first pics ive ever given anyone outside family & friends

[Flower Child]

took a few photos of neighbors horses and i ended up giving them to her. i was kinda nervous cause these are the first pic ive ever given anyone outside family and friends. she liked them but i would like to know what you guys think. which is the best? c&c?

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thanks for looking

 

[potownrob]

Nice photos! I like the first one best, despite the fence being blown out. Something human about them horses. Keep up the good work!!

 

[Flower Child]

thank you very much potownrob!! how would i go about fixing that blown out fence? or can i?

 

[Overread]

downside to digital is that with a blowout there is simply no image data captured - all you get is pure white - same for a pure underexposure - pure black - even shooting RAW you can't restore them
Best thing is to avoid them

Firstly it looks like you were shooting in bright sunlight - whilst light is good, too much is just as troublesome as not enough - try waiting for evening or morning when the light is softer and less harsh - shooting in the right light helps wonders.
I have also found that when out in bright light a DSLR meter reading is often tricked and it is better to underexpose a shot by up to one stop of light (so get your meter to read up to one stop into the negative either by adjusting the controls or by using exposure compensation if your shooting in any mode but full manual).

 

[Flower Child]

i appreciate your help overread!

 

[PushingTin]

Hi Flower child

Overread has already mentioned the overblown whites but I tried my best to edit two of the photos for you - hope you dont mind!

Please bear in mind i am no pro at editing (as you will see) and its all subject to personal taste. I just edited some of the highlights, levels and curves, crops, contrast etc

 

[Flower Child]

oh no i dont mind at all! edit your heart out! i tried messing with the curves one day and found it really frustrating and hard. the fence is so much better in yours! and i really like your edit of the lone brown horse.

what does everybody else think?

 

[Overread]

controling the fence has helped a bit - but on the blazes on the horses in the first I am seeing some strange colours start to appear in the white - a hint of blues, and others.

 

[Flower Child]

oh i see it too now. thats kinda weird. which photo (the two horses) do you like better overread?

 

[Overread]

I think the background works better in Tim's edit - its less glaring and distracting, but the horses need a bit of work - a little overdark which is leading to the strange colours on the blaze - which you just can't get away with (IMO)
you could play with layers and try to combine and selectivly apply the effect

 

[PushingTin]

Yeah it was a very quick edit -The weird blues coming through I should have done something about - sorry!

Most digital photos need some fine tuning once the pic has been taken. Its all part of the digital workflow. Some may need levels chnaged, some may need to be sharpened, some may need noise reduction, same may need a whole host of things.

Play with your pics in whatever editing package you may have - if you dont have one I suggest Photoshop elements which is very powerful yet not that expensive.

 

[Flower Child]

okay, thanks overread and pushingtin