Low Key

[markgozz]

I took this shot in the bright early evening light and thought I would have a go at a low key effect , any help that any of you can give would be a great help .

Cheers Mark

[Jediboy]

I really like it. It's moody, with atmosphere. I think that the lights falls in just the right places to show some prominent features. Personally I may have been tempted to crop a little closer down the left side, it not much. And that's just me. Overall, great shot.

[markgozz]

Cheers Jediboy really appreciate your comments , knowing how far to crop is still one of the biggest issues I have when doing my PP work .
I wasn't to sure if I had left in too much of the cows body in this shot so I tried a different crop to see if the balance is any better or not , looking at the first shot again it does look like it could loose a wee bit off the left hand side as you say .

Mark

[Jediboy]

That works well.
Like many things in photography I think cropping is a personal thing. Good work.

[JonnyM]

The composition works better in the cropped image as it's more balanced. I like the way the ear is poking out of the darkness and again helps with the composition. Perhaps a slight burn-in on the cow's left shoulder and leg to reduce the highlights as my eye gets drawn there not the head; the highlight and colour of the leg is more prominent, not distracting.

A nice low-key photo, good detail too.

[markgozz]

Thanks again Jediboy , I know what you mean about cropping ( personally I find it a bit of a nightmare )

Thanks for taking the time to comment JonnyM and for your advice , I can see your point of view about the highlights on the shoulder and leg and I will have a look at some alternative settings but I must admit that the full size image does look better .
The biggest bugbear I have is with the left ear it is in total shadow with no highlights at all and has ended up looking like a black hole in the side of the cow's neck , I tried introducing some highlight to the outer edge to give it a back lit look but my skill with Photoshop just isn't up to the task .

Mark