A few pics I caught at a riding clinic this weekend. Taken with 20D and a 75-300IS lens (hand held). One minute it was overcast and dreary, then the sun would pop out and I got sunburnt, lol. Not thrilled with my colors still, but overall I'm happy with the end product. Comments and critiques welcome!


A black and white...



another black and white. This one has some blown out areas, but for some reason it makes me like it that much more. Almost like you can see their aura(sp?)

Thanks for looking!!

i dont see anything. . .

Originally Posted by binghott i dont see anything. . .

I can...herumph. Maybe I still haven't figured out this mac thing after all. How come I can, but you can't?? Anyone...

Do you have your smugmug account set-up to allow you to link images? Check yer profile.

Your first post is properly formatted, so your account settings are the only thing I can think of.

Originally Posted by wxwax Do you have your smugmug account set-up to allow you to link images? Check yer profile. Your first post is properly formatted, so your account settings are the only thing I can think of.

wxwax ~ WHOO HOOO! Thank you so very much. Who would have thought it could have been THAT simple, lol

The color shot is really nice. The B&Ws need better conversions, too much detail loss for my eye. I'd like to see them in color. Why the B&W conversions? The color in the first shot is so nice, why not stick with it?

Originally Posted by rutt The color shot is really nice. The B&Ws need better conversions, too much detail loss for my eye. I'd like to see them in color. Why the B&W conversions? The color in the first shot is so nice, why not stick with it?

Thanks for the feedback rutt! I have the original versions as well, just thought I'd offer them the b&w versions also. Here are the originals of the two b&w's...showing them med. size so I don't eat up so much photo space, lol.

Much better. The last one is really nice, but maybe you can fix the blown highlights. Was it shot raw? If so, say so. If, try shadow/highlight, turn off shadow and try playing with highlight amount and radius to see if there is something there. If you don't have PS/CS, you won't be able to do this, sorry.

Whatever, it's still a really fetching picture of the girl and the horse is a classic composition. There are these great spring colors slightly blurred in the background. Why convert this picture to B&W?

Originally Posted by rutt Much better. The last one is really nice, but maybe you can fix the blown highlights. Was it shot raw? If so, say so. If, try shadow/highlight, turn off shadow and try playing with highlight amount and radius to see if there is something there. If you don't have PS/CS, you won't be able to do this, sorry. Whatever, it's still a really fetching picture of the girl and the horse is a classic composition. There are these great spring colors slightly blurred in the background. Why convert this picture to B&W?

Thanks again Rutt. I did not shoot these RAW but used the largest JPEG. I'm unfamiliar with RAW, so I haven't even played with it yet. One of these days I'll get brave.

I do have PSCS...but am just learning (read: I flip through my PSCS book for digital photographers book as I go along). Not sure why this pic told me toy with the desat button, lol. Possibly it was the fact that it was blown in spots...I don't know what makes me actually like that in the b&w version. S'pose I'm just weird, lol. I do like the original better...and I'll play with it some more to see if I can tweak the blown spots.

Thanks again, I really appreciate your replies!! Always wanting to know more...learn from my mistakes and do it better next time!

i can see! i can see!
me likey.

i like the third the most, i think it's prettier while the other two seem to be more about action. i hope that somehow helps.

-barry

FWIW, I think that an imprefect picture is usually a very bad reason to convert to B&W. Better to try to figure out how to fix the color first. B&W can be great, but not as a fix, rather as a statement. I am always happy to help with fixes.

In the particular case of #3, even without any more work, the color is much nicer than the B&W and always will be because the B&W conversion loses the subtle spring colors in the background.

There is a real chance that you can help this shot with Image->Adjustments->Shadow/Highlight. Turn the shadow amount to 0. Try increasing the Highlight amount to see if it can recover any detail in the blown area. If so great. If not, well, too bad. It's still a cool shot in color.

Natalie,

I like them all. The first one is dynamite IMO, it could even be cropped tighter, if you want to show more of the rider's and horse's faces. The last 2 have some blown out areas. I have to agree with Rutt. You shouldn't convert just because these are "problem images". IMO, you should try to fix them in PS if possible. The Shadow/Highlight adj is a good place to start. Or even Ctl/Alt/~, then select quick mask > Img Adjustments > Levels, move the left slider at least 1/2 way to the right (maybe 3/4 of the way with these 2 images)> Select normal mask mode > Ctl J (which will create a new layer) > blend with Multiply and select opacity to taste. This should take down the brightest tones, while leaving the rest of the image untouched.

If you don't want to get into shooting RAW (which really helps shots like these), next time you shoot, set the EV comp for -2/3. That may slightly under expose some of the darker tones, but it will prevent/minimize the blow outs. Plus, it's usually easier to lighten and get some detail out of darker areas than it is to get detail back and darken over exposed areas.

Nice work Nat and thanks for sharing them,


Steve

Thankyou guys so much for your help and tips! Now if I can just remember it (will have to use a sticky, he he). I seem to be having some blow out issues lately. Guess it's the photog God's telling me I must study more, lol .

Thanks again!