Richard Siersma
July 2025 - And the race is on
About the Image(s)
This was taken at a local rodeo; this young lady was rounding her last barrel before heading for home. It's just amazing how the horse and rider work together in all the different events. In LR I cropped in from the top and right sides, then chose Auto for the basic adjustments. From LR I used Topaz Photo AI to DeNoise, Face Recovery, Lighting adjustment, and Sharpening. To tone down the BG, I used PS to isolate BG and then used the Gaussian blur.
Exposure: f/8 @ 1/1000 ISO 2200
7 comments posted
Hi Richard. The tilt of the horse, the flying mane, and the spray of grit carry a real sense of power and split-second timing and you convey how the horse and rider are unified. I think the bottom of the frame could be cropped and some of the lhs too and that would draw us into the image more. Noted you have tried to reduce the impact of the background but I think you could go further by desaturating it more and adding some haze. Posted: 07/05/2025 10:02:41
Richard, you've made an outstanding action photograph. Your position and timing were perfect. Unfortunately, where I live, rodeos are rare; otherwise, your image would motivate me to attend one (with my camera, of course). Very nicely done.
I played a bit with your photograph, trying to make it feel even more 3-D. I used one of Photoshop's Neural Filters (depth blur) to add both blur and a bit of haze to the more distant areas. This helped obscure the writing on the signs, which I found distracting. Then, I used Camera Raw's masking to modify the lighting. Your thoughts? Posted: 07/06/2025 01:40:59
I played a bit with your photograph, trying to make it feel even more 3-D. I used one of Photoshop's Neural Filters (depth blur) to add both blur and a bit of haze to the more distant areas. This helped obscure the writing on the signs, which I found distracting. Then, I used Camera Raw's masking to modify the lighting. Your thoughts? Posted: 07/06/2025 01:40:59
Thanks, Pete, I use the depth blur filter often but I forgot to use it when I worked on this image. Thanks for the help. Posted: 07/12/2025 20:18:59
I love this photo.. great action photo..If this was my photo I would make the following changes.. Aff more blur & darken the background..added light on the horses eye. cropped a bit from the riight side and darken the highlights on yop right. I didn't do a good job with reins.I hope you like what I did..Let me know your thoughts Posted: 07/06/2025 01:44:22
Thanks, Sophia, you did a great job highlighting the action. I am going back to see if I can do a better job on the reins and add the suggestions that you and Pete have provided. Posted: 07/12/2025 20:27:54
Really perfect picture!!!
And I support Oliver and Sophia for idea of blurring of background. Posted: 07/08/2025 14:39:20
And I support Oliver and Sophia for idea of blurring of background. Posted: 07/08/2025 14:39:20
Hi Richard, a beautiful action image, well done! I like the composition and the process. Thanks for sharing! Posted: 07/23/2025 16:04:19