. I will make sure that you all see what I see regarding colors. I have done all I've done in PS and with plugins purposefully. I don't like my work to look like a photograph all the time, I want it to look like exactly what it looks like. I posted this wondering what others thought since this is going to be a bookcover.

[Swartzy]

I agree with you. I think it's a great shot as it is and a good photograph doesn't have to follow some set of rules. This will make a great book cover. The most important thing for you, as the artist, as the photographer is that you are happy with it....there's no question millions of others will as well.

So much for getting whipped! :wink

[rutt]

The horse is purple!. Do you really want blue in his coat? Blue horses are an impossible color and it really doesn't look right to me. I tried pushing the shadows away from blue and toward yellow and the image looks much more natural to me. Here (http://rutt.smugmug.com/gallery/77571#141312259-L-LB) is my version. Better? Actually, I think the blue cast extends even farther into the midtones than I corrected for. How much blue should there be in the hat, do you think?

Try cropping a little from the top. Just that washed out sky. I don't think it's working for you.

Other than that, and the horrible watermark, I love the shot. The composition works. I don't have my eye drawn to the lower left. I have a feeling of wide open space.

[Horsepix]

The horse is purple!. Do you really want blue in his coat? Blue horses are an impossible color and it really doesn't look right to me. I tried pushing the shadows away from blue and toward yellow and the image looks much more natural to me. Here (http://rutt.smugmug.com/gallery/77571#141312259-L-LB) is my version. Better? Actually, I think the blue cast extends even farther into the midtones than I corrected for. How much blue should there be in the hat, do you think?

Try cropping a little from the top. Just that washed out sky. I don't think it's working for you.

Other than that, and the horrible watermark, I love the shot. The composition works. I don't have my eye drawn to the lower left. I have a feeling of wide open space.

Ahh... the color issue. Magical realism isn't being accounted for in photography... or being called something other. I see your horse as being too warm, especially for the cold morning it was. With that said, colors are so subjective... I might lean the post filter a bit now that you mentioned it, and again, I have to calibrate my monitor to show what I see. Thanks for your input. I appreciate all input.

[rutt]

I didn't use my eyes to find out that the horse is blue. I measured it with the color sampler and IT IS BLUE. This isn't subjective. Since it's also magenta, that make it purple.. It doesn't have much to do with monitor calibration, unless your monitor calibration is very wrong.

So here is another fact. Horses aren't purple. I'm sure of this. I'm also pretty sure that hat isn't blue, though I'm less sure of that than I am that the horse isn't blue.

OK. Those are the facts. Now you have to decide whether you want a purple horse in spite of the fact that horses really aren't purple. Perhaps the light made the horse look purple to you when you shot this picture? Perhaps you think a purple horse will help others see what you want them to see? Personally, I think you are asking a lot of your viewers to accept the blue in the horse. Generally people don't see impossible colors and our visual systems are strongly tuned to correct for light in a way that prevents seeing impossible colors. There are probably very good evolutionary reasons for this having to do with finding ripe fruit in trees.

So my advice to you is this: don't trust your eyes for things like this. There is a very good reason for this. In real life, your visual system will compensate for lighting and you will see a brown not purple horse. On the monitor, your visual system will partly compensate and you will tend to see a brown horse, though it did look wrong to me somehow. In print, your visual system won't compensate nearly as much and the horse will be purple and look wrong. The only way you can really know what color the horse actually is is by measuring it.

Remember, don't trust your eyes for this sort of thing:

http://rutt.smugmug.com/photos/2791546-M.jpg (http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_illusion.html)

Ahh... the color issue. Magical realism isn't being accounted for in photography... or being called something other. I see your horse as being too warm, especially for the cold morning it was. With that said, colors are so subjective... I might lean the post filter a bit now that you mentioned it, and again, I have to calibrate my monitor to show what I see. Thanks for your input. I appreciate all input.

[Horsepix]

I didn't use my eyes to find out that the horse is blue. I measured it with the color sampler and IT IS BLUE. This isn't subjective. Since it's also magenta, that make it purple.. It doesn't have much to do with monitor calibration, unless your monitor calibration is very wrong.

So my advice to you is this: don't trust your eyes for things like this. There is a very good reason for this. In real life, your visual system will compensate for lighting and you will see a brown not purple horse. On the monitor, your visual system will partly compensate and you will tend to see a brown horse, though it did look wrong to me somehow. In print, your visual system won't compensate nearly as much and the horse will be purple and look wrong. The only way you can really know what color the horse actually is is by measuring it.

Remember, don't trust your eyes for this sort of thing:



Thank you.

I appreciate you not letting this go w/my artistic sensibilities and following up... How did you measure the colors in fact?

[rutt]

Thank you.

I appreciate you not letting this go w/my artistic sensibilities and following up... How did you measure the colors in fact?

If you use photoshop, there is an "info palette". It's not on top in the default configuration but on a tab in the same window as "navigate". Bring it up and choose the color sampler tool. You probably want to change the option to use a 3x3 sample instead of a point sample. Then move the sampler over the horse and look at the numbers. Neutral numbers have equal RGB values. If the R is lower than the B the color is more blue than red. An easier way to do this is to use the L.A.B color space. See this thread. (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=19556)

[DavidTO]

K. No more Photoshop how-to talk. Move along. Take it elsewhere, etc. :D

It's all good info, but we'll keep it to critique here, eh?