Coming Home - C&C

[sjconner]

Here is a one I took of the cows headed towards home. The sky is a bit overexposed but other than that what do you think? Should I have composed it differently?

Thanks, Susan

 

[D-B-J]

hmm, magic-wand to select the sky, then curves to darken it and add some contrast? Nice shot otherwise. But now that i understand how to fix that sky, i would love to see it fixed!

 

[cnutco]

hmm, magic-wand to select the sky, then curves to darken it and add some contrast? Nice shot otherwise. But now that i understand how to fix that sky, i would love to see it fixed!

Nailed it! It would have really looked nice. I think there are some clouds.

Very nice shot otherwise.

 

[sjconner]

Thanks for the suggestion! Photoshop is totally new to me and it is starting to have a huge learning curve. I am determined to get a handle on it and y'all have been a huge help!

Thanks,
Susan

 

[LaFoto]

With this photo, nice as it is, I would just totally crop that sky and create a photo without sky. I did the "scroll crop" - testwise - by scrolling the sky out of my screen, and it looks better immediately, I think.

 

[cnutco]

With this photo, nice as it is, I would just totally crop that sky and create a photo without sky. I did the "scroll crop" - testwise - by scrolling the sky out of my screen, and it looks better immediately, I think.

HAHA! "Scoll Crop":thumbup: It does work!

Nice way to test the top crop...

 

[Dallmeyer]

A problem with digital is assuming overexposure can be darkened with curves without issues. Its lacking data values for that part of the dynamic range. Likely it will posterize with ugly banding in the sky. Generally expose for the sky (people seem more accpeting of some absence of detail in the shadows rather than missing values in the highlights). I mostly use center-weighted average in pictures like this, metering a composition that contains a slightly greater % of sky than will actually be in the picture i will take, and underexpose 2/3rds of a stop (RAW). I have hundreds of shots that i dont make in to JPEGs because the sky is overexposed (not totally blown but will posterize if adjusted for gamma, contrast or R/G/B filtering in mono).

 

[creisinger]

Correctly exposed on the foreground. Simply take a second shot of the sky stopping down to a level that you personally like and merge the images in any photo editing software. No biggie.

 

[Dallmeyer]

merge the images in any photo editing software. No biggie.

Well YMMV, but personally for me enjoyment of subjective photography comes from the challenge of interpreting a scene within the available stops, in one exposure. Its an impression (exclusion as significant as inclusion).

 

[creisinger]

Well YMMV, but personally for me enjoyment of subjective photography comes from the challenge of interpreting a scene within the available stops, in one exposure. Its an impression (exclusion as significant as inclusion).

I think it takes a bunch of factors for consideration whether this shot is done with one frame or more.

Personal taste, photographic experience and lighting conditions to name a few.

If the photographer can live without the sky crop it. If it's a brightly lit overcast day there is not much you can do with one frame. Others prefer to create an HDR to recover more detail in the sky.

As always this is subjective and the OP is the one to decide what he/she likes best.

 

[Vautrin]

This is nice -- but in the bottom right corner you have a single fence post sticking out... I think ideally you'd want to crop that out or reshoot and change the angle...

But nicely done

 

[Ron Evers]

Aside from what has been mentioned above I find the perspective disconcerting. It seems unnatural from high above the subject matter.

 

[sjconner]

The terrain in that spot is kinda funny. I was on a hill and the cows were coming down the opposite hill. I was using my 75-300 zoom. I tried the adjusting the sky using the curves method and there isn't much there. It posterized for me.

I really appreciate all the feedback.

SUsan