Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
I spent last fall working in a remote area of Northwest Colorado. My off days were spent exploring and photographing the incredible landscape and geology of the region. I came across some of the wild mustangs in my travels and soon became fascinated and intrigued by their beauty and spirit. This one particular stallion, against the backdrop of this remote and rugged landscape, completely embraced the spirit that I had hoped to capture.
I realize that wild horses are considered non-native or feral, even though their ancestors roamed this region thousands of years ago, but do you feel this photo fits into a wildlife competition?
Any and all suggestions and critiques would be greatly appreciated.
Technical Details
Black and white format just felt right. I sometimes have difficulty judging the right exposure or brightness with black and white but I wanted to convey a lighter, less dramatic mood,
I’ll give you two angles on this. My own personal one - I love this photograph and it captures some of the essence of the wild horse, especially with that tail! So well seen and caught - technically perfect!
Given that I love the horse and the dynamism of the tail, I’ve suggested a little crop to tighten things but not lose reference to the background. I’ve then burned the edges in a classic bit of darkroom print making shortcuts. I’ve then burned in the tail and also burned in the face of the horse - as I lightened the face I also had to lighten the body a bit so it didn’t look out of place.
Now from a Wildlife Photographer of the Year point of view, they nearly always want to look at animal behaviour or interesting environments etc so general portraits don’t tend to do well unless they introduce something the judges have never seen before. Because of this, in a wildlife competition, I’m not convinced this will do well as it’s more about the beauty of the animal rather than how it behaves etc… This is really only my general observations from working on the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for a few years… I hope this helps!
Thank you so much Tim for your kind words and suggested edits! The subtle burning and cropping greatly enhanced the subject. Also your advice on wildlife competitions is extremely helpful!
I love this composition. It really highlights the rugged terrain. I think B&W is perfect here as I imagine the dusty landscape and white horse didn’t offer much color interest. I would like to see more at the bottom of the image so as not to cut off the leg, even though the sage hides it. Such a beautiful image and I don’t really even like horses!
Thank you @Paul_Holdorf . I was using a 100-400mm lens. Still trying to get a good feel on how much background to incorporate and still getting the right amount of detail on the subject in motion. Appreciate your suggestions!
