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Action Award
Contest Finalist in World Photography Day Photo Contest 2020
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Contest Finalist in 800 Horses Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Silhouettes In Nature Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Compositions 101 Photo Contest vol2
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on a wild mustang preserve in South Dakota. The man who started this non profit home where mustangs and other wild horses roam free on huge tracts of range was motivated to do so after seeing how the Bureau of Land Management treated those mustangs it captures every year to sell. He petitioned Congress for 300 head, was denied, and then dedicated himself to achieving his dream. The result, a beautiful home, where the horses' health needs are tended to, they are fed and watered when conditions are bad, but they are left to run free.Time
Dusk, aftrer a day on the "backside" of the preserve with the most wild of the horses. We'd had lunch, seen many beutiful horses, and as we turned home the wind picked up a little, and the ground was dry from drought, so it didn't take much for the horses' hooves to kick up a lot of dust.Lighting
I was lucky to have the setting sun behind me to highlight the dust rising off the prairie and silhouetting the horses. Also to have it far enough from the horizon that I could get the shot. I don't usually carry a tripod, and it would be nuisance at the preserve. So this is hand held,and probably in focus due to a Nkon vibration reduction (VR) lens.Equipment
This hand held photo was taken with simply a Nikon 7100 according to the EXIF data. It was fitted with 28 - 300mm Nikor lens. By that tie of the day I was no longer using a neutral density filter.Inspiration
I had been shooting all day inthe hot, bright, sunlight. It was a treat to have the evening descend on the way home from a day out with the horses. This was one of the last images I was able to get before it got too dark. The horses had had to spend the day in the hot sun (except for a dip iin the river, or standing in one of the forested spots) while I had the luxury of an airconditioned jeep. They looked perfect for that kind of day - walking slowly, spread out, heads down, not even grazing, just looking for waterEditing
I used Adobe Photoshop (processing the Raw image) to emphasize the contrast some, brightening the dust to make the horses stand out.In my camera bag
Now I carry a Nikon D750 with a 28-300mm (or a prime 300 mm) lens when I go to this ranch. Primarily I shoot just hand held anyway, but the ranch is not really suitable for a tripod, so I don't take one. Other than the camera and lenses, I generally have warming, neutral density and polarizing filters, sometimes a red filter, and, of course, extra cards and batteries. Currently I use cards with a read/write speed of 95 mb/sec, but am looking to upgrade.Feedback
Opportunity and patience are to me the two hardest things about photography. Without them, it is hard to find the shot you want. So exposing yourself to lots of different places and types of things to photograph would be my number one piece of general advice. Once in a new situation, watch for a while to see what catches your eye. Taking advantage of the "golden hours" is much easier and productive if you have already scouted the area in different light and determined where the best places are. For something like this photo, you also have to have a little luck as the subject matter has to turn up at the right time, but that is where the patience comes in. Knowing before hand where you are going to shoot from and where the sun will be then allows you to prepare for the specific lighting conditions and determine what look you want to have. Here I was able to take enough shots at different apertures fairly quickly because I was prepared before hand and knew the general range I needed to get the look I wanted.