Dressage Rider - Seeking assistance / C&C welcomed as well

[William W]

FOR CLARITY OF MEANING:

Post Production is great but 'the answer' relies on getting it all OK in the neg.

That’s been my main message here and is the main message in most threads where I modify an existing image for illustrative/educational purposes.

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In arduous shooting condition or when shooting under the pressure of time I think that two elements of brain focus are very important regarding the technical aspects about the capture:

1. don't blow-out anything, or as little as possible (and use as low an ISO as possible)
2. get it all in the frame (shoot wide, crop later)

Then with all that data at your disposal and if the shot is worthwhile to you, work in the darkroom at it – and usually that work is much longer than 15 minutes.

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EXAMPLES

1. don't blow-out anything, or as little as possible (and use as low an ISO as possible):

because it is easier to reclaim detail already present in the shadow areas than to rebuild blown-out areas it is usually best to use a low ISO and not blow any highlights, for example, when there is dappled light:





2. get it all in the frame (shoot wide, crop later)

It is usually easier to crop, align, re-fabricate or remove what is in the image, rather than having to rebuild what is not in the image (note my mistake at the time of capture top RH corner of Building):



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Post Production time was about 4 hours for each of the above.

The castle went through two iterations because I didn’t have a clear vision when I made the shot.

For the house, my vision was very clear when I saw it: I just knew it would be a lot of work and I was so annoyed that I clipped the top RH corner, just three big steps back would have saved at least 20~30 minutes.

WW

[William W]

Originally Posted by William W
Yes I concur. And precisely because of that I wonder, Kim, if there was Exposure Compensation applied to image #1, when it was shot in A Mode? If no EC was applied, then maybe the blown-out areas were if fact too small a portion of the matrix to account for dragging the exposure down any further. WW

I'm sorry, I gave some bad info -- 1st was M, second was A mode.

Thanks.
I regain my faith in the AI of Nikon’s “Matrix Mode”

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Originally Posted by William W
The horse’s head and forequarter area are mushy
> dodge general area

What do you mean by "mushy" -- that means soft to me?
Yes, riders breeches, vest and the bridle were jet black.
What bothers me in this image is the yellow cast -- I prefer the tones in the image you posted below this post.

By ‘mushy’ I meant that I didn’t know exactly what was another smaller shadow caused by tufts of WHITE furry bits and what was actually THE texture and THE (not white) colour of his furry bits.

I took particular reference of Allan Short’s redo, (which I acknowledged). I understand Allan’s method and, because I understand his method, I thought that several of the “shadows” I removed might have been grey chunky bits of furry stuff – but I wasn’t sure. So that was the “detail” I removed which you and Mike commented upon.

Knowing now, that he is a grey/white horse with chunky furry bits and some furry bits missing – IF you want to keep that texture AND the mixed grey and white tones of his furry bits, then the removal of the “Blue Cast” (should you want to remove it) would be better achieved with Allan’s method or similar. A moderate/mild overall colour balance correction after that, might enhance. If I have time I will have a look at Allan’s redo more closely.

Yes the yellow bothered me. I was rushing. Yes I couldn't help myself to "re-correct" it and nuke the yellow.

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. . . You and others have given me lots of ideas. I would like to process them and then repost the image. . . . My goal will be to make changes to better the image, but not lose the feeling I was trying to create. :-)

As I mentioned in a separate commentary, I think the key is mainly in getting it right in the negative: I reiterate that I think you either intuitively or subconsciously knew this and that’s why you phrased the question specifically about 'how to get the exposure correct in this situation', in your Post #1.

However, you do have an image file of a well timed and interesting shot, but with chunks blown out and also holding a blue cast and to want to recover that is a fine endeavour.

WW

BTW thanks for confirming that I got “Arena” correct, I also appreciate you correcting my error ‘jodhpurs’ – Indeed she is wearing ‘Riding Breeches’ and definitely NOT Jodhpurs.

I am glad I didn't make that mistake whilst making Portraits of her, as that would have been a gross error of very poor preparation.

(for those who don't know me well: that is very serious and sincere comment) - In a Portrait Shoot the smallest error of comment might very well stuff the ambiance and rapport of the whole session.