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Amazing how much those two horses look alike. Great photo of the grey horse. With the carosel, I might try it with even more of a painterly effect. The realism of both is almost too much.

Great concept and one I would fiddle with more.

Are they both your horses PeggySue? I would like to see more of your carousel horses (and others) if you could share: those on your website are very interesting and different, I like the grey horse with attitude. The restoration of them must be so rewarding: is it difficult to source the old ones to work on? They are not common here at all and the few good "merry-go-rounds" I know of are under various forms of heritage protection control.

This is beautiful work, especially the detail matching even in the eyes. I love the concept here, sort of life imitating art.

The grey Arab is my gelding who is twenty this year. The winter scene of him trotting was just taken this past winter. He amazes me how young he acts and looks. That carrousel horse is a German carving that we are going to restore.

I am a little concerned about the two horses being so similar in size. Do they seem to cancel each other out? I like the idea of making them more painterly but if I were to paint them the design would have to be right first anyway and I am not sure it is.

I have always been interested in real and not real. Photographing people with mannequins, silk and real flowers etc. Another image shows one I do like - [image]http://[/image]

Any comments on this one? Maybe you hit on something. When images are close to you, it may be harder to judge them. (Except some show people who are extra picky)

Thanks for your comments!

PeggySue,

Let me say that this is REALLY cool. It is a great idea and I think you were gutsy to present it.

I hear what you are saying about the horses being the same size. Having either the carosel or the gelding be larger than the other provides very different images and concepts. I would like to see you provide these, if you have the time (or already did them).

I don't know what to think of the last image you presented. It is not that it is not good - I just don't know what to make of it.

Can you talk a bit about the technique you used to make this?.

James

The image was a black and white photo of a friend standing with three mannequins. I did solarize it in the darkroom since I find the Photoshop solarization lacking. I scanned it and then played with color and lots of filters. The fun part for me was naming it which was X-files. The guy in the photo had three x-wives.
Forgive me in advance when I do not keep track of specific filters and techniques. Thank heavens when the cameras record what and how it was shot since I rarely kept track of that either.
Hope that helps.

Since I have not gotten many critiques on the horses, I thought I would post another one I would really like some feedback on. Give me your instant reactions since I have some issues with it and I would like to see if I am on the right page with my own critiquing.
PC - finding carrousel figures has not been that difficult since we have been doing this for over 25 years. My spouse is a woodcarver and does the woodwork and I paint on them. This summer I painted my first whole carrousel and it went back to the park for kids to ride on June 10th. There are not many complete antique machines around as the individual figures can command a high figure so they have been broken up and put in private collections.
If you would like to see some of the best ever carved, the book Painted Ponies is wonderful. There are several of the figures I have painted in that book. [image]http://[/image]

Peggysue, I am not into the Two Horses. And the second shot of the guy I do not like. I am more into realism. This shot of the ducks is a lot more to my liking. Quick first impression is I like it. I like the composition and “real” look. I find the overall image to be fuzzy. The background is distracting. And what is that one bird standing on? Overall the framing is good, you could loose more from the right and the bottom. I like the position of the two ducks both individually and relative to each other. Is the lighting different on each, did you paste the two together? It is difficult to see some of the detail with the small pic, but looking at it, it almost appears that the duck in the water was hit with a flash, and the one on the “Shore” was ambient light. All these things put together make the pic have a high overall tension factor. I find my eyes darting around trying to make sense of these confusions.

Thats it Jeff, thank you! You know when you cannot see the forest for the trees. Thanks for pointing out to me what I should have seen in the first place.
PS

hey, i looked a million ducks, eaten 100's and still I cant tell what's going on in the duck shot.

i like the PS image with the guy and statues - enough said about that shot, it is what it is, there's no need for me to cretique it.

I like what you did with the horses. but I do not understand the purpose or the subject of the photo. What's it telling me? It's two horses, one's real and one's not. I'm not sure, by looking at it, what youre telling me. That said, I like the colors, it's pretty. But what's the message? Maybe blended or halftoned or somthing or a pole showing through the body with the fake horse in the back ground or in the corner, very much smaller would get the effect you seek?

good work, I always like to look at stuff like you posted. It's interesting and, well, it's just nice to look at. Post more if you have them. . .