Processed Cows

[major_clanger]

We went for a wander around Sutton Park today; now that we have a car we're doing more exploring around the outskirts of Birmingham, and we quickly discovered this wonderful great chunk of countryside within Birmingham's suburban sprawl.

I had my DSLR with me and tried to get some interesting shots of a small herd of cows we met. I've done my best with a few minutes' work in Photoshop to bring the picture a bit more to life and I'd be interested in comments on the processed version vs the original :



Left: original, taken with Canon 400D and Canon 17-55 f/2.8, 1/200s at f/7.1, ISO 100, shot through neutral density graduated filter. Shot in RAW and small exposure tweak added.

Right: slightly realigned and cropped, layer overlays used to boost contrast and saturation.

Comments

[history-monk.livejournal.com]

The contrast tweak definitely helps.

Were you standing when you took it? Getting the camera closer to the ground might have given a better composition; the cows and the sky are a little too far apart.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I was trying for a sort of triangle of the cows in the foreground with the ones behind, although that's not quite worked. And I didn't fancy my chances trying to rearrange cows :-)