Shirley, Well done with the action image. Very nice treatment with the BW conversion.
One of the first things I noticed with your presented image was the truncation of the statuary on the infield. My thought is that this sculpture is an important aspect of the overall theme of the event. I took the liberty of cropping the original to include all of the sculpture, while giving the live horses on the track a bit more area to "ride in to".
It looks like it would have been a fun day with the camera at the track.   Posted: 01/03/2025 20:22:22

Great sports image with excitement in the closely competing four horses in the front and the other two being blocked and probably frustrated. I like the BW conversion but think the scattered whites could be brought out slightly to add to the excitement. Also I think you have some space to add in the front. The horse statue is somewhat of a background conflict so I would consider targeted brushing out the blacks and decreasing clarity. You could even take it out with generative AI or cloning perhaps.   Posted: 01/04/2025 03:42:47

Great! It should be a winner.   Posted: 01/06/2025 20:14:32

Shirley this is a great action image, but I am not convinced it is a good choice to present as a monochrome image. All the horses are the same colour (brown) except for No.3, and I find there is not enough separation in the detail between the four leading horses. To me there is a degree of confusion when I look at those first four horses. I have to look hard to distinguish the features of each horse.
The harsh overhead sunlight hasn't brought out enough detail in the individual horses to provide adequate detail.
The advantage of the colour image is that the subtle variations in colour can be highlighted, whereas they seem to be lost in the monochrome image.
It is a great image but I might stick with the colour version. Just a thought
  Posted: 01/11/2025 05:10:13

I think both color and monochrome renditions are excellent!   Posted: 01/11/2025 16:09:50

What a fun day you must have had. This is a great image in color, but I agree with Martin in that the details of each rider and his horse are lost in the b&w version. I also think that the b&w version looks very crunchy because of the way the light is hitting everything. I would stick with the color version and tone down the bushes in the background as the new growth of the bushes are picking up a lot of light. As for the statue, either include the entire thing or delete it as you did. Deleting it works better for me as only after I zoomed into the photo did I realize it was a statue. Great action shot, Shirley!   Posted: 01/12/2025 18:25:32

Shirley…loved what all your group commented about. As for me, I like the last one that Martin did. I like the color best!   Posted: 01/18/2025 00:58:17