Standing his ground

[NoraSue]

I've been photographing the Wild Horses which reside close by where I live - I find that I often have trouble with the dappled coloring such as on this Stallion. Much of that I contribute to the landscape, especially this time of year in the Southwest.

Many times shots are snapped quickly, before the Stallion takes his band and dissapears into the brush, or herds them off and away over a ridge, or into the valley and the shadows.

This stallion, after I followed him and his band, for a good 15 minutes or so, finally decided to give me my five minutes, standing his ground between me and his mares before turning and herding them off.

I wanted a shallow dof to allow him to stand out from the scrub brush, but wonder if the out of focus area on the front left is too distracting?

Any other critique is more than welcome.



Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 240 mm
ISO Speed 200

[Hill Country Hack]

Gorgeous animal and a great shot. At first I did not notice the OOF bush in the lower left corner as the subject jumps right at me. If it bothers you, you can clone it out.

[kim-i]

Hi there NoraSue

First off, I want to say I am very jelouse of you! It is my dream to photograph wild horses one day.

As far as the critique goes - I find the shallow deph of field really well done, and it is not distracting at all, I would not worry about the left hand side if it was me, its all part of the landscape and it actually adds to the deph of the shot (almost like 3d).

The only other thing I can think of is - I would not let him stand right in the middle of the shot, I would try to put him more the the left corner of the picture ( in this particular shot) so the tail still stays in the frame

Also I would want to stand just a touch more to the side of him so I could see at least one eye open. At the moment it looks like he is having his eyes closed or he is squinting.

I love the stallion, he is gorgeous
Over all its a nice shot
Kind regards
Sonia

[NoraSue]

Thank you Hill Country..... The area does not really bother me, but I have had mention before about having the OOF areas in front of my subjects, so just wanted some other opinions about how it plays out in this photo.

[NoraSue]

Sonia, Thank you.

I have fallen in love with the wild horses, I'm lucky in that they are only about 25 miles away, I try to visit the area at least once a week. But you never know if you will see any or not.

Some of the bands are pretty mellow around people, others are very skittish. This band really didn't want anything to do with me. I was able to get a few with more of a side view, which I generally try and do, but often once I start to move, they turn and are gone.

I've been playing with the crop, I realized it was more centered then it should be - just trying to keep the tail in the shot, it's one of the details that I like about the photo, the movement, instead of just being static.