Girl and Horse

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Original source: blog.erikhammar.se
 
May 31, 2011
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jebrady03 said:
jdramirez said:
Harsh shadow over her face... but maybe others disagree.

Based on the position of the sun, I would find it EXTREMELY odd if there were no shadow on her face.

Maybe some fill light overhead and to the left of the lens... but I realize flash plus animals can end poorly.
 
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Personally, I think it's important to have both subjects in proper focus and to avoid harsh shadows such as we see on the girl's face. This can be accomplished by simply repositioning the subjects. Even in full sun.

Here are a couple of examples of what I mean.....

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I offer this up as advice, not negative criticism so please accept it as such.

:D
 
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No doubt there are some minor technical flaws, but the first reaction I had upon seeing this photo was a very positive one. Someone expressing their feelings for a pet in a loving and amusing way. It could be technically better, but I didnt really notice any flaws until someone pointed them out. Sometimes it is the first reaction that is most important in visual art, and I belive that is what counts the most. Of course, I am a big animal lover (and girl lover for that matter), so my reactions could be affected by that. I like it Hammar. Maybe the next time you will take into consideration those criticisms, as long as it doesnt lose the look of spontaneity.
 
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Rename the shot, it should be called horse and girl ;)
The horse is main subject to me, it looks sooo satisfied with life. The girl is a suppoting subject. The story may be a bit carelessly told since the horse is darker than the girl and also not in focus, but in terms of expression the horse is telling a great story. As for the examplephotos from harv, They do not work for me. The horse is not connecting. The girl is ok in the first shot but is facing the harsh light in the secind so she has to close her eyes.

My advice to Hammar, use a larget dof . Its a two subject portrait and both should be sharp in this case. Advice to harv, start with finding good light and then try to get expressions from your subjects. And if I stepped on toes now, I did not mean to insult anyone. Keep on shooting horse-hunan portraits. And merry christmas :)
 

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hammar said:

I like it. I think it works because it appears more candid them some of the other post pictures. Although technically, it may not be as sound, it conveys the mood very well. In the end, that is what matters. :)

If I may make a slight suggestion, if she kisses the horse closer to the front of the mouth, then there will be less shadow on her face, and you can see her lips better.
 
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The Bad Duck said:
Rename the shot, it should be called horse and girl ;)
The horse is main subject to me, it looks sooo satisfied with life. The girl is a suppoting subject. The story may be a bit carelessly told since the horse is darker than the girl and also not in focus, but in terms of expression the horse is telling a great story. As for the examplephotos from harv, They do not work for me. The horse is not connecting. The girl is ok in the first shot but is facing the harsh light in the secind so she has to close her eyes.

My advice to Hammar, use a larget dof . Its a two subject portrait and both should be sharp in this case. Advice to harv, start with finding good light and then try to get expressions from your subjects. And if I stepped on toes now, I did not mean to insult anyone. Keep on shooting horse-hunan portraits. And merry christmas :)

We don't always have the luxury of choosing the light, time and place. There are times we have to make do with what is available. In my particular situation, the time and place was a given. I would normally look for nice diffused light if available but in this case I settled for what you see to avoid cluttered and distracting backgrounds. I wanted a background I could throw out of focus for these closeups and that determined the direction in which I had to shoot.

I don't take any offense by your comments and understand you are trying to be constructive. For that I thank you. However, I don't agree with one of your comments. I think the horse and girl definitely connect. Again, we don't all see things the same way.

Merry Christmas.

P.S. My apologies to the OP. It is not my intent to hijack this thread in any way.
:D
 
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BoneDoc said:
hammar said:

I like it. I think it works because it appears more candid them some of the other post pictures. Although technically, it may not be as sound, it conveys the mood very well. In the end, that is what matters. :)

If I may make a slight suggestion, if she kisses the horse closer to the front of the mouth, then there will be less shadow on her face, and you can see her lips better.

I agree! Every other image in this post looks posed and not in the least bit natural - despite the attempt by using natural settings. The original image appears as a serendipitous capture of a moment we were all lucky enough to witness. For that reason, I find it to be superior to every other image in this thread - even if it's not technically "flawless" by others' definition. I think it's pretty close to perfect myself.

I'd rather see a true "moment" in the most artificial setting than a completely artificial moment in natural setting.

Regarding the horse in the original image, sure a greater depth of field capturing the horses eyes in perfect clarity would have been great, but as-is works as well as with the horse's eyes closed because it really draws attention to the kiss which is where the actual focus point seems to be which draws even more attention there. Again - a GREAT capture of a beautiful moment.
 
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Thanks for all the comments! This photo was a part of a series of shots I took of the girl talking to her horse, I liked this the best simply because the horse happened to have his eyes closed at this time. It kind of looks like the horse is enjoying the kiss, even though he most probably doesn't understand the concept of kissing :)

I have also worked a bit with the colours to achieve a more "artsy" look, the originals are deeper blue, rather than greenish like this version. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really spend much time thinking about the technical aspects of this photo, I just set the aperture to 2.8 and made sure I had a blue sky (without trees etc) behind the subjects. This photo was also printed on canvas and is currently hanging on a wall :)
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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All looks are entirely personal and liking or disliking a specific image posted is irrelevant. If the photographer and or subject/client like it then it is all good with me.

I recently did some testing in a similar situation, those that are used to my posts know the subject! But rather than deal with the difficult contrast and hard shadows I went the other way, shot into the light and got images like this. Just another way of seeing the same kind of thing.

Matthew Seed, a UK based photographer is my current favourite equine image maker. He has dramatic lighting but has an environmental feel too, to my eye much more compelling than a black background. http://www.horse-photographer.co.uk/gallery/

Oh, Von Wong did a beautiful set with the UK Para-Olympian, Natasha Baker. http://www.vonwong.com/blog/natasha-baker-olympic-paradressage-rider/
 

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