oh freaking yes! this cowbyo just walked past my house with a horse and the sky was all contrasty and awesome... so this is the best photo. hopefully its horsey enough for everyone
:D ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so cool! top ten!!! yes!!!!
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Place: 10 out of 121 Avg (all users): 6.6629 Avg (commenters): 7.6500 Avg (participants): 6.4444 Avg (non-participants): 6.7826 Views since voting: 3730 Views during voting: 402 Votes: 178 Comments: 49 Favorites: 5 (view)
Beautiful image. I wish I lived around horses so I could try this type of shot. It's nice to see a mood transpired by stark black silhouettes, very strong image. I've noticed an improvement in your photography these last few months Katherine, it's nice to see your photos finish where they do. Keep it up. :)
I am so so please this did so well for you, and I really like seeing the new challenge entries doing so well for you, and on your front page..... You are on a roll girl.....
Well, I think you already know that this is a great image. A well executed silhouette can certainly score highly, and a nice dramatic sky never hurts! I really like the angle from which you were shooting. It helps give a sense of the majesty of the cowboy and horse. I think the emotive quality that this image exudes helped propel it to the top as well. Even in silhouette it's obvious that the cowboy is communing with his steed. The B/W was a great choice and an excellent conversion.
If pressed to try to make the image even better, I would probably change a couple of things. There was certainly a very high dynamic range in the scene, and a bit of HDR or shadow/highlight might have helped even out the darkest darks and the little bit of blown out sky. Also, on the processing side of things, it would be interesting to try warming it up with a touch of sepia (or similar) colored duotone. I think just a hint of that yellow/brown would punch it up a bit.
I see from your comments that there were mixed feelings about the composition. Put me in the camp of the "too much empty space on the right". I think putting the cowboy closer to the thirds line and having a little more horse in the shot would give it more balance.
Congrats on your top 10 and new PB! It's really a great image all around.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to shoot me a PM.
Nathan
I think a pop of warm flash to the front of this while still metering for the background would really make this stand out. As a silo I'm not so much drawn tot he subject as the background which competes for my eyes attention.
NIce drama. I would have liked to seen the clouds wee bit more lighter than they are, not in the center but slightly out from the center just to show more detail in them and make the silhouette pop out a little more. A square crop also might have enhanced the silhouetted subject. Seems a bit more room on the right than needed.
I love it - the only thing I wish you could have done differently was put more of the horse in the frame and move the man over to the side a little bit. Cropping as a square just to the right of his shoulder would have also looked sweet.
I'm a sucker for a good silhouette, and this one is good. Not *great*, as it suffers from a little too much distraction in the sky (causing the horse to float into darkness too quickly in areas), but the composition is fantastic, and it has a very nice energy and companionship with the subjects.
I really like this concept...and i never seem to get cool skies like this when i need them. just to be picky, i'd like to have seen the cowboy's profile.
Love this dark moody composition. The clouds are dark and somber which creates a mood of foreboding or darkness to come. But light seems to act as a halo that gathers around the silhouette of the cowboy and to a lesser degree the horse. That gathering of light invokes the idea that out from the plains comes a 'knight in shining armor' (or in a cowboy's case - a knight in leather & denim )to fight the darkness/evil. Ironically we think of the man dressed in black as evil while the one in white is the hero. Here in your composition the dark horse and rider through that ideal out the door because of the way you composed your shot to have the light gather around them acting as angelic halos. Love the silhouettes of the horse and rider. The pose of the horse seems to me as one that is scanning the horizon for danger while the rider turns to his faithful friend to inquire as to what irks him/her. The pose and ease of the cowboy's stance next to the horse speaks to me of a strong comradeship. Strong composition, strong mood and dynamic tones; 9
My absolute favorite in the challenge! 9! The composition is perfect, the silhouette manages to capture the feeling perfectly without needing any more detail, the clouds are awesome. This one goes directly into my favorites. Good Luck in the challenge! I hope to see this one on the front page.
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