NZ Sheep at first light

[wilgk]

Sharing a scene from home.
I am very lucky that my parents are both healthy, I try to visit as often as I can & enjoy their company.
My Dad is 83 and my Mum is 80, they pretend to enjoy getting out of bed early and joining me on drives, as I marvel at the scenery on their doorstep.
I am sure they wonder why I didn't appreciate it when I lived there.
I guess we can put it down to something else that may be 'wasted on the young'

As for the image, well I tried to process to conserve the sky & convey the crunch of the frost underfoot.
Crops of what to leave in or out befuddled me as well, so suggestions welcome.

Do visit if you can it's a lovely place.

[Shadowman]

Hi Kay,

I think some of the foreground could be cropped out, plus the sky distract which to me makes this a duo composition. I would crop out the sheep and just display the skyline for the color version and then go B & W for the sheep/sky combo. Nicely composed, you could lose one or more sheep on the end but it works as shown.

[Donald]

What about cropping at the left hand side, so that the distance from the left and right hand sheep from the edge of the frame is the same distance. The few tree branches that would then peek into the left hand side could be cloned out. Job done. Don't do anything else. You certainly do have the crunch of frost very evident.


On the subject of loving the landscape which before you didn't take much notice of. Snap. I had that experience before my mother and, recently, dad dies. Going up to visit them involved travelling a road that, when we were young and I lived at home,were always in a hurry to get along. Didn't have time to look at the scenery, well it was just hills and lochs (lakes), and we had to concentrate on the road. Then when I started travelling that road again as a mature adult and one who takes photographs, I suddenly realised how beautiful it was.

[rpcrowe]

Sharing a scene from home.
I am very lucky that my parents are both healthy, I try to visit as often as I can & enjoy their company.
My Dad is 83 and my Mum is 80, they pretend to enjoy getting out of bed early and joining me on drives, as I marvel at the scenery on their doorstep.
I am sure they wonder why I didn't appreciate it when I lived there.
I guess we can put it down to something else that may be 'wasted on the young'

As for the image, well I tried to process to conserve the sky & convey the crunch of the frost underfoot.
Crops of what to leave in or out befuddled me as well, so suggestions welcome.

Do visit if you can it's a lovely place.

I'd love to visit there. Regarding crops...

I "think" that I might crop out some of the foreground which will, in effect, move the implied horizon down away from the center of the frame.

I "might" also select the sky and darken it a bit and brighten he line of foliage. hills and buildings.

[Manfred M]

As everyone seems to have an opinion, I might as well throw mine in as well.

1. The first thing that strikes me is the magenta / red colour cast on the grass and the sheep. That's the first thing I would fix.

2. There is a bit too much foreground and the trees and house are too close to the centre line of the image for my taste. A heavy crop of the foreground would fix that.

3. The tree on the left, I have mixed feelings about. Removing it could improve the shot a bit.

[rpcrowe]

This is my version which I was working on when Manfred posted his version. This goes to show that there are usually many valid ways to PP an image...

I cropped the image so there would be less foreground, cropped out the single sheep looking out of the frame at image right (I like having the two sheep looking at the camera to anchor the image), darkened and saturated the sky a bit and brightened the dark row of trees, foliage and buildings separating the sky from the field. I also brightened to face of the one sheep at far image left...

[Donald]

1. The first thing that strikes me is the magenta / red colour cast on the grass and the sheep. That's the first thing I would fix.

That's why I do B & W. I didn't see that. Either I'm stupid, or just that I'm colour blind. Of course, I could be stupid and colour blind!

[Manfred M]

That's why I do B & W. I didn't see that. Either I'm stupid, or just that I'm colour blind. Of course, I could be stupid and colour blind!

Being colour blind doesn't necessarily stop one from working in colour. The well known American photographer Joel Grimes seems to do okay in spite of being colour blind. That being said, his work tends to be on the hard and funky side, so that would make up for any minor colour issues.

http://joelgrimes.com/Artist.asp?Art...&Akey=P7FJP8B4

[FootLoose]

I can't see why you would want to crop any part of this photograph, Kay, I think you have nailed it. I don't see how any of the suggested alterations above have improved it in any way. You need to decide if it is a photograph of the sheep or a rural landscape. For me it is the latter.

The colour of the sky and the light on the sheep and frost makes me wonder if the shot was taken earlier than the general lighting indicates. Did you brighten the image in processing?

[wilgk]

Thank you Gentlemen for your replies.
Manfred I too thought there was a purplish cast to my wooly friends, but when I tried to correct, I felt they went too green, so I left them alone.
I agree there's a lot of foreground, but I also really liked the tree on the left & didn't want to lose that.

Greg I checked back, 6.37am in July, hence the frost :-)
I don't have any filters, and I did want to preserve the sky, so the lower half was darker & I've lightened it.

I agree with all, if I want to crop any, then I need to maybe decide which element in the composition is the main focus or most important... or as they say if it doesn't add to the image then remove it.

I only had a quick moment to get the shot after I climbed through the fence into their paddock.
They followed their mate's lead on the left & took off away from me, when they were gone there was no foreground interest at all & I didn't like the scene nearly so much.

The cows in the next paddock I went into, did the opposite, they came running toward me, bleating for food making all around who were wise enough to be still in bed.

[Manfred M]

The sheep are cuter.

[Wavelength]

i really like these images