andyschwartz_3619

Foggy Morning Herd

Horses being herded on a Colorado mountain ranch through a foggy morning.

Horses being herded on a Colorado mountain ranch through a foggy morning.
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NIKON D750

settings

Aperture f/5.6 ISO 1400 Shutter 1/640 Focal Length 280/10

location

Westcliffe, Colorado, US

upload_date

Apr, 2021

Views

Likes

Awards

Top Shot Award 21

Peer Award

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at the Music Meadow Ranch outside of Westcliffe, Colorado, near the Sangre De Cristo mountains.

Time

The time was very shortly after sunrise, although you couldn't tell because of the foggy conditions.

Lighting

The dense fog made for some very diffuse morning light which required a higher than normal ISO setting in order to use a fast enough shutter speed to capture the moving horses.

Equipment

I used a Nikon D750 Full Frame DSLR with a Nikkor 24-120mm f4 lens. The focal length was 28mm with a F5.6 aperature at a shutter speed of 1/640th of a second and ISO set to 1400. The camera was handheld (no flash).

Inspiration

I spent a whole weekend photographing the ranch hands and the horses at sunrise. The cowboys 'staged' this shot where they herded the horses through the fog. I could hear the horses well before they emerged from the fog which made it a 'magical' moment.

Editing

The photo was post-processed in Adobe Lightroom to adjust exposure, tones, color saturation, and sharpness. There was a trailer in the distance off to the right side so I brought the shot into Adobe Photoshop to 'remove' the trailer, to create a cleaner image. I also cropped the photo at a 2:1 ratio that created a 'panoramic' look and also applied a vignette to the corners.

In my camera bag

I normally keep a Nikkor 70-200mm F4 lens, along with a Nikkor 16-35mm F4 lens, extra batteries and storage cards.

Feedback

I would advise others to use a higher ISO setting in order to use a fast enough shutter speed to capture the moving horses in low light. I was pleased at the minimal 'noise' in the image from using a higher ISO setting. I was able to enlarge the photo to a 12" x 24" print with great results! The photo was selected to be in a national photo show.

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andyschwartz_3619

andyschwartz_3619

Foggy Morning Herd

Horses being herded on a Colorado mountain ranch through a foggy morning.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow andyschwartz_3619

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