The title says it all - these two belong to a farm about two kilometres away from our house so I pass them often, and every time I pass, I stop for a photograph... it's only the second time I've posted the result though.
Today's OCOLOY learning point: if it looks too small in the viewfinder, move closer: if you can't move closer, find something else to photograph! (Supplementary learning point: don't photograph scenes that need wires and stuff removing if you're going to post SOOC!)
This image is SOOC and is part of my ongoing OCOLOY project - you can read more about it in my post for 1 January and in my profile.
i love the stories you put with your photos Richard...and the learning points...i totally agree about the wires...i loathe wires...and signs...and rubbish bins...another great image...love the trees and the sky...fav
All true. I might have tried shooting a little more to the right so as not to clip the trees. My phobia about "pokies" showing of course. If you were editing, and i know that is not what you are after, this would be ideal to selectively sharpen and brighten the horses, and selectively blur the rest, especially the stark trees. And of course I would clone away the poles and lines.
@frankhymus If I were editing, I would do exactly as you suggest Frank; in fact and just for interest, I did do a quick crop and edit on the raw file before I posted the parallel Jpeg... it worked well.
As for the composition, it isn't as easy as you suggest, because there are lots more trees on the right and their branches intermingle so there are always going to be 'pokies'. There is a natural crop point where the white feed bucket is on the ground and I have a shot which put the right frame border there, but that put the horses at centre stage and a lot of empty field at the left... apart from another power-pole! So in the end, I went for this composition which puts the horses - the main subject - at the left lower thirds point. It's precisely to make this sort of decision making become second nature that I am doing this exercise.
Sh-t I touched the wrong button and lost my message. Anyway basically I said that when I first looked at the picture I wondered why you didn't remove the wire because you would have told me to. Then I remembered your program. But it is a very teachable moment for me because my eye is so drawn to that wire. So even though I don't notice them others do. Sometimes in our own photos we get so wrapped in the subject we don't see the rest of the picture. So student takes the lesson.
@frankhymus Oh, absolutely Frank, I have no intention of giving up editing - apart from anything else, it's an activity that I thoroughly enjoy - but I want to improve the quality of my starting images and teach my eye to vision with the focal length I am using.
As for the composition, it isn't as easy as you suggest, because there are lots more trees on the right and their branches intermingle so there are always going to be 'pokies'. There is a natural crop point where the white feed bucket is on the ground and I have a shot which put the right frame border there, but that put the horses at centre stage and a lot of empty field at the left... apart from another power-pole! So in the end, I went for this composition which puts the horses - the main subject - at the left lower thirds point. It's precisely to make this sort of decision making become second nature that I am doing this exercise.