All original images (C) Steve Douglass unless otherwise noted.

All original images (C) Steve Douglass unless otherwise noted. Permission required for commercial use or publishing.

ABC7's Live Scanner Feed!

>

Friday, March 13, 2009

Panhandle Skies Photo featured in Popular Photography!


It’s a great feeling to open a national magazine and see one of your photos featured inside. But what if it is a critique?

As a photographer looking for national exposure, getting critiqued is an important part or recognition and if you can’t stand the heat - well - you know the rest ...

I sold this photo to Popular Photography for use in their monthly feature “The Fix” knowing they would use it as a lesson of what not to do. In fact I agree with them that the image was a bit over-saturated, and I was curious to see what their “fix would be.

As I suspected, they de-saturated it to make the sky not so orange, but they also let the horses fall into the shadows.

Although I agreed with their take on the sky, I don’t know if I like what they did with the horses.

I understand their reasoning, hoping the viewer will discover the horses (almost by accident) almost as an afterthought - subjective to the sunset, but IMHO - the point of the photo was not the sunset or the horses but how all the elements came together to make for an elegant and striking photograph.

So which do you like better?

The original or the fix?

Personally I think the horses look a bit too dark - but the sky looks does more natural.

In any event its an honor to be in the magaziine and hope its just the first of many more to come.

My version:



Their version:



I also eliminated the distracting telephone pole in the distance.

See the full article HERE.

There are a lot more "Fixes" in the April issue. If you are a serious pro photographer or an amateur wanting to hone your craft, do yourself a favor and buy this issue today!

LINK HERE

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your version better. It seems to have more punch to it. The horses are hard to see in their version.

Congrats for the recognition of your photo!!!

Steve Miller TX said...

First off, congrats on getting in the magazine! As far as the two shots, I really think it comes down to what one wants to accomplish with the shot. Yours is more dramatic while the fix is natural, but kinda dull. In short, yours "entertains" the senses.

Out of curiosity, do you use graduated density filters? I'm going to get a couple and try those this year with just such shots.

Anonymous said...

i personally like your version..but everyone has an opinon

Click to enlarge!

Please click on each image to enlarge them and see them in their proper color and contrast.