A little too sharp?

[burdock87]

So I was trying to shoot some pictures of the mamas and babies, and I tried to edit this one a little bit, since it was too hard to differentiate the mama from the calf... Maybe a little too sharp?

What can i do to make shots like this a little better? The sun was hidden behind clouds, and I scared this little calf out a nap. Would it be better with some editing?

 

[AgentDrex]

Can you post the originals so I can dink around with them a little?

I hope someone can answer your question as I would like to know how to photograph a black cow without losing definition and blowing out the sky.

 

[Trever1t]

Try different metering like center weighted or spot metering. You're underexposing the animal because of the bright sky.

The sky will be over exposed as a result unless a GND is used or you can get more light onto the animal.

 

[Stradawhovious]

Image #1 should be called "Holy Cow"

 

[AgentDrex]

Do a little thing we Minnesotans call "shining". Expose for the sky and shine a high-powered light at the cow....

 

[burdock87]

LOL! I'm from Wisconsin originally, so I totally understand shining...

That's the original picture

 

[AgentDrex]

Here ya go...I selected the cows...copied them into a new layer...made a second layer from that and chose "screen" for the blending mode....merged those two layers...messed around with shadows/highlights....merged all the layers with the background...again messed around with the shadows/highlights on this new merged layer and voila:

Yeah, it was a horrible edit...why did I do it then? Perhaps this next photo will explain it all:

 

[burdock87]

lol! I don't have a decent photo editing program, so I'm stuck with Photoscape. I'm really sad I can't get GIMP to work! And I can't afford to buy a program right now.

Thanks for the edit!

 

[RedWylder]

I think your composition is boring as well. So that on top of the tough lighting isn't working for you.

 

[burdock87]

Composition as in subject, or angle of shot?

 

[RedWylder]

Well I suppose neither. I was referring to the fact that the cows are dead center. If they were composed within the frame using the rule of thirds it would be more interesting.

 

[burdock87]

Ah...I see. Well...it's definitely something to work on. Hopefully the girls aren't going anywhere any time soon! There was talk of moving them to a pasture with green grass, as we're still dead brown.

 

[chaosrealm93]

everything is so sharp (in the first one).. even the sky and the grass...

 

[burdock87]

Yeah, I was playing with it trying to make it look good, and I went overboard...lol

 

[MissCream]

Here is my edit.