Teamwork

[Donald]

A few weeks ago I attended a ploughing event. Competitive ploughing is big both in Scotland and across the world. Recent world championships have been held in the US and, in 2014, are in France.

I wrote then that I wanted the chance to try and make pictures of horse ploughing. Well .....! The chance came yesterday (March 8th).

There are not many horse ploughing teams left. But at the Highlands of Fife ploughing competition held on a farm close to St Andrews (yes, the same one as the famous golf course!) there were two horse teams in action.

How'd I do? Never done this before. Your comments are always welcome.

Please click on it to view full size.


40D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 43mm. ISO400. 1/500s@f4.5

[Stagecoach]

I think you did exceedingly well Donald, they're magnificent animals and there's good movement captured in the hooves.

Grahame

[Manfred M]

Very nice shot, Donald. B&W does give the scene a more "vintage" feel to it too.

[Shadowman]

Very nice, good angle.

[Kris V]

Great picture and beautiful horses!

[Brownbear]

Just to say that I adore this image and hope to see more of these. Beautiful and special!

[deetheturk]

Great image Donald,i really like this one! How lucky are today's farmers with all the fancy machinery they have got

Cheers David

[bnnrcn]

Excellent

[Geoff F]

Your photography is fine, Donald. But for me you are let down by the man on the right who isn't dressed in authentic period clothing.

That causes the deletion of most of my shots on scenes like this. Baseball caps, shorts, modern design sunglasses etc all conspire against me!

If he was wearing a longer coat, or a different design of jacket it would have been fine.

There is a tractor in the far distance but I don't have any problems with that because, as I'm sure you know, there was a period when both were working side by side on many farms.

[Donald]

Your photography is fine, Donald. But for me you are let down by the man on the right who isn't dressed in authentic period clothing.

An interesting comment, Geoff.

What I didn't want to do in post-processing was go for ye olde worlde look. Felt that would have been just too 'passe'! I wanted the pictures to be 'up-to-date' pictures of ploughing with horses as it is today, not as it was 100+ years ago. I deliberately left the multi-furrow plough in the background in for that every reason. But it's a very good point you make and one upon which to ponder.

Only definite difference with what you said - There is definitely no baseball cap on show. Are you meaning the man behind the horses (he's wearing a good old-fashioned cap (or bunnet 'up here'), or the man way up to the right beside the vintage tractor?

[Downrigger]

Nice and powerful and puts the horses so well to the forefront I guess because you used the wider end of the 24-70. I'm impressed with the depth of field at f4.5 - more open than I would have dared, and reminds me of the distance I yet must travel.

[Mike Buckley]

Very nice, Donald. My only nitpick is that I wish part of the man's face on the right was not obscured by the horse.

Did you do anything in post-processing to make the sky so smooth or was it actually that nice?

[Donald]

Did you do anything in post-processing to make the sky so smooth or was it actually that nice?

That was how it was, Mike. Only thing I did was used Nik's Colour Efex Pro 'Detail Extractor' filter to bring out that little bit of detail in the sky, before then using Silver Efex Pro2 for teh B & W conversion.

[Edwin Harvey]

A few weeks ago I attended a ploughing event. Competitive ploughing is big both in Scotland and across the world. Recent world championships have been held in the US and, in 2014, are in France.

I wrote then that I wanted the chance to try and make pictures of horse ploughing. Well .....! The chance came yesterday (March 8th).

There are not many horse ploughing teams left. But at the Highlands of Fife ploughing competition held on a farm close to St Andrews (yes, the same one as the famous golf course!) there were two horse teams in action.

How'd I do? Never done this before. Your comments are always welcome.

Please click on it to view full size.


40D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 43mm. ISO400. 1/500s@f4.5

Nice image Donald, reminds me of the Amish.
Cheers.......Edwin.

[Geoff F]

An interesting comment, Geoff.
Only definite difference with what you said - There is definitely no baseball cap on show. Are you meaning the man behind the horses (he's wearing a good old-fashioned cap (or bunnet 'up here'), or the man way up to the right beside the vintage tractor?

The headgear in those shots looks fine, Donald, I was merely mentioning the problems which I have previously encountered.

For example at my last visit to the local vintage machinery show. When behind the horses was a young lady with knee length shorts high visibility jacket and sunglasses perched on her hair. It just wasn't working for me!

So I walked on to the tractor section where they more realistically dressed.

I just feel that it is nice to have a scene like this in some form of context with regard to equipment, people and surroundings all blending together.

[FootLoose]

Beautiful work, Donald. There is plenty of detail to explore in the horses alone. I only wish that fellow in the background wasn't standing between the chest and head of the horse on the right.

[ajsmith]

Very nice picture. The angle really shows off the size of the horses.

[NorthernFocus]

I'd say ya done good, Donald. I like the perspective that you shot this from. It makes the horses look even bigger and stronger relative to the people walking behind. Nicely done.

[Bobobird]

Beautiful horses. Nicely framed into a beautiful shot.

[Donald]

Thank you for all your comments. When you try something new, it's always good to get reactions just to check that you're not kidding yourself into thinking you've done okay ... just because you want them to be good.

The headgear in those shots looks fine, Donald, I was merely mentioning the problems which I have previously encountered.

Sorry, Geoff. I had misunderstood. You are quite correct. The other team of horses that were competing alongside this team were being led by a man who wore dark glasses. I see, from his Facebook page, that he does this all the time. There may be a medical reason for doing so. But it does look a bit incongruous in the context of ploughing with horses.

Beautiful work, Donald. There is plenty of detail to explore in the horses alone. I only wish that fellow in the background wasn't standing between the chest and head of the horse on the right.

I know. I looked at that really long and hard. It was, I felt, such a good composition that I could not bin it because of that figure. I debated whether to get the cloning tool to work on it, but felt a lack of confidence about doing a really good job with it. So, I decided to leave it in the hope it wouldn't prove too distracting.