Theme Challenge: Really Impressive Horse Pictures

[Matt Halstead]

Let me introduce these fine pictures. When I first saw the horse photographs in the thread, Horse Whisperer, I was taken aback.

The pictures are unusually powerful. We like the horses! They're handsome and elegant too but these qualities are so hard to imprint in a photograph. So these photographs make a great start for a good collection of special pictures on horses. If you want to critique the picture more than a brief line, add your opinions to the orginal thread. Asher




Hi Guys,

Took this shot on a recent trip to Snowdonia, North Wales. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

And here is me being nibbled on!

Thanks guys!

Read about this shot and others at my Photoblog:

http://www.imagespike.wordpress.com

 

[janet Smith]

Hi Matt

I love this sort of day when a patch of sun breaks through the heavy cloud, the horses head turned away from you but he's keeping his beady eye on you for a little treat no doubt, looks like a lucky moment on a rainy day, beautiful, I love it...

 

[Don Cohen]

A wonderfully dramatic photo, Matt!! This image really appeals to me.

What camera/lens/specs?

Thanks for posting.

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Yes, I agree - thanks Asher and Sean

Mike

 

[Asher Kelman]

So let's use this as a stimulus to make a collection of fime horse pictures. Who's going to step forward!

Asher

Brief comments only on Theme Pictures so as to get a rich collection not over-burdened with text. In depth critique of the pictures go into the thread of origin of the picture or please start a new thread.

 

[Don Cohen]

Well, I don't know whether it's fime or not <grin>, but here is my only horse photo!

It's one of the Chincoteague ponies in Virginia.

 

[Asher Kelman]

That's superb. Does the white egret confer any benefit to the pony?

Asher

 

[Don Cohen]

That's superb. Does the white egret confer any benefit to the pony?

Asher

More likely than not, this is a "Cattle Egret" (although it doesn't show the distinctive brownish highlights that typically accompany this species), and their name is associated with their behavior - often found in the company of cattle (or in this case, horses). They feed on the flies and other insects, possibly ticks as well, that accompany these larger mammals.

So the Egret definitely benefits from the "free meal" as does the mammal, being freed of some 6 or 8-legged pests.

 

[DLibrach]

Not usually around horses but couldn't resist when this young girl with her dog and horse came out for a stroll along the oceans edge at sunset.

David

 

[Don Cohen]

Not usually around horses but couldn't resist when this young girl with her dog and horse came out for a stroll along the oceans edge at sunset.[\quote]

These are wonderful images. I pretty much like everything about them. Well done!

I've been up to your corner of the globe a couple of times in recent years - once mainly to Cape Breton, and the second time emphasizing the coastal area more, including a trip to Machias Seal Island. I thoroughly enjoyed my time up there!

 

[Asher Kelman]

After taking a picture: factive, as is or fictive as might be?

Sacrificing color! This decision and departure from expectations is significant and as a first step, at least, puts your work apart from what's expected.

Look how much just including the dog changes the picture, suggesting a new narrative of the bond between the two of them.

Asher

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Sacrificing color! This decision and departure from expectations is significant and as a first step, at least, puts your work apart from what's expected.

Hi Asher,

Considering the global location of David (Nova Scotia) and the angle of the sun at this time of the year, I guess that these pictures were not taken at sunset time. More like mid afternoon or mid morning. If this assumpion is correct, there wouldn't be much color to be removed to start with. But I hope David shall clarify this .

Cheers,

 

[DLibrach]

Hi Asher,

Considering the global location of David (Nova Scotia) and the angle of the sun at this time of the year, I guess that these pictures were not taken at sunset time. More like mid afternoon or mid morning. If this assumpion is correct, there wouldn't be much color to be removed to start with. But I hope David shall clarify this .

Cheers,

Sorry, should have included a location with those. These were in fact taken on the opposite side of the country near Tofino, British Columbia on the Pacific Cost this past September at around 7:00pm local time (according to the EXIF).

That being said, despite Halifax being on the East Coast, we still see the sun set here too!

David

 

[DLibrach]

These are wonderful images. I pretty much like everything about them. Well done!

I've been up to your corner of the globe a couple of times in recent years - once mainly to Cape Breton, and the second time emphasizing the coastal area more, including a trip to Machias Seal Island. I thoroughly enjoyed my time up there!

Thanks, Don! Cape Breton is definitely a bit of a hidden treasure. In fact I believe it was ranked in the top 10 of National Geographic's Islands to visit. The fall colours (if you are lucky to catch them) are simply spectacular. Glad you enjoyed your time there. That and Vancouver Island (where these images were taken) are two of my favorite places on this continent.

Cheers,
David

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi Asher,

Considering the global location of David (Nova Scotia) and the angle of the sun at this time of the year, I guess that these pictures were not taken at sunset time. More like mid afternoon or mid morning. If this assumpion is correct, there wouldn't be much color to be removed to start with. But I hope David shall clarify this .

Cheers,

Sorry, should have included a location with those. These were in fact taken on the opposite side of the country near Tofino, British Columbia on the Pacific Cost this past September at around 7:00pm local time (according to the EXIF).

That being said, despite Halifax being on the East Coast, we still see the sun set here too!

David

Hi David,

Thanks for the clarification. The fact that the pictures were taken in Western Canada does not make a difference since the latitude is more or less the same. But I was under the assumption that the pictures were recent, that is why I wrote "at this time of the year". There is a huge difference between January and September when it comes to the angle of the sun at a certain time of the day.

Regards,

 

[DLibrach]

Yes, given the current time of year I could see where the confusion was. On a nerdy, geographical note, there is a large enough difference in latitude (~5 degrees) between the two places to make a noticeable difference in the angle of the sun at the same time of year. That however, is a discussion probably best left for a different thread......


Cheers,
David

 

[Walt Conley]

Those shots from Wales are an intimidating, hard act to follow. This shot is of Tilly on a romp. Tilly and and her two companions liked to run along with the dogs belonging to her owner.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Those shots from Wales are an intimidating, hard act to follow. This shot is of Tilly on a romp. Tilly and and her two companions liked to run along with the dogs belonging to her owner.

Walt,

You have no need for modesty on this shot. The colors and flaring of her maine and tail are magnificent. I also get love a sense of her athletic freedom, running against the natural landscape. It's like swimming naked.; nothing between the skin and the passing water. There really is a difference seeing these creatures without the tied on saddle, reins and bit.

Now what did you finally do in this presentation? You obviosuly must have panned to get this sharp picture of her. But why is there no grass near us in focus? I guess you just have such a narrow DOF.

Somehow, I'd like some sense of the speed but also to describe better the grass itself. Maybe, the mare could be blurred a little to decrease the difference. I wonder what it might be like.

I have never considered this before, but the relationships between the animal in its natural surroundings can be presented so many different ways by such selective focus. With dust, one can have sharp focus and still get the idea of thundering hooves. Tony Bonnano, it seems, has dust in sharp focus in his stellar pictures.

 

[doug anderson]

Beautiful shot. Let's hear it for fast shutter speeds.

D

 

[Walt Conley]

Thanks Asher, Doug. Shallow DOF was definitely a problem. The picture above was taken in a field filled with weeds so the DOF hides that unsightly fact. The conditions were a little callenging - 7:30PM with a slight overcast. Shot with a 20D at ISO 400, 200mm, f/2.8 and 1/250th. I've not been happy with the 20D performance above ISO 400 (400 is a push IMO) so I was reluctant to go higher. Percentage of keepers was very low because of the compromises. With three 1000 pound animals running around occasionally being prompted by a couple dogs, you have to keep on your toes. At one time Tilly slipped as she was galloping in my direction. She slid onto her side and slid half the distance from first falling to where I stood. Funny thing was that as she slid to a stop, all the play ceased and the other two came up to her to check her out before running around again.

Here are a few others:
Sierra on the run

A bid for top dog

The slip

 

[John Detraz]

Working horses

Seeing great shots of horses running free with a solid background makes trying to show how horses are often utilized is difficult. I'm not real happy with this photo however I can't put my finger on the overall problem. C&C Please.

 

[Don Cohen]

Hi John,

Thanks for posting, and bringing this thread back to life!

I agree that this image has great potential, but something isn't quite working. Here are a few thoughts:

First, I think the green grass in the foreground is distracting, and takes away from the hard working horses. Here's a possible crop (I also upsampled a little, to give a larger image to look at):

As I thought more about it, I wondered if this might work better as Black and White:

Your thoughts?

 

[John Detraz]

I had cropped the grass out and it appeared bland though I see you left a sliver of grass, I never tried upsampling to make the image larger, as for B&W I remember when that's all I had with my Brownie box camera, it worked well then and still works today. I still like the blue of his coat in contrast to the bright silver of the barn roof. I'll play with upsampling and see how that turns out.

 

[Don Cohen]

I'll play with upsampling and see how that turns out.

Your original image is only 500x333 pixels. I'm assuming the original image file is dramatically larger than that. I upsampled from 500x333 to 660x440 to make things a little easier to see, but you'll be starting from your original image, of however many megapixels, and downsampling for web display. I'd keep the posted image at 440 pixels or higher on the shorter dimension, to enhance the overall visual impact and detail of the image.

 

[John Detraz]

Your original image is only 500x333 pixels. I'm assuming the original image file is dramatically larger than that. I upsampled from 500x333 to 660x440 to make things a little easier to see, but you'll be starting from your original image, of however many megapixels, and downsampling for web display. I'd keep the posted image at 440 pixels or higher on the shorter dimension, to enhance the overall visual impact and detail of the image.

I rechecked my original jpg and it is 3588 x 2848, looks like I've got a lot to learn about posting images.

 

[Don Cohen]

I rechecked my original jpg and it is 3588 x 2848, looks like I've got a lot to learn about posting images.

All of us go through the same learning curve at one point or another, so don't worry about it. Let us know if you run into questions or problems as you work your way through this.

 

[John Detraz]

Original size of Working horse photo

I didn't realize that I could select different size photo on flickr. I'm interested to see if this works.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Functionally it works. Yes it appears in the thread, but as a monster truck driving on a model train set. It's now far to massive. Consider cropping to 800 or 900 wide and replacing the huge one with that by giving it the same name. Or else you can repost and I can delete the other one for you when you do.

Asher

 

[John Detraz]

Functionally it works. Yes it appears in the thread, but as a monster truck driving on a model train set. It's now far to massive. Consider cropping to 800 or 900 wide and replacing the huge one with that by giving it the same name. Or else you can repost and I can delete the other one for you when you do.

Asher

I replaced the original with a much smaller picture is this one also to large?

 

[Asher Kelman]

I replaced the original with a much smaller picture is this one also to large?

The picture is already so much better. It can be bigger. try 800 pixels wide.

Asher