Crop. I masked the cow and the arm and did different curves for the background. the mased part got levels and curves. Channel mixer semi-opaque on the whole picture to remove some of the color. Resize. Sharpen just the cow and arm. I also masked the grass that the hand is holding, precise work!
This is a candid shot. This family just showed up next to us as we were shooting cows. I just made like I was continuing to shoot the cows, which I was. They took no notice.
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Place: 516 out of 615 Avg (all users): 4.9195 Avg (commenters): 6.0000 Avg (participants): 4.8889 Avg (non-participants): 5.0256 Views since voting: 829 Views during voting: 260 Votes: 174 Comments: 13 Favorites: 0
I love the idea of this and the title is most appropriate. I think Ed's given you some excellent suggestions/tips. And by the way, in my most humble opinion, the holy grail of DPC is not the coveted Blue Ribbon, it's a meaningful and detailed comment from e301. Dude, you rock! Now did you shoot this in RAW??
Interesting; My first reaction is that the exposure lacks some control - has the impression of being brought back too far from over-exposed, or something, and I find the visibility of the cow's shoulder unsettles the composition a bit - my eye can't help but be pulled there - a slightly tighter crop might have made that balance more comfortable. background is something of a problem, not working with your subjects very happily; but the idea, overall, I like, and it's been a lot more fun to look at than most.
damn, that's a good comment. wow, yes, I did bring it back from overexposed. you've done a great job of listing the problems of this shot. I just didn't know how to overcome them.
The secret is RAW. Then you get the 2 stops or so leeway with exposure. You also get to work in 12-bit with black and white, which is so much richer than the 8-bits of jpeg - like we really think there are 256 shades of grey?
But I'm really glad you put this up - and what a finish, all the way up at 516! I've only onve cracked the 400 mark myself.
Interesting; My first reaction is that the exposure lacks some control - has the impression of being brought back too far from over-exposed, or something, and I find the visibility of the cow's shoulder unsettles the composition a bit - my eye can't help but be pulled there - a slightly tighter crop might have made that balance more comfortable. background is something of a problem, not working with your subjects very happily; but the idea, overall, I like, and it's been a lot more fun to look at than most.
damn, that's a good comment. wow, yes, I did bring it back from overexposed. you've done a great job of listing the problems of this shot. I just didn't know how to overcome them.
Interesting; My first reaction is that the exposure lacks some control - has the impression of being brought back too far from over-exposed, or something, and I find the visibility of the cow's shoulder unsettles the composition a bit - my eye can't help but be pulled there - a slightly tighter crop might have made that balance more comfortable. background is something of a problem, not working with your subjects very happily; but the idea, overall, I like, and it's been a lot more fun to look at than most.
having such a gap between the beast and the arm seems to lesson the impact of the moment, and provides too much negative space...going with b+w was a good decision
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