More from yesterday...

#1 I REALLY love this one.

I'd like HONEST responses, please... if you agree or not, let me hear it!! and why!

Many have requested more of her head, which I agree with, but again, these were done on the fly as she tried to calm the horse down some; the frame before this was OOF, and this one was good, but cropped too tight, and the next one the horse moved... so, this is all I could get, but I like it anyway.

Phil

Edited by phil hawkins on Mar 19, 2008 at 06:47 AM GMT

#2

Don't ask me why, but when I was scrolling through the images, this one popped up and I immediately liked it. I have no empirical reason, it just hit me right. And it was not posed...

Let me know if you agree or not...

Edited by phil hawkins on Mar 18, 2008 at 06:31 AM GMT

#3

#4 Recropped and rendered color for those in the previous post who expressed not liking the center crop.

#5

#6

Man, the first 2 I love! Great use of natural light. The crop on the first almost doesn't work but then you can see her looking at the horse and feel the connection. The shot of the hat is just great. The portrait images using flash seem a bit cool in color. Especially after seeing that nice warm tones of the natural light.
All in all, great images. Thank you for sharing
-Chris

I like #3 the most. #1 is great also. In #1 i would like to see more of Laura than of the horse..
In #3 i would brush some minor things out .. ands that would be it. #6 would be bether if we could se her hand, the whole, or crop it out .. I think it would work bether .#4 and #5 dont work for me.

FipChris wrote:
Man, the first 2 I love! Great use of natural light. The crop on the first almost doesn't work but then you can see her looking at the horse and feel the connection. The shot of the hat is just great. The portrait images using flash seem a bit cool in color. Especially after seeing that nice warm tones of the natural light.
All in all, great images. Thank you for sharing
-Chris

The first one was not cropped that way; that's all I got of her. That one was cropped slightly from right-to-left, but the left edge is the edge of the frame.

Thanks for the response!!

Hi Phil,

Overal very nice shots; I am sureshe will be very pleased. However some points I feel could be improved. Image-by-image:
#1. I'd like to see more of her head. In a shot like this when you are going to have both her head and the (of course) larger head of the horse the balance is going to be difficult. If the balance can't be attained by size then I would at least try and do it in a different way. You are now cropping behind the head of the horse but right through the middle of her's. I think you could easily crop a part from the right to have it the same for both.
#2. The lighting is wonderfull but I fele her hands are appearing very cramped. It almost makes me feel pain in mine
#3. Wonderful shot. Even the hair of the horse is right.
#4 & 5. Clearly she is a beautiful woman and it probably shows her character as a cow-girl type of girl (Hope I am not falling into stereotypes here.. Im a city person sorry), but I think the wild hair is a bit too much. Furthermore I would have like a bit warmer flash which is slightly off-centre as this comes across as being very "pop-up flash"-like.
#6. I prefer this one over 3 as the horse now also has a catchlight. Her hair is also a lot better then in the two images before.

I really enjoyed looking at them- thx for posting

Marnix

MarnixdS wrote:
Hi Phil,

Overal very nice shots; I am sureshe will be very pleased. However some points I feel could be improved. Image-by-image:
#1. I'd like to see more of her head. In a shot like this when you are going to have both her head and the (of course) larger head of the horse the balance is going to be difficult. If the balance can't be attained by size then I would at least try and do it in a different way. You are now cropping behind the head of the horse but right through the middle of her's. I think you could easily crop a part from the right to have it the same for both.
#2. The lighting is wonderfull but I fele her hands are appearing very cramped. It almost makes me feel pain in mine
#3. Wonderful shot. Even the hair of the horse is right.
#4 & 5. Clearly she is a beautiful woman and it probably shows her character as a cow-girl type of girl (Hope I am not falling into stereotypes here.. Im a city person sorry), but I think the wild hair is a bit too much. Furthermore I would have like a bit warmer flash which is slightly off-centre as this comes across as being very "pop-up flash"-like.
#6. I prefer this one over 3 as the horse now also has a catchlight. Her hair is also a lot better then in the two images before.

I really enjoyed looking at them- thx for posting

Marnix

Wow, thanks for the breakdown. All valid points...

One thing about #1, I shot this kind of on the fly as she was trying to get the horse to calm down (it was hungry) and I just started shooting to see what I would get. I do agree that more of her head needs to be in the shot, but the following frame was OOF and the next frame the horse reared it's head... I got 2 frames, one was usable... It still works, but your are correct; more of her head would have been better.

#2 I feel the same, her hands do look cramped, but liked the shot anyway. There are times you just go "Wow!" and you don't know why.

#3 everyone likes #3

#4 & #5 yes the warmer flash is a good point, but here's where we agree to disagree... I LOVE the hair thing... Would that I could run my hands through all that... <sigh>

#6 Thanks!

Phil

phil

didn't read previous posts so that i wouldn't jump on any band wagons-wanted to give honest critique as best i could

i love shot 3-wonderful lighting (i'm a sucker for warm, natural light)-great framing-love it all

not crazy about shot one-her shared gaze with the horse seems to be the subject, but the horse dwarfs her in the shot-she's barely in there-perhaps a landscape composition with a slightly wider focal length or having get higher and a little closer to the horse would work

thanks for sharing these

daniel

radioblurs wrote:
phil

didn't read previous posts so that i wouldn't jump on any band wagons-wanted to give honest critique as best i could

i love shot 3-wonderful lighting (i'm a sucker for warm, natural light)-great framing-love it all

not crazy about shot one-her shared gaze with the horse seems to be the subject, but the horse dwarfs her in the shot-she's barely in there-perhaps a landscape composition with a slightly wider focal length or having get higher and a little closer to the horse would work

thanks for sharing these

daniel

Now you can read the previous posts... Many have shared your same comment about #1. Read my previous post for that explanation.

Thanks for the feedback!

Now you can read the previous posts...


that's funny-you're a nice guy, Phil-don't you love us all coming in and being monday morning quarterbacks? i know the feeling of shooting 3 successive shots and only the middle one ending up tack sharp-such is life-in the end, i think you came away with some nice stuff

daniel

For some reason, #3 just calls to me out of the whole series. I think it's a matter of the lighting, and coloring, that just says something to me over the other images.

#3 is wonderful. I'm bothered by one small thing, though. She's not looking at her hands. Sorry, but if I had my pinkies that close to a horse's mouth while holding goodies, I'd be watching to make sure I didn't get bit. I also think it would connect her more with the horse and wouldn't look quite as posed.

Nice looking horse and pretty lady. You did justice to both.

Doug

dmacmillan wrote:
#3 is wonderful. I'm bothered by one small thing, though. She's not looking at her hands. Sorry, but if I had my pinkies that close to a horse's mouth while holding goodies, I'd be watching to make sure I didn't get bit. I also think it would connect her more with the horse and wouldn't look quite as posed.

Nice looking horse and pretty lady. You did justice to both.

Doug

Wow, you guys are reading my mind... I told her over and over; look at the horse, look at the horse, look at the horse.... it goes in one ear and out the other. I love her to death, but the second I put the camera to my eye she goes into this dramatic "thing" and starts doing her own posing. I know, she's looking off in to space, and at something other than what's at hand, literally.

FYI, she's in tune with those horses, like no one I've ever seen, and she knows they would not bite her... they really are mellow...

I like number 6 the hand is fine where its at, but I would burn the sloppy reins from the bridles that distract my eye, this one and from many of the other shots as well.