Portrait of a Horse

[theraven]

A shot taken as my friend was going out on a ride, so no positioning or pre-planning, the sky was bright and cloudy so used it to my advantage.

Please click on the image to view it on a black background, has much more of an impact.

Critique welcome.


Portrait of a Horse by Raven Photography by Jenna Goodwin, on Flickr

 

[squirrels]

I like the texture, like I can almost reach up and touch him. I'd like it even more without the barn.

 

[PixelRabbit]

What she said ^^

The barn draws the eye and doesn't reward it or lead it anywhere, it must go! The horse on the other hand is delicious.

 

[theraven]

Thank you, as said it wasn't planned, I removed two poles but didn't think I would be able to remove the building and keep it looking realistic.

 

[amolitor]

Not sure what is going on with the sky here. The roofline (under the jaw) appears weirdly sharp against the white sky, given that it's out of focus, and the hairs of the mane up against the sky have a crunchy oversharpened look, to me. I guess these are both the blown out sky leaking over nearby stuff.

If you shot this RAW you might want to try re-converting, using a strong curve on the highlights to see if you can make these transitions more graceful.

Ctein has some stuff on this: The Online Photographer: 'Expose to the Right' is a Bunch of Bull

Err, I quite like the horse, though!

 

[theraven]

Cheers, I will re edit it.

 

[sleist]

Sky (or lack there of) kills this for me.
Barn too.
The horse looks great, but it comes across as out of place in a somewhat jarring way due to the other elements.