horse's paradise

[springm]

I found this traditional orchard 10 bike-minutes away from my home. It was cloudy that morning and the light not as accentuated as I would have hoped for, but it turned out to really support that soft mood. And the next day rain set in and all that beautiful blossoms were swept to the ground.

Lessons learned: a) don't procrastinate and b) do the shooting immediately and don't rely on a 2nd opportunity



I converted this in bibble5, carefully sharpening only certain areas and intensifying the reds only in the upper region. still beta, bibble5 turns out to be a really valuable tool. Only for the cloning out of a fencepost I had to finally resort to the gimp.

[harveyzone]

I found this traditional orchard 10 bike-minutes away from my home. It was cloudy that morning and the light not as accentuated as I would have hoped for, but it turned out to really support that soft mood. And the next day rain set in and all that beautiful blossoms were swept to the ground.

Lessons learned: a) don't procrastinate and b) do the shooting immediately and don't rely on a 2nd opportunity

Absolutely. A lesson for life

I converted this in bibble5, carefully sharpening only certain areas and intensifying the reds only in the upper region. still beta, bibble5 turns out to be a really valuable tool. Only for the cloning out of a fencepost I had to finally resort to the gimp.

A lovely spring shot.

The back of the horse is blown out, (or, at least, looks it on this rubbish monitor!), which is a shame. Is it there in the RAW data, or is it lost forever?

[springm]

The back of the horse is blown out, (or, at least, looks it on this rubbish monitor!), which is a shame. Is it there in the RAW data, or is it lost forever?

Possably some losses during resize, it does not have much visible structure due to the blur/out-of-focus. But it is quite away from pure white. And of course there is raw. Never leave the house without raw! (At least never again. The rare cases (twice!) where I modified this setting and forgot to check are lesson enough)

[Dr. Harout]

Agree with the lessons.
Overall the shot is great, but I agree with Tom about the horse.

[David Kilpatrick]

If you could recover the horse highlight detail, this is a potential poster image. It could earn a lot of money.

David

[springm]

(C)Raw rulez! Visited the original file, and with very carefully applied bibble5 (that really rocks) highlight recovery in small regions on the horse I got



That core sharpness is constantly amazing me. I guess the 70-300G is to blame for this?

Marketing this beast is something completely different. I have no clue besides the basic feeling that alamy then might not be the best place for it.

[aster]

Lovely photo composition Springm.

That I can definitely say...

Yildiz

[David Kilpatrick]

Even the close-up clip looks good. This shot would be best marketed directly to a card, calendar or poster company - Athena (though their shops have been closing, maybe they have been hit by the recession), Hallmark, whatever.

You could try using Imagekind.com - it looks about the best of the poster/print sale sites. I am not that impressed with any of them actually, seems that photo hosting sites like Smugmug with printing options can be more useful.

David

[David Kilpatrick]

Oh, and please do send me this for the magazine gallery. It's one I definitely promise to use if sent.
David

[springm]

Thanks to all for the encouraging comments. It's that kind of a pat on the back that probably everybody needs from time to time.

@David: thanks for the hints, gallery entry is on the way.

Here is the new version:



I replaced my online gallery entry with this one, but replacing is not the right word. Copied the additional info, deleted it, uploaded the new one (four times, fighting with the space limit) and added the information anew. phew.

[paulmurphy]

Lovely shot Markus, the version with the recovered highlight detail has a nice feel to it.

Also makes a good case for shooting RAW, especially when there is a large contrast in the scene.

Cheers

Murph

[Javelin]

the horse has a nice glow to him. very pretty

[stevecim]

That is such a top shot. I can only dream of taking photos like that

[KevinBarrett]

That's wonderful use of the OOF area to make that horse glow! There seems to be a lot of shiny white bokeh behind the horse, as well. Was there a break in the trees back there or is there some kind of optical phenomenon going on that I don't know to recognize?

[Greg Beetham]

Yes Kevin I spotted that in the original, but after much deliberation I came to the conclusion it's probably some out of focus flowers in the tree directly behind the horse, I didn't pay it much further mind after that although it was initially a bit peculiar....great composition tho....brilliant blossoms.
Greg