Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This field of cows was watching me as I rode by on my bike so I stopped to take their picture. Then they got spooked so ran a short distance before stopping to watch me again. I wanted to try catching them running anyway as I had already lost the perfect shot!
Specific Feedback
Does the crop seem balanced? I wanted to keep the distant cows and also leave enough room in front of the running cows. It also was pretty sunny, but I tried to bring down the brightness. Is it a boring photo? Anything else.
Technical Details
Nikon D3400, ISO 400, 300mm (450mm equivalent) ,f6.3, 1/1250
Too bad they got spooked! I think a photo of them looking at you would be more engaging (sorry to rub in that the perfect shot got away). That said, I think there is a lot of texture in the animals and the foreground to make this interesting to me. I don’t find the cows in the distance engaging …maybe because they are so close to the edge. Do you have room to loosen the crop? I think that would help the balance and tell the story of a stampede if I can see where they are running to. I hope this is helpful.
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Hi Vanessa. I agree that the background cows don’t help the composition much. Since they’re looking so calm, they tend to contradict the idea of a stampede for me. Also, for a stampede, I think the only really great viewpoint is if they’re heading in your general direction (not something I particularly want to experience, but it would make a really cool photo-particularly if shot from a low angle (sorry-I’m creating my own ideal image here). Maybe you can talk the farmer into letting you go out with him when he puts out feed. I’ve seen them come running in a hurry when that happens.
In terms of processing, I’m seeing some duplicate features in the space ahead of the cows that makes it look like you did some cloning there. If I get that when I clone I’ll either clone over some of those duplicates or use the healing brush to eliminate them. There’s also just a hint of something dark along the right edge that same area that looks like you tried to remove something but weren’t completely successful.
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Not the perfect pose but not awful either, and they may be there another day. The blacks are well handled, with the individuals differentiated. I like the ones in the distance to give a nice depth to the image but the top needs more canvas. Definitely fix those cloning repeats. This one is worth some more work.
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Hello @Robena.Sirett @Dennis_Plank @Diane_Miller ! Thanks for all your input. Yeah, I really didn’t think it was a keeper. After the fact I was thinking I should have done a slow shutter speed to try and make it interesting. This is the original I had to work with. So now you can see what I was trying to crop and unsuccessfully clone out! ….
