Wild Foal

[Bob Decker]

Certainly not as exotic as a lot of the images posted here but I sure enjoy our east coast wild horses here in North Carolina. Here's a shot of a foal born only a few months ago... the newest member of the herd living on the islands that make up the Rachel Carson Estuarine Reserve. This shot was taken on the appropriately named "Horse Island," using a Canon 40D, Sigma 50-500mm lens, mounted on a tripod.

http://carolinafootprints.com/images/13_April_11_WildHorseFoal01_cf.jpg

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Bob, please can you add the Exif data, plus you might like to check your settings for saving for web, as the image is RGB. :w3

Thanks

[Nancy Bell]

I'll wait for your exif data. But my first thought is that the adorable foal is looking at your name and attached horse symbol. This takes away from the feeling of the stark beauty and isolation of the place. Maybe, for some images, you might just have your name.

[Bob Decker]

I'd forgotten about the almost anal fascination with the technical aspects common in this community. I can't help but wonder if there are art forums frequented by painters or sculptors where that kind of emphasis is placed on type of brush, chisel or hammer used! I realize that's probably not going to be a popular observation but I made it anyway. ;) With that said below is the technical data requested. (BTW, what happened to my reply asking about the preferable color space for web display?)

ISO 500
f/8.0
1/2000
Sigma 50-500mm @ 417.0mm
Canon 40D
Tripod w/ side gimbal mount
Processed via ACR CS6 with sharpening, curves and resizing in Photoshop CS6

[Steve Canuel]

Love the fuzzy look to this one's coat. Also like the inclusion of the surroundings.

[Marina Scarr]

What a cutie-pie, Bob. I had the good fortune to visit and photograph this herd a few years ago and what a treat it was.

Thank you for posting your EXIF data. It is most helpful to have the settings when we are critiquing. Oftentimes, the answer to some questions or issues is in the setttings.

I like the fact that the foal is above you. It's as though he is on top of the world, and what a terrific backdrop. I notice that you did a round of sharpening but to my eyes it needs quite a bit more sharpening. Love the way his tail is windblown and how he is turned just a bit toward you.

[Bob Decker]

Thank you Steve, Marina.

Marina, I find myself more interested in composition and design than the technical aspects of a photograph. It's often been said, correctly so, that it's not the camera but the photographer. Place a simple point and shoot camera in the hands of an artist and you're likely to get interesting, compelling images. I've seen some marvelous art created with toy cameras such as the Holga, images that make you feel something powerful taken with a cell phone. It's those observations that motivated me to make my comment on EXIF data. It can be and often is an issue, but many times is a relatively unimportant factor. It feels like we sometimes get a bit too concerned about aperture, shutter speed and iso and show too little interest in composition and design inside the frame. Modern technology makes it possible for a lot of folks to let their "portable photo taking computer" run on autopilot and get reasonably acceptable, correct technical specs. Even so they still can't put together an interesting or compelling image. ;)

Honestly this isn't much more than a basic photograph. It has a bit of an "awww" factor because of the subject but it's nothing overly special... basic thirds/golden section placement of the subject, subject looking into negative/empty space, Plane, uncluttered background behind the head area, low POV... it's photography composition 101. I like the image and decided to share it because of what the subject is - a wild horse living along the east coast of the US. There are probably more people that are not aware that there are wild horses living in the East than there are that know about them. There's a history here, a story that's seldom told. To me that's what makes it interesting.

You;re probably right about sharpening. In the past I'd make a second pass after resizing for web display. The first round of sharpening on the full-size image seem appropriate for printing. For web display some additional sharpening usually helps. I suppose I've just gotten lazy. ;)

I'd still love to hear some input on color space selection for web display.

[Steve Kaluski]

Bob forALL web or projected images, the image requires it to have an sRGB colour profile, and RGB image will not be displayed properly and may vary in colour and therefore will NOT be displayed to it full potential.

[Bob Decker]

Bob forALL web or projected images, the image requires it to have an sRGB colour profile, and RGB image will not be displayed properly and may vary in colour and therefore will NOT be displayed to it full potential.

I'll have to go back and look at my settings. I thought I had all output set for sRGB. Sometimes things change on me for no apparent reason... at least for no apparent reason to me! ;)

[Bob Decker]

Nancy... it's always a battle in my mind whether to watermark or not.