Post-processing: suggestion on that picture...

[nicolasnico]

hi,
I have much to learn in post-processing (obviously?). Any advice on the here enclosed picture? (there is the initial version: too dark and not processed) and some attempts I've made on it with Lightroom 5.7.1. and Nik collection. Any advice?
(One of the thing: there's this kind of halo in front of the horse (towards the left a bit maybe). I don't know how to (really) get rid of it)
But that's not just the halo. I welcome other advices, too . Thank you!

 

[john.margetts]

Underexposed pictures are always harder to get right without producing artifacts. Slight overexposure without clipping the bright parts is best.

That doesn't help with the picture you already have, I know, but you might just have to put up with some degradation to use that particular picture.

 

[nickgillespie]

This doesn't look that underexposed to me. It looks like there was a ton of dirt in the air. Am I right? If so... You're not not going to be able to do much. If that's the case, I'd actually leave it dark to accurately portray what it looked like.

 

[john.margetts]

It is underexposed as far as the light reaching the sensor is concerned or it would be brighter.

 

[Derrel]

Adobe's newest Dehaze control can handle images like this better than anything I have ever seen.

 

[nicolasnico]

Thank you, everyone! I appreciate! It's good to have feedback on the question of underexposure (how difficult it might be to recover such pictures without creating artefacts). Yeah, you are right regarding the dust: I think a lot of it on that day! The effect was interesting! Unfortunately, might have been more interesting if there was more sun.
I've worked on the picture again. Not fully satisfied yet.

 

[Cody'sCaptures]

I like the first edit better. Perhaps just a bit too much orange in the haze. Maybe bring down the vibrance, adjust hsl or split tone the highlights.
What game are they playing? It looks like rugby with horses

 

[nicolasnico]

hey, thanks for the thoughts! I had a look at split toning, but finally worked it with maybe with HSL saturation (yellow and orange down), and vibrance down a bit. What do you think? (picture here enclosed)
Yeah, cool game! It's called ulak (or Kok boru). It's kind-of soccer but with horses, and the ball is replaced by a dead goat.

 

[Cody'sCaptures]

That is quite odd. From the video it just looks like a bunch of people on horses fighting for a dead goat. Do you win the goat somehow? I'm lost

 

[Trever1t]

I really like the first, low contrast image. I think if shot in raw I could bring out a bit more detail. I do like the low light, dusty look of it. What a fantastic and exotic festival.

 

[Cody'sCaptures]

I really like the first, low contrast image. I think if shot in raw I could bring out a bit more detail. I do like the low light, dusty look of it. What a fantastic and exotic festival.

Could you elaborate on how you would bring out this detail?

 

[Trever1t]

I really like the first, low contrast image. I think if shot in raw I could bring out a bit more detail. I do like the low light, dusty look of it. What a fantastic and exotic festival.

Could you elaborate on how you would bring out this detail?

If it were my raw image I think I'd be able to manipulate it in LR/CS to extract detail. I'm not able to give you a step by step, I'd have to play with it to see what effect each adjustment had.

 

[nicolasnico]

hi everyone, here's a link to the original file:
Dropbox - IMG_7787.CR2

 

[Derrel]

I took a shot at it in Lightroom. I added some clarity and shaopening in various areas, messed around with the green and red saturartion and luminosity, tweaked the WB, and tried to make it look "dusty". It was a tough file to work with. This is how I envison the shot.

 

[qmr55]

Here's my go at it all done it photoshop