Beach horse racing..help please

[Pete W]

Hi there,

I'm hoping one or some of you clever people can come up with a few suggestions for improving the image quality of this shot...I have others .... It was a bitterly cold and overcast day in Northern France, so they are all lacking impact/clarity. The horse racing was really exciting and deserves a more dramatic look...I don't mind straying from reality!

Nice to be back in touch (I did the October PAD..just about recovered ).

Thanks

Peter

[ScoutR]

Very interesting Peter. I'm sure others will chime in but I would try lightening it up a bit and then either go for a full sillouette, or go the other way and decrease contrast and clarity (seems to give more movement to my eye) and then increase luminance and saturation on all colours in the jockeys silks. This is basically what I've quickly done below using Lightroom.

Fill Light: 16
Brightness: 71
Contrast: -7
Clarity: -100
Tone Curve
Lights: 40
Darks: -10
Shadows: 32
Colours
Red Lum: 21
Red Sat: 19
Orange Sat: 34
Yellow Sat: 15
Aqua Lum: 58
Blue Sat: 63
Blue Lum: 100
Magenta Sat: 66
Magenta Lum: 74



Wendy

[Donald]

Pete

Welcome home. Good to see you back.

In response to:

I'm hoping one or some of you clever people can come up with a few suggestions

, my response was going to be 'exposure'.

But Wendy has already got that and gone well beyond it terms of technical knowledge. All that stuff about 'sat' and 'lum' and 'lum', and 'sat' stretches my knowledge base.

I think what Wendy has suggested adds vibrancy and excitement to the image.

[Wirefox]

Wendy's version certainly gives the image a much more dynamic feel (nice work Wendy). As Donald says above exposure at the time of shooting is the main issue. It looks suspiciously like matrix metering (although I have been known to be wrong on occasion). However that does not help you now. If this was shot RAW I would be tempted to get the exposure of the foreground correct and then replace the the sky. Nothing too dramatic otherwise it will take focus away from the main subject. It should be easy in this case since you have a positive straight line at the top of the sandbank. The image is definitely worth saving.

[Katy Noelle]

Nice to be back in touch (I did the October PAD..just about recovered ).

I wondered where you'd gone! Glad to see you again.

Fun photo! (sorry, not great on the post processing, yet, though.)

[Pete W]

Thanks Wendy, a big improvement, I like the thinness of the image, almost ghostlike...
I'll have a play in Aperture but I don't have your technical expertise. In non digital days I would have considered posterising the image or maybe even trying bas relief. I have a few other images and will try and reproduce this look.

thanks again

Peter

[Pete W]

Thanks Wirefox and Donald,

I'm encouraged to adjust the other images and go for a more ethereal look...like Wendy's..and yes matrix metering may well have given me poor overall exposure, the light was completely flat. I'll post a couple of images for your input, when I get a chance...this work thing "eh!

Thanks for the input and it's good to be back in touch

Peter

[Pete W]

Hi Katy,

nice to be back, I see lots of familiar names, and can just about remember how to do the upload photos thing !

regards

peter

[Peter Ryan]

Hi Peter,

Unlike many of my English cousins I use matrix meter all the time. There is a large expanse of sky and reflection off the water on the sand that will underexpose your shot by around 1. – 1.25 stops. See if you can adjust the exposure in Aperture (or brightness) and then see if you can add Fill light or something to brighten the horses a tad.

Great action shot. I look forward to seeing others.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Hi,

(worked for you w.Adobe PSE)

and one more spectacular but as a sample of what it could do only



Go on,the shot is good.

[Kentboy]

There is always monochrome to fall back to - mostly red filter and a little infill

[tameigh]

I am surprised to say that I really like the B&W in this case. Not really sure why, since I am usually a color guy, but the image itself is great.

[chief]

here's my pic, I added cloud scene and enhance the colors

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

here's my pic, I added cloud scene and enhance the colors

Hi,
Too dramatique sky strongly constrasting with the rest of the scene.This is a visible attachment.The idea is good,keep going.

[Maritimer1]

Pete, I love the angle of your capture. I'm not very good at artistic PP at this point, but really admire the ones that have been done for you. Wendy's ethereal version very much appeals to me as it gives the scene an early morning look. The black and white renders it timeless, and the bold sky makes such an impact and carries my eye all the way around the photo.

Hoping you post more!

Myra