Shepherd holding animal while the calf sucks

[The amateur]

This is one of those photographs that you capture with a bit of luck, but which are only possible when you are in the right place at the right time.

However, it didn't go entirely well, or at least, it didn't go as I would have liked it to go, as I would have liked there not to be such a strong backlight, which led to an under-exposure of the entire scene.
I really like the action when the shepherd is holding the animal while the calf is suckling. On the left, an animal watches the scene.

I tried to save the photo, but it seems to me that I didn't manage to do it completely. I am learning to work with the curves, but I find such an approach terribly difficult, especially when you want to recover a certain and specific point and, when selecting it, it doesn't stay there, but rather next to it, which spoils everything. But anyway... I'll keep trying.

[DanK]

Antonio,

I hope you won't mind this comment. I mean it only in a positive way.

In my opinion, it's clearly time for you to learn more about editing. You have a very good eye and produce some stunning captures, but then you get stuck trying to finish them. To paraphrase Ansel Adams, the capture is the score, while the final edited image is the performance.

This is not a particularly difficult image to edit, once you know the basics. It mostly just needs dodging and burning. The curves tool is one of the most basic and important tools, so if you are not yet comfortable using it, it's time (in my opinion) to devote time to learning more about editing.

One very basic issue is whether you use what's called a "parametric" editor like Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw or a "pixel" editor like photoshop because I would handle this image differently in those two types of software. In Lightroom, I would rely mostly on the adjustment brush (now accessed through the masking function), although I think the software might do a decent job of selecting the sky using its automatic sky selection function. In photoshop, I would use a curves layer with a black mask and a brush. I use those examples only to show that for people to give you suggestions about how to edit, it would be helpful to know what software you use.

If (and only if) this would be helpful you: If you post the original, I'd be happy to try editing it tomorrow, when we expect to be stuck at home because of a snow and ice storm and can explain what I did when I'm done. This assumes we don't lose power during the storm. But please don't bother if this wouldn't be helpful.

Dan

[Geoff F]

I can accept the difficult light, which is part of real life. Maybe a touch of shadow brightness and highlight reduction, selectively applied, could be an improvement; but I would be more concerned about cropping out the right side sheep. To my way of thinking, it is adding distraction and complication to the overall scene balance.

[The amateur]

Dan, I couldn't be bothered with his comments in general and particularly with this one that seems particularly relevant to me.

So let's go in parts: I use LR and PS both updated (at least for now) with the latest refinements. I rarely use Smart Objects because of the dimensions they reach.
I usually focus on LR and go through the process recording successive SnapShots that allow me to review, evaluate and compare previous situations. All this disappears when the image comes from PS in tif format, however, still allowing some complementary procedures.

Bellow a jpg copy of the original raw.
As Dan can see, the sky is clearly overexposed and the main subject - person and animals - are obviously underexposed. While recovering something from the sky seems particularly difficult, the shadows are not so much, although it is essential to take care of the contours between these two large areas.
I think I know the basics but as I usually say the program is a kilometer long and I only know a millimeter, that is, I only know that I know nothing !
I am looking forward to seeing your edition and I sincerely hope that there is no power outage that could prevent this and other works.
-
Geoff, thank you for your contribution. In terms of framing, I know that I have a great tendency to use wide angles and show large areas, but these sometimes incorporate enough information that is necessary to understand the context in which the main subject is inserted. Points of view...
In this case and now that Geoff has drawn attention to the framing, I can clearly see that the figure is centered - it happened to have noticed this before but then I became careless - and that a cut on the right side can only benefit the image for the reasons explained.
Especially since by making this cut I uncenter the main action and avoid the part of the sky that is more aggressive and problematic.
To both of you my thanks for taking the trouble to write these lines and for contributing to the quality of this forum and photography in general.

Cheers !