Hauso

[kenfowkes]

Open to all areas of critique, and I'm particularly interested in post-processing feedback on ways I might enhance the sense of connection between horse and rider.

[™Ken Kruse™]

It's a beautiful photo. I love the composition and colors as well as the motion blur that gives it the feel of being there. I think a gradient darkening of the bottom 1/4 would help bring the eye up to give more emphasis on the rider and horse. I also think a slight vignette might help isolate the horse and rider from the background so as to better tie them together. 

The rider is relatively sharp compared to his horse which makes me wonder whether completely marrying the two might be difficult, nonetheless I feel that this also tells it's own story, one where the rider remains nearly motionless while his horse side steps in a sashaying fashion. The rider seems to be the fulcrum from which the horse pivots. I wonder if increased local contrast, specifically around certain areas, might intensify the effect.

[Kevin Childress]

Really nice job with this one, Ken; an excellent image all around. The motion blur looks really good and you did a fine job of panning with the rider. I love the colors on this and I get a good sense of connection between the horse and rider, so I don't have any recommendations to improve in that area.

I agree with all that Ken K. had to say about this one, particularly about the gradient on the bottom. I think my gradient would feather from the bottom, upward to just around the rider's boots. I'm not sure that I would adjust the exposure across that gradient but push the contrast a bit which will definitely have a darkening effect. The increase in contrast might boost the perceived saturation, so if I liked what the gradient did for the image I would only look at saturation across the gradient to determine if saturation should be dialed back a couple points. 

As for other local adjustments, I'd like to see contrast increased in the area to the right of the rider (camera right) to better match the left side. I'm looking at the area from the rider's left shoulder, downward to about where the background trees meet the ground. 

[Kevin Childress]

Oh, I forgot (because we never want to forget this part):   Does the image want to be rotated to the left a bit?

[kenfowkes]

Great feedback guys! I really like what the gradient adjustment (contrast up, brightness and saturation down) did to the bottom of the image. The blurred legs and hoofs stand out now to a degree that much better matches their importance for the shot, and I very much like how brown dirt ended up very close in tone to the horse and rider's skin.

Kevin, I also like your idea about adjusting the background on the right of the rider to better match the left. The result seems to be greater isolation between the rider and background. Nice! I can't really tell if the camera was tilted or my pan motion was, but it does indeed look better to me rotated slightly counterclockwise. To me, the rider ends up seeming more properly forward in his saddle.

Ken, I'm always a bit worried about too much vignette, because whenever I notice vignette I find it distracting. I try to find an amount that works to emphasize the subject without actually being easily evident. Here, as is probably often the case, I was being over cautious. Yes, haha, I had already applied a slight vignette. 8-)   I think all it did was slightly reduce the reverse-vignette-like pattern of brightness that was already present in the background naturally. So I went at it again and ended up lighting the middle of the image as well as darkening the edges. I'm curious if you find what I did too subtle still. That would not surprise me!

I really appreciate the help! While I was down in South America I saw that a photo contest web site I like opened a contest with the theme "South American Culture", and I plan on entering this one once I'm done tweaking. Here's version #2, and I'm curious how well you think this addresses your excellent feedback, if you care to have another go at it.

[Kevin Childress]

I dig it and I think this is a good one for the competition.

I probably wouldn't have gone into this, but since you mentioned entering this one for contest: I'm looking at the space available around the edges (particularly the space between the left-most hoof and the bottom edge of the frame), and I'm envisioning how this looks matted and framed. Consider if a mat were in place, how much real estate the mat would take up over the image. If this is destined for a mat/frame, to keep a really good balance of composition, I think the image could benefit from having more pixels across the bottom and right edges. Is there much of a crop on this? If so, can you open the crop up a bit to include (and I'm guessing) a couple hundred pixels on the bottom and right?  If no crop, or if this is what you have to work with, I would increase the canvas size by a couple hundred pixels on the bottom and right edges and clone in the blank canvas from the surrounding areas. You could make that completely seamless given the un-sharp nature of those pixels.

[™Ken Kruse™]

I think it looks great and is a fine choice for the contest. It is easy to over do it on a vignette which I am probably guilty of more often than not. I can't notice a vignette on this newest version and think it's a perfect amount.

I agree with Kevin's assessment of the lower border now that he mentions it.

[kenfowkes]

Thanks again Kevin and Ken!  When I rotated it I started with the original crop, so lost some space below the horse's right hoof and moved the rider's head to the left, and I wonder if that is contributing to the feeling there needs to be more space on the bottom and right.  Funny thing about the crop is that I put more space on the left intentionally. The horse was moving sideways to the left (their right) when I took the shot, so it felt right to leave more space there. But now that you mention it, there are no obvious cues as to direction of movement! This is why it helps to have feedback. 8-)

Moving the lower right corner out and down just enough to center the rider horizontally while maintaining the original aspect ratio looks good to me, and seems to add emphasis to the rider's balance (I'm thinking of Ken's fulcrum), so that's what I did.

Thanks, thanks, thanks! I'll add a note in a month or so when the contest is over to report back. I find that my initial guess about how well a photo will do is seldom very good, so it is always interesting to find out!

[kenfowkes]

Kevin and Ken,

 

Just to close the loop, the contest I entered this in received 176 entries (on the small side for the site). This photo placed 13th in the popular vote, and the expert gave it a 6th place.

Great result! Looking at some of the expert's critiques I get the impression he pays attention to a photograph's palette, and that is one of the ways this one improved with your help.

So thanks again for your help guys, it definitely made a difference to me and I'm sure the judge as well. 8-)

- Ken

[Kevin Childress]

That is great news Ken. Congratulations on your effort!

I would be interested to hear more about what you meant referring to the palette. My interpretation is that refers to how the subject fits within the frame overall, or maybe how much breathing room is available around the primary subject to take in the entire image. If I am on track with that interpretation, there are a few points I would like to add in that regard.

[kenfowkes]

Hi Kevin,

I was referring to the range of colors in the image. I don't remember if this is something you've addressed specifically in the past (probably yes) but I have noticed that a lot of your images seem to use a restricted and harmonious range of colors. For example: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/43038205, http://www.panoramio.com/photo/79861680, http://www.panoramio.com/photo/87475065.

From time to time I attempt to emulate that by adjusting hues locally to bring them closer to other hues in an image. In this image I did that with the Huaso's skin tones and the horse's hide, specifically to add emphasis to their partnership. I actually was imagining this was something you might do.

Then it turned out that adding the darkening gradient Ken suggested to the bottom had the effect of bringing the tones of the dirt into the same range! Also, the darkened grass better matched some of the lighter greens in the blurred background. For me, the resulting image had better color harmony throughout, and that adds emphasis to both the connection between horse and rider, and to the rider's brightly contrasting outfit.

So, I wasn't addressing how the subject fits within the frame at all, but am very interested in the few points you'd like to add. After your second round of feedback did make a third version with a bit more breathing room on the bottom and right, but just now realized that's not the version I uploaded to the contest. Oops. 8-\

[™Ken Kruse™]

Congratulations! Sorry but I think they made a mistake, you deserve a much higher ranking!

[Kevin Childress]

kenfowkes wrote:

I was referring to the range of colors in the image.

Okay, very interesting. I hear what you're saying and I want to give this some thought. If you've noticed some sort of pattern in my images for restricted and/or harmonious color/hue palette, whether regularly or intermittently, I'm not sure I can claim that as being an attribute I envision or give any particular forethought to. On the other hand, I do rejected quite a lot of images (or never shared them publicly) based on a color attribute that I didn't notice when shooting. Usually that's a color of an object that seems to draw undue attention or takes away from the primary subject otherwise. I do use the HSL adjustment panel in Lr extensively in addition to targeted HSL adjustments in Ps. I've talked to other photographers about their use of the 'L' (luminosity) adjustments in Lr and I'm usually told they don't particularly use that tool. I definitely do. From those conversations I've pretty much figured the 'L' is the most underutilized tools in that panel! 

[kenfowkes]

Thanks Ken. 8-)