my first horse shoot!

[paigew]

A friend asked me to photograph her and her horsey. I was very nervous and didn't know really what to do/expect since I usually shoot kids. But I had so much fun and love how they turned out! Comments/critique welcome.

1 (my fave)

2 (I love how you can see the beautiful 'hill country' in the background here)

3 just a girl and her horse

4

5

6 (love this shot but hate the haze grrr....ordered a lens hood last night, hope it helps!)

7

8

9

thanks for looking! I ended up with 30 pics and had a hard time choosing which to share!

 

[Bellezzo]

I love them! Horses can be tough to photograph, especially with a model I'd imagine, but these are very beautiful. 5, 7 and 8 are my faves (if I HAD to choose!)

 

[412 Burgh]

love the last silhouette

 

[OrionsByte]

I have to admit, photos are not the first thing that came to mind when I saw "horse shoot." But that's just the mood I'm in I guess.

1 - I like it, seems a bit underexposed though, maybe by a half-stop or so.
2 & 3 - Not sure I care for the horse's back being cut off at the top of the frame - it's not as bad in #3, but #2 is kind of disconcerting.
4 - Why is the belly of the horse better lit than the rest of it? That part looks properly exposed, and the rest looks at least a stop underexposed.
5 - I probably would have shot this in portrait. Lots of negative space to the left, and the poor rider's lost her head. Good control over the exposure though, what with the sun behind them.
6 - I like it, and I actually don't mind the "haze" or glare - it actually adds character to the image. I don't think a lens hood would have helped much in this shot since the light source is right in the middle of the frame.
7 - Cute, might need to be leveled; I can't tell if that is a sloping hill behind them or if it's tilted a bit to the left.
8 - I like it, but there might be a little too much space at the top of the frame - I'd crop off the top and left side a little bit.
9 - I like this one too, but I still think there's a bit too much room up top.

Nice set!

 

[cgipson1]

Paige, all nice shots. The last two are very nice... but need a vert crop on #8... and a slightly tighter crop on #9. I bet she will love those, especially #9! I do wish you had left a bit more room on the left of #9.. it is a little tight!

 

[dandaluzphotography]

Really nice images. Congrats!

 

[tirediron]

Agree with the comments; good, strong set overall.

 

[DiskoJoe]

#6 imo is the strongest image. Why do you not like the haze? Most people try really hard to get this type of effect and you did it by accident. I think it looks great. Its like a dreamy western scene. Process a sepia version and you would have a really nice and tasteful vintage look going.

Also, lens hoods are only useful for preventing flaring. This is not a lens flare that is causing this issue.

 

[paigew]

#6 imo is the strongest image. Why do you not like the haze? Most people try really hard to get this type of effect and you did it by accident. I think it looks great. Its like a dreamy western scene. Process a sepia version and you would have a really nice and tasteful vintage look going.

Also, lens hoods are only useful for preventing flaring. This is not a lens flare that is causing this issue.

Sorry I LOVE haze and did it on purpose what I don't love is how the haze makes her face less sharp. So I want the haze, but sharp subjects...is that possible??

 

[DiskoJoe]

#6 imo is the strongest image. Why do you not like the haze? Most people try really hard to get this type of effect and you did it by accident. I think it looks great. Its like a dreamy western scene. Process a sepia version and you would have a really nice and tasteful vintage look going.

Also, lens hoods are only useful for preventing flaring. This is not a lens flare that is causing this issue.

Sorry I LOVE haze and did it on purpose what I don't love is how the haze makes her face less sharp. So I want the haze, but sharp subjects...is that possible??

The haze didnt cause this. Possibly the shadow cast on her face. But the focus looks fine to me. Id have to see an original to see what all you had to work with initially to make an assessment about that.

But it looks great! If this was me that would 24x36 hanging over my couch.

 

[paigew]

I have to admit, photos are not the first thing that came to mind when I saw "horse shoot." But that's just the mood I'm in I guess.

1 - I like it, seems a bit underexposed though, maybe by a half-stop or so.
2 & 3 - Not sure I care for the horse's back being cut off at the top of the frame - it's not as bad in #3, but #2 is kind of disconcerting.
4 - Why is the belly of the horse better lit than the rest of it? That part looks properly exposed, and the rest looks at least a stop underexposed.
5 - I probably would have shot this in portrait. Lots of negative space to the left, and the poor rider's lost her head. Good control over the exposure though, what with the sun behind them.
6 - I like it, and I actually don't mind the "haze" or glare - it actually adds character to the image. I don't think a lens hood would have helped much in this shot since the light source is right in the middle of the frame.
7 - Cute, might need to be leveled; I can't tell if that is a sloping hill behind them or if it's tilted a bit to the left.
8 - I like it, but there might be a little too much space at the top of the frame - I'd crop off the top and left side a little bit.
9 - I like this one too, but I still think there's a bit too much room up top.

Nice set!

thank you for your critique! I was struggling a bit with exposure on the horse since they don't have skin! The 'weird' crops were done as artistic images. I had gotten several of the whole body and wanted variety in the set

On #7 I tried leveling the background but it looked very strange. The horse and the ground the horse on are level so leveling out the hills made him look like he was falling out of frame

Paige, all nice shots. The last two are very nice... but need a vert crop on #8... and a slightly tighter crop on #9. I bet she will love those, especially #9! I do wish you had left a bit more room on the left of #9.. it is a little tight!

Thanks charlie I loved the last two as well! I do wish I had more room but since I was using my 50mm on my cs that is ALL I could fit. I was below her in a dry creekbed and that is as good as I could do

 

[paigew]

The haze didnt cause this. Possibly the shadow cast on her face. But the focus looks fine to me. Id have to see an original to see what all you had to work with initially to make an assessment about that.

But it looks great! If this was me that would 24x36 hanging over my couch.

I bet you are right about the shadow; possibly from her hat. Thanks

 

[DiskoJoe]

The haze didnt cause this. Possibly the shadow cast on her face. But the focus looks fine to me. Id have to see an original to see what all you had to work with initially to make an assessment about that.

But it looks great! If this was me that would 24x36 hanging over my couch.

I bet you are right about the shadow; possibly from her hat. Thanks

get a reflector.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

...photos are not the first thing that came to mind when I saw "horse shoot."

"They shoot horses, don't they" is what came to my mind

It probably shows my age but, hey, I am my age.

Now, nice set but I can think of a few things that would greatly improve some of those.

I will be back...

 

[camz]

Yeah one has to be my favorite of the set, and a close second is #8(leaves it to the imagination). Nice processing.

In additioin to what's already been said, I think #2 would've been better if you had her look towards the camera. In general, I wanted to see the woman's face a bit more in the series as I didn't really connect with her throughout except for #7.