Gerard Blair  


Graze Over The Fence by Gerard Blair

October 2020 - Graze Over The Fence

About the Image(s)

A misty day - a train coming to a crossing - I jumped out of the car and failed to catch a decent train shot - but took a deep breath and turned elsewhere in the few seconds I had before I had to drive off.

After last month's discussion of B&W - I wanted to try one of my own. Vastly different setting but I intended for the mist to be the "rational" for the B&W conversion. I see (or rather hope to show) the contrast between the dark, defined foreground and the less distinct background. All editing done in Adobe camera RAW editor - not where I usually convert - but once I had done so I could not launch the Nik tools; fortunately this reduced the temptation to go for stronger contrast which is my obsession.

Farmers among you may be surprised by the lone Jersey cow standing proud and center in a field of black angus; she is actually a loan cow from another farm, acting as a wet-nurse to a pair of orphaned calves (amazing what you learn when chatting with the farmer's wife).

1/80 s at f/14.0 -0.33 ISO 250 (auto) - Canon EOS 6D Mark II
Focal Length 45mm (Tamrom Prime - SP 45mm F/1.8 Di VC USD)


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




Robert Atkins   Robert Atkins
It seems like everyone is doing images with fog or mist this month - I must have missed the memo! This is another such great image, where for me the mist here portrays a calm, peaceful mood. I think the black and white rendering works well to support this feeling.

Compositionally, I think the image could be strengthened by getting slightly lower, so that the branch/leaves on the left are not touching any of the cows. That also would enhance the framing that the branch provides the image. You might also play with cloning out the rightmost cow. I like the way the fence on the right leads off into the mist, and I find that cow interrupts that.

I have to admit, not knowing my cows, I didn't notice the Jersey until you pointed it out. Glad you were able to pivot from the train to this scene instead. Nice image!

  Posted: 10/06/2020 19:19:38



Dan Mottaz   Dan Mottaz
Fog and mist create excellent opportunities for some fun photography. With your October image, Gerard, you saw a great shot. In Robert's review where he wrote about strengthening the image by positioning the camera lower in my opinion was correct. See the attached. But, that aside, I still love your photo. You captured and processed the scene in a way that as the eye trails off to the background, the detail disappears and becomes pure white. But the cows remain appropriately dark. The fence on the right holds my eye in the frame nicely. And, the B&W is perfect.   Posted: 10/15/2020 10:29:46
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Gerard, this is a really interesting image. Many B&W images tend to be a bit darker in terms of the tones. But I think this one being lighter works really well. I think that the lighter shades of the B&W draw my attention to the cows and the objects in the scene, with the white mist/fog working like a backdrop.   Posted: 10/16/2020 12:57:51



Cheryl LaLonde   Cheryl LaLonde
Hi Gerard

Love the fog in this image. It is just enough to create a great background for the cows. I agree with Robert regarding the composition suggestions.

I like how Dan cropped the bottom. In addition I would crop a little off the top and darken the top and bottom to close the image in on the cows.   Posted: 10/17/2020 20:33:18
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Dale Yates   Dale Yates
(Group 87)
Excellent image! It seems like fog is a common theme this month! I believe that your handling of the fog is excellent and provides a nice background to the cattle. The foreground elements of the tree limbs and the fence provide good, solid depth. The fence line to the right guides my eyes through the image. I also agree with the conversion to black and white for this photo. My only critique is that I agree with the others in modifying the crop a little. Nice work!   Posted: 10/19/2020 15:46:10



Gerard Blair   Gerard Blair
(Group 79)
Thank you all for your comments. I agree that I should have crouched down and shot so that the cows were under the tree. However, I disagree with the loss of the fence. I like my fence. I want my fence to add a barrier between the viewer and the aetherial world beyond ... and I like that it breaks the image up into four regions. Clearly not a common objective :-) but that is where I stand.   Posted: 10/23/2020 19:06:48