Racehorses

[mutewolf]

I figured this was the best forum to post in although I don't know if racehorses can count as "wildlife". Haha. I tend to focus on animal photography in general so if there's a better forum for me to post in, please let me know. Anyways, I'm looking for C&C here so feel free.

 

[MLeeK]

I love the regal, head held high during the bath! Seems to be a bit of missed focus. Gorgeous color. Exposure is the best you could do with that sun spot blowing his face/nose.
2 I'd toss. It's the back of some guys head more than the horse. I see what you were going for, but the head is too defined. Or maybe a much smaller crop so that the head isn't so obvious. Like crop the head in half. Exposure is beautiful again. Would love to see full horse images when their veins are all standing out like that! Color, exposure and focus on the horse is good.
3 It's a snap. The hand is a distraction. Either the guy is there or isn't. The display behind is a distraction. Color, exposure and focus look great.
4 I really would like if the guy's arm wasn't in there or all of him was and if there were more room in the image.

You keep going for the head shot. There is much more to each of these stories than the head shot.
Remember to leave room in every image for the crop factor. Your camera's sensor is only one size and if you go to print-especially an 8x10-you will end up cropping part of this image off for all but 4x6, 8x12, etc.

 

[mutewolf]

When I started photography, it was for my school's newspaper and my teacher drilled it into my head to take tighter shots. So I'm trying to unlearn that. Thank you for pointing it out though. It's something I need to work on.

For number four, would a shot more like one of these be more appealing?





The filly's eyes are closed in the last one, I know, but I don't have access to the others of her since they're on my laptop and I'm at work (bad me, tsk, tsk.) (And apparently I need to go back and reread y'alls coding format. *headdesk*)

 

[MLeeK]

When I started photography, it was for my school's newspaper and my teacher drilled it into my head to take tighter shots. So I'm trying to unlearn that. Thank you for pointing it out though. It's something I need to work on.

For number four, would a shot more like one of these be more appealing?

View attachment 25791

View attachment 25792

The filly's eyes are closed in the last one, I know, but I don't have access to the others of her since they're on my laptop and I'm at work (bad me, tsk, tsk.) (And apparently I need to go back and reread y'alls coding format. *headdesk*)

The first I'd have cropped out the left side extras.
I really like that last one. It's as if the horse is almost leaning in to snuggle the jockey/handler on the right.

You are shooting with your center focus point aren't you? The first one if shot with the horse in focus more to the left and the rest of your image were to the right. The story is the judge, the horse and the handler, yet you have cut the handler off and you have extra people on our left who aren't part of your image.

 

[mutewolf]

When I started photography, it was for my school's newspaper and my teacher drilled it into my head to take tighter shots. So I'm trying to unlearn that. Thank you for pointing it out though. It's something I need to work on.

For number four, would a shot more like one of these be more appealing?

View attachment 25791

View attachment 25792

The filly's eyes are closed in the last one, I know, but I don't have access to the others of her since they're on my laptop and I'm at work (bad me, tsk, tsk.) (And apparently I need to go back and reread y'alls coding format. *headdesk*)

The first I'd have cropped out the left side extras.
I really like that last one. It's as if the horse is almost leaning in to snuggle the jockey/handler on the right.

You are shooting with your center focus point aren't you? The first one if shot with the horse in focus more to the left and the rest of your image were to the right. The story is the judge, the horse and the handler, yet you have cut the handler off and you have extra people on our left who aren't part of your image.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure. I did a little reading and now understand why I should but I'm honestly not sure.
It didn't occur to me I was losing so much of a story with my wonky crops but that makes sense.