BACK LIT SHEEP
The ewes are sheltered at night during the lambing season. The image is taken as they enter their corral in the late afternoon. I did not do anything special to the image, other than convert it to B&W with Nik Silver Efex Pro2. The dust makes a nice built-in effect.
This strongly conveys the story of a farmer facing all his hungry sheep. The backlighting and dust create a beautiful mood and super textures. (I thought you had added a texture.) The monochorme works nicely with this subject. I love the rounded forms of the woolly sheep, contrasting with the horizontal lines of the fence and barn, with the farmer as a transitional figure. Beautiful light.
This is absolutely terrific. Sometimes, I envy painters because they can control lighting and composition and we always can't. But you've sure gotten everything right. The lighting adds great depth and draws the viewer's eyes into the image. The farmer is very well positioned and obscured just enough by the dust to make us look to see what he's doing. The aspect ratio emphasizes the number of sheep, and the sweeping curve is delightful. Beautiful work.
Anita and Dennis have said it all. sometimes you just get ir right, and this is one of those!
Hi, Gary, well, it's all been said above but I'd like to echo their comments. The dust really does look like an applied texture. Well seen and processed
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly" - The Little Prince
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Gary,
Greetings. Good eye and composition. Looks like SEP does the trick, too. Good show!
Cheers,
-Michael-
Great image Gary, you really had it all going on for this one. I like how the lens compressed the distance so the sheep look even more crowded together. Well done!
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
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Thanks to all for your positive comments. My afternoon at the ranch yielded a few keepers. I will share some more images from the shoot and provide a bit of what I learned about the sheep business. As mentioned in an earlier post, this is a sizeable operation with 4,000 lambing ewes at the time of the shoot. The herders are Spanish speaking. I do not know their countries of origin. They are most likely from Central or South America. A century ago, they would likely have been Basque. In the late 1800s the Basque came to the area as miners, but quickly converted to sheep herders. They have been able to preserve their culture and currently have a vibrant community in the Boise area.
Thanks for the additional information, Gary.
All the superlatives mentioned, great mood on this one.
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