Pastoral

Late afternoon on Redhills Road in Calaveras County. This was kind of a 'grab shot', (If one can call making a shot with a 4x5 a 'grab shot' ). I wanted to get this before the horses moved on, so I had to set up and shoot in fairly short order. Happily the clouds and the horses hung around.

Tachihara 4x5
Nikkor 300mm
Astia 100-F

Your thoughts are always appreciated.

--P

Very nice Preston. It's interesting to see this on screen after seeing the print in person. As I said when looking at the print, this is great.

Preston the title fits perfectly. To me this is a mood piece not an in your face statement image, A peaceful contemplative mood. Nice.


Paul

I am on the fence about this one, Preston. I like the comp a lot, with the oaks, the diagonal hill and the clouds. Something about the horses creates a distraction for me. Perhaps it is their pose, feeding rather than being upright and alert. I am being pretty dang picky, because overall, I like the peaceful scene, but something is making it not be a wall hanger for me.

Reminds me of the local hills. Nice scene, Preston.

What struck me about this photo is the lack of drama. As I view it, the overall feel is very subdued, I see little contrast. "Pastoral" is a good title for this shot.

Thanks for your comments!

Roland, I am curious. Is the lack of drama and contrast a good thing for this shot, or no?

Do any of you have any thoughts about this?

After looking at the proof print, I decided to darken the blue in the sky a bit and work on the clouds a bit. This decision was made after I created the posted image.

Harley: I see what you mean about the horses. I actually thought about making a noise to get them to raise their heads, but I was afraid they would run off. If they had done so, the effect I was after would have been lost.

Thanks again, everyone.

--P

Well I guess it is the quiet look and feel that I do like here. Very peaceful setting IMO. I find this to fall more under the realm of ranching & farming more then our dynamic or even subtle landscape scenes. In that arena fits old windmills, barns, corrals, etc. As such, I view the captures from a different cortex in my brain, which by the way, has many corners to it.
With that all said, I really like it from that viewing aspect.

I meant the lack of drama as a compliment. I can imagine this photo hanging in a setting where people might be tense, such as a doctor's office or next to a dental chair. I think this image would help relax people.

Roland,

Thanks for your clarification. I would have liked the direction of the light to have been more from the side to give better modeling of the scene, but I had to take what I was given.

Thanks everyone for your comments,

--P

Pastoral it is, certainly not a "smack ya in the face" dramatic image, I like it though, especially the horse on the left against the lighter bg, the other horse is kinda lost in the bg and the angle of its stance.