Taken of a working dairy in the Tracy,CA area. Overcast day and a kind of grimm scene so I went with greyscale to keep that feel. Got talked to by one of the dairymen who was hoping I was not "one of them environmentalists". I took this picture with the idea of showing what most dairies look like in reality. In winter the corrals get very wet and muddy, I guess it is too costly to drain them so the cows just put up with it. There is usually a high spot for them to go to, but they don't seem to mind. By the way these young ladies will be milk cows next year.
Statistics
Place: 35 out of 59 Avg (all users): 5.2391 Avg (commenters): 6.0000 Avg (participants): 5.1600 Avg (non-participants): 5.3333 Views since voting: 1345 Votes: 92 Comments: 13 Favorites: 0
Natasha & CC,
I was thrilled to see your critique of my mud born dairy picture. I feared that if it were critiqued the person would be one of those that insisted that they were beef cattle. I didn't get much time to try for better composition before I was told to leave as there is quite a lot of controversy at this time related to the conditions in dairies in CA. I used spot metering and tried to get in on the cows but the day was so bright with indirect light from the haze and lifting fog I guess my camera was confused.
Thanks again for your time to do your critique on this snap shotish picture.
Dick
Wonderful scene I've seen many times since I was a baby (I'm a N. California native). I'm pretty sure those are Holsteins; the most popular breed of dairy cattle in California. These young cattle are "heifers" (not cows), and don't have large udders or begin to produce milk until they've become pregnant.
I agree more contrast might make a "prettier" picture, but as you have it is probably about how it "really" looked. Sorry it didn't finish higher.
Critique Club
Composition-Content
I like the fact that you tried something different for this challenge, its a good interesting shot. Composition is good , but I find my eyes wandering around looking for the main point. ould have been good if one of the cows had been looking at the camera, not that you could exactly ask them to turn around, but I wonder if you had waited, then maybe you could have caught the face of one of the cows in the middle.
Background
The background is quite washed out here, this can be seen as a good thing as it focuses attention on the cows, but I think I would have prefered a bit more detail in the background.
Technical
Focus is good and I like the use of B/W. I wonder where in the piture you took the meter reading,as overall the tones are quite bright. I think that a bit more contrast in the background and also in the water would have been good, there are some cool swirls in the water/mud area which would have shown up better with more contrast.
My Opinion
I like it! I think that it's an interesting shot and it's nice to see other kinds of shots apart from studio style. Just feel sorry for the cows! Good Luck in the next challenge.
A bit washed out (not enough tonal depth, try playing with the contrast or levels). Also slanted. Other than that, I actually think it's an interesting, journalistic image capturing a slice of life. Those poor cows, up to their knees in mud and who knows what else! I'm glad I'm a vegan. High marks for the meaning in your photo.
Whoa, where do I start??? I forgot, start with the positive comment. Very good focus and contrast in the central part of the pic. O.K. these are beef cows, not milk cows (99.99% certain). The standing in water part makes me shudder (I know it's not fouling the meat, but still.....). The fog off in the distance obsures the background, but not in a really good way. I really want to nick you an extra point due to the beef cows thing, but I won't. 6 Swash
I don't think this has a lot to do with dairy per se, but beef is close enough. This pic the way its done in b&w reminds me of something from the 20's, pre-depression type stuff. Nicely done - Inspzil
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