Henry Roberts
March 2025 - Wild North Dakota Buddies
About the Image(s)
This was taken in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, USA using a Canon R5 handheld camera 1/1000, f11, iso 400, Canon 24-105 zoom lens. In PS Camera Raw I played with the sliders and cropped slightly on the original camera raw file. In North Dakota the Great Plains are typically wide open, sparsely covered with trees, and without much human habitation. Wild horses range freely, often in small groups or pairs as seen here. I retained a lot of cloudy sky to indicate the vastness of this land.
What do you think and what would you do differently?
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
Hey Henry, interesting image. I cropped out the brush on the left and left in the right brush because it had two birds in it. Cropping the left brush took out some of the excess (in my opinion) sky, and gave more focus on the horses. It was shot from an interesting angle, and the sky is very nice. As always, exposure and composition, and sharpness is right on. I do see how the vast sky does scream, "North Dakota". I loved North and South Dakota. Posted: 03/19/2025 15:42:20
Don, thank you for your comments and cropping. Posted: 03/22/2025 19:25:52
I think including some of the area round the horses do add context which improves the picture. I quite like the birds! Good positioning in the frame, perhaps just needs some lightening of the dark areas on the left hand horse. Posted: 03/22/2025 16:16:34
Andrew, thank you for your comment on the context of the image. And yes, I should have lightened the dark areas of the left hand horse. Posted: 03/22/2025 19:28:18
Hi Henry, like Andrew, I like the bigger picture with the shrubs and birds. I think including the foreground leads this picture to tell more of the story of these horses and how they live. Nice detail through out. Posted: 03/25/2025 13:21:17
Hi Henry, I didn't know that horses still roam free out West. Maybe I should know that. I like how you took the picture from below the horses, looking up, so they appear more majestic. It might be a bit oversaturated. If the horses were interacting with each other somehow - looking at each other, facing each other - it might make a better image. But it's hard to control nature and get them to do what you want. Actually, you could experiment and make a completely different image by removing the brown horse and lightning the birds, so it'd look like the gray horse is watching the birds. I don't know if that would be an improvement, but maybe something to try. Posted: 03/26/2025 03:34:36
Hi, Henry,
I love watching horses, they are beautiful animals. Seeing your description of the Great Plains, I would love to visit there someday.
Getting two horses in poses is very difficult as I found out before. I like Janice's idea to "disappear" the brown one. But I like the fact of two horses minding their own business, and the slope line that draw our eyes from the horses to the bush and the birds…they are keeping each other's company.
I think it's just pure lovely! Posted: 03/27/2025 04:09:49
I love watching horses, they are beautiful animals. Seeing your description of the Great Plains, I would love to visit there someday.
Getting two horses in poses is very difficult as I found out before. I like Janice's idea to "disappear" the brown one. But I like the fact of two horses minding their own business, and the slope line that draw our eyes from the horses to the bush and the birds…they are keeping each other's company.
I think it's just pure lovely! Posted: 03/27/2025 04:09:49