Farm End of Day

[Todd Suttles]

C&C?

[RSL]

Now you're talking, Todd. That may well be the best thing you've posted so far.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Two separate things about this photo.

One is the scene. Serene, pastoral, quiet, classical. Nice.

The other is post-processing. Harsh, dark, putting emphasis on all the wrong places, clashing with the very nature of the scene. The lightest part of an image typically attracts the most attention first, and in this case it is the dirt road in the foreground, which definitely is not, or shouldn't be, the center of attention. I might have a personal distaste for it, but as I noted on several occasions before, we are seeing a lot of really muddy gray renderings on the forum lately (and not just from you). With such a bright, yet uninteresting foreground, the middle and background looks even grayer and muddier that it is.

[David Eckels]

I agree that this is an improvement. One nitpik: the cattle seem to be falling over to the left, particularly the one with its butt-side to the camera. It is into the sun, so some harshness is warranted. I think composition is very good.

[Jeremy Roussak]

I agree with Slobodan that the foreground is too bright. The trees highlighted against the darker background are magical, though.

Jeremy

[RSL]

Todd, I agree about the PP, though I'm not sure it's that important. Try this. I'm sure Slobodan's gonna get on my case about a sloppy job, and he'll be right, but I'm just trying to make the point. You have the original raw file, so the real adjustments are yours to make.

Well, I probably shouldn't have converted it to monochrome before I posted it. When I do that the LuLa copy always comes out darker than the copy I sent. Just pretend it's a bit brighter than it is.

Oh, and Slobodan, that's called "low key," not "muddy."

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Thanks for the education, Russ! Blame my poor English for confusing "muddy" and "low key" 

Your version is even darker than OP, but I get the idea.

What I would do with the foreground, is to use a GND filter in LR to simultaneously darken it, lower contrast, lower highlights and lower clarity, perhaps even into negative territory.

[RSL]

Yeah, as I said, I shouldn't have converted it to monochrome. I'd hate to see the foreground go too far down. You need a little sparkle there, but not so much that it diverts your eye from the horses. It definitely could go lower than I made it.

[David Eckels]

but not so much that it diverts your eye from the horses.

One nitpick, I think they're bovines I know: 

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

In such a darkness, all cats are black, and all cattle look like horses.

[RSL]

You're right, David. Thought that one with his butt toward us was a horse.

[Todd Suttles]

Thanks everyone, here is a re-edit I did after I posted Vr01 (when I printed it I felt like it was too harsh and "scratchy"). I will start over from raw and play with everyone's suggestions. Thanks for the help!
-t
PS: the cows/horses are running away

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Todd, the foreground is just right this time. A suggestion: in LR, use a grad to bring up highlights in the trees, placing it just above the cattle, so that no other parts of the image are affected. You want them to glow (ok, I want them to glow )

[Todd Suttles]

Todd, the foreground is just right this time. A suggestion: in LR, use a grad to bring up highlights in the trees, placing it just above the cattle, so that no other parts of the image are affected. You want them to glow (ok, I want them to glow )

Thanks! Neat result!

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Yes! That is finally it. Persistence has paid off.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Thanks! Neat result!

Yes indeed. I'd do something about the bright spot in the upper left corner, though.

Jeremy

[luxborealis]

Suggestion: crop the foreground out with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The foreground doesn't really add to the photo as all the action "over there".
I would also like to see the unnecessarily heavy shadows opened up. In this kind of light, there should still be some detail. In fact, I would lighten the whole thing by stop just to bring the highlights up even further.

But I think we're flogging a dead horse (no pun intended!) as there are too many compositional problems with cows seemingly being impaled by fence posts due to their relative positions. Mishkaki anyone (beef kabobs?)