Guy Hawkins  


Char's Horse by Guy Hawkins

January 2018 - Char's Horse

January 2018 - Guy Hawkins

Original

About the Image(s)

I was inspired to take this picture called Char's Horse for a sister-in-law who is battling cancer and owns this horse. It is her favorite horse and told me that she would like to have a picture of it to hang on her wall. The picture was taken in AZ in the late evening while the horse was out in the corral. I used a Nikkor 18-200 lens on my D200. I had hoped to get a picture when the horse was in the middle of corral but whenever I would approach he would come up to the fence so in the end I had to include some of the fence and then clone it out. The settings were 1/50 of a second at f5.6 at 170mm and ISO 200. I am interested in knowing how others see the photo and is there are suggestions for dealing with the washed out areas at the top of the picture as well as the dark area at the bottom of the horse's neck.


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




 
Welcome Guy,
Having owned and shown horses, I know how difficult it is to get the to pose. I like the out-of-focus background. Bob will have some good technical advice, but maybe a small crop of the left side and maybe remove the one part of the mane that is hanging by itself.   Posted: 01/10/2018 07:45:22



Albert Zabin   Albert Zabin
(Groups 47 & 53)
WElcome. This is a lovely portrait. I don't see a probelm with the dark area of the animal's neck. It actually enhances the feeling of the natural curves in the animal. I might consider cropping up to the first showing of the mane on the neck. Using masks or the photoshop blur tool set to "darken"I would blur and darken the background (not too dramatically, maybe 10-15%) Most of the white spots need to be cloned out by copying other surrounding leaves on them. Thanks for sharding this with us   Posted: 01/10/2018 21:02:27



Mervyn Hurwitz   Mervyn Hurwitz
Welcome to our group, Guy. It is good to have another Floridian in the group, even though you are only here part time.
I love the pose, the tight crop, and the removal of all the distractions. The highlights don't bother me as the horse stands out so beautifully. I would have cropped out the window on the bottom center.   Posted: 01/11/2018 12:54:59



 
Welcome, Guy! I hope you enjoy the group! Very nice horse portrait, especially the expression. To me, he looks like he could be saying something. This is much improved from the original. You captured great details. Forgive my ignorance of horses, but I especially like the tiny chin (?) hairs. I like the bokeh in the background. To me it's interesting, not distracting. If you choose to do any cloning, I would work on only the hotter spots. I think the piece of window could be removed, and a small crop of the left might be preferable. I'm sure your sister will love this!   Posted: 01/11/2018 18:26:49



Bob Benson   Bob Benson
The improvements you made are great. I am not bothered by the dangling hair, except I might "cut" the one strand on the neck to match the length of the others. The bottom window is not a big distraction, but it might be improved with it cloned out.
I agree with Belinda that over all the specular highlights are not a major problem; I would just clone out (or reduce) the big group in the center.   Posted: 01/15/2018 14:36:06



Jose Cartas   Jose Cartas
Welcome to the group Guy! This is a wonderful portrait of the animal, and I'm sure your sister in law will love it. I like it as it is, including the bright spots behind the horse. In a way, they give the picture a dreamy feeling. Although not very disturbing, I would clone anyway the door at the center bottom. I would also "trim" the longer hair coming down its neck. Except for these two minor adjustments, I wouldn't touch anything.   Posted: 01/18/2018 20:54:54