oldpsych Loc: Indianapolis

I like the horse pix, but I think the flower shots are out focus just a bit. I have had trouble finding the wild horses as of late. Where did you see them?

viscountdriver Loc: East Kent UK

Yes,very fine shots of the horses,not so good of the flowers.where was your focus point?.

catalint Loc: oslo

Hi Sally D,
Welcome to the right place to be either the pro or the hobbyist :)
You've posted a grate set, and from the looks they are not bad. Composition looks good from my side. The horses seems to be more in focus than the flowers. The funny part here is that I would think it was easier to get the flowers in focus rather than horses which my guess is they moved a lot. Not able to see the full download or the the complete data for each picture, so it could be analyzed more precise, so remember to check for store original checkbox when you upload.

Software is a lot to chose from, and from the free side I can only suggest Nik Collection https://www.google.com/nikcollection/ or Lightzone http://lightzoneproject.org/
I am a Nikon user so not so familiar with Canons software, but I am sure it works just fine. Shooting raw or JPG I feel is a personal choose. I prefer the raw side , and I am a hobbyist myself.

Anyway , keep shooting and share your good eye catches with us :)

Salute from Oslo !

vicksart Loc: Novato, CA -earthquake country

Welcome to the forum.

I would have to agree with the suggestions that have been made especially shooting at a different time of day when the light is better. That isn't always an option though, but try getting the horses earlier or later in the day. I know you'll appreciate the results. You're off to a good start with these.

Keep practicing and have fun.

nealabello Loc: SB Wine Country

The horse pictures really tell a story. I think you did a great job with the light you had. As others have said, if you can get back earlier or later in the day they will be spectacular.

Flyerace Loc: Mt Pleasant, WI

Very nice series. Love the two horses nuzzling. I think one is really trying to take something away from the other. Thanks for letting me see your shots.

Susan689

Hi Sally D. I'm new at this forum also. Although I have been taking photos since I was a kid, I was truly very amateurish in my shots. Two years ago I decided to go to school to study photography.... I'm loving it... I take one class a semester and take my time to learn everything I can. So with that background information, what I am going to say next is based on what my instructors have taught me so far. You have a good eye for composition. Since you are outside shooting with the sun high I am wondering why you are using an ISO of 800? ISO of 400 and up is usually used for low light, at those settings your sensor is taking in a lot of light which is unnecessary since you have so much natural light. Also, if you want to enlarge your photos beyond an 8x10 you will begin to get a lot of grain showing up. I would suggest you try an ISO of 100 or 200 (at the most) in high sunlight (although your photos have good color quality they're not washed out). As far as the softness of your flowers, it could be slight camera shake if you are not using a tripod. Also check you lens and if it has stabilization make sure it is in the ON position. When not using a tripod I will used a fast shutter speed and multiple fast shots of the subject (you can set your camera to take multiple shots.) As far as Jpg vs. Raw.... Raw files have a larger amount of pixel information than Jpg files. Also every time you open up a Jpg file and save it the pixel information is compressed.... over and over again until the file is no longer any good. That does not happen with Raw files.. Raw files can be saved as Jpg or a Tiff file. Tiff is used for printing with a 300 pixel/inch setting. Jpg is used for viewing on line and should be no larger than 2000 pixels on the longest edge of the photo and set at a low resolution of 72 pixels/inch. (Having a small image and low resolution will also stop people from taking you photos and making large prints from them. If you care about that.) I only shoot in Raw.... but depending on the model Canon Camera you have you may be able to set it to take photos in Jpg and Raw at the same time. I did that until I was comfortable with Raw files. Anyway.... good photos.... keep shooting... everyday if at all possible... the more you photograph the better you will get. I hope this helps you .... let us know how it's going and send us more of your work. Susan

gsmith051 Loc: Fairfield Glade, TN

I love your passion Sally and welcome to the forum. The horse pictures are great, each with a clear subject and story. I don't know. I possibly would tried a two stop ND filter to get more contrast but I can do the same thing in Lightroom. That's why I shoot in manual and raw most of the time. Cleans up my mistakes. Thanks for showing some very nice pictures. Look forward to more of them............ George

OneEasyRider Loc: Mount Airy, NC

Love the horses. Welcome to the Forum Sally.

Sally D

Boy, so much information! Thanks for taking time to provide such a thorough response. I will try to use a lower ISO and increasing the aperture. The problem is with the horses, there's not much time to get the shot and I have to make sure that the shutter speed is fast enough but I'll give it a try.
I've made some notes on your comments and will try to put them to use. Thanks again for your time.

Sally D

First, thanks for all of the information. I really appreciate your help. As suggested, I'm going to post an additional photo and try to do it correctly.
I intentionally used a shallow depth of field, wanting to have a few in focus and the rest blurred . . . but I'm not sure if it looks as sharp as it should.

(Download)

Sally D

Thanks, I'll try to learn to use it!

Sally D

Thanks, I'll try to learn to use it then!

Sally D

I agree that these were not taken at the best time of day . . . unfortunately, when I've been out late in the afternoon, the horses seem to be more interested in just lolling around . . . I'm going to post a couple that were taken afternoon light. I have trouble deciding if action or lighting is more important! Wish they'd perform on demand.
Thanks for your time.

(Download)


(Download)

Sally D

Some of the horses have become pretty desensitized by people like me who hang around to take their pictures. As long as we take it nice and slow, we can get pretty close, especially if they're preoccupied with something else. I love watching them and seeing their family dynamics.