Allen Tucker  


Framed Horses by Allen Tucker

February 2021 - Framed Horses

February 2021 - Allen Tucker

Original

February 2021 - Allen Tucker

Original 2

About the Image(s)

On a hike past an Arabian horse ranch I spotted this contrasting pair framed by a curved trunk of an old oak tree. (They all are dark as foals, mares turn white as they age.) My hiking companion Fuji X100F has a fixed wide angle lens so the capture shot has a lot of clutter, Original 2 is the cropped color version with basic Lightroom processing. Converted to monochrome starting with Lightroom profile B&W 06, lightened the foreground rock with a radial filter, and gave the dirty mare a digital bath with the brush tool. Suggestions?


This round’s discussion is now closed!
4 comments posted




Henry Heerschap   Henry Heerschap
Lovely pastoral image, Allen. Wonderful processing.
A few minor ideas: crop in a bit more on the right, maybe half-way to the branch to balance the composition a bit; add a slight vignette, particularly on the left edge.   Posted: 02/03/2021 21:06:44



Jim Hagan   Jim Hagan
I like the image and the mono conversion. However, I am not sure about the heavy limb framing the horses. Consider my conversion in which I included the end of the limb and more of the foreground which I felt allows the eye to move around more in the image.   Posted: 02/08/2021 07:54:04
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Jim Bodkin   Jim Bodkin
I understand the desire to change the organization of the foreground and making a better arch of the tree limb by rotating the image clockwise, but, to me, the stance of the horses didn't seem natural. I didn't realize it originally, so I did a similar crop of the original image and realized that the shadows and horses seemed off. My interpretation is attached.

I like that you brought out detail of the dark bark and emphasized the rock in the foreground to give some character to the foreground. I was concerned with the open triangle of grass on the upper left that could be toned down slightly/significantly.
A seemingly simple image turned more complex.

  Posted: 02/10/2021 15:26:50
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Allen Tucker   Allen Tucker
The horses are on a slope, rising to the left. I used the pond surface (upper left in the original) for a horizontal reference in the crop. I agree with the edge darkening suggested by your and Henry.   Posted: 02/15/2021 15:04:18