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Cocadori,

Initially, I didn't notice that it was you who posted this. I was about to make a complimentary post about the quality of your lens, and inquire as to the its model.

Every time I see image quality like this, I realize I won't be satisfied with anything else.

My wallet hates you. Sigh.

John

I had a neighbor one time that had a pretty good little horse that he used to gather up his dairy cows, that was not spooky at all, except for a basketball. She would get nervous about one just lying on the ground and not moving. I am guessing a bad experience somewhere back down the line. miles

donkey basketball. great fun. who won?......grin

Sorry 'bout your wallet john... ;-) Fist photo is the 24-70-f2.8 the rest are the 70-200-f4

Dad's one of the few true ones left, cowboyed all over the west and then some... always has a new game or two to play... if you're not in the middle then you're not... I found out I suck a basketball... my horse was spectacular but I was not.

That's alright, Were all happy that you are a better photographer than a basketball player. It gives us a chance to be there with you and Dolli and your dad!!!

;-)

That first photo of your father is fantastic.

Thank you... he's a horseman through and through... many complained that the shadows are too dark in this face but anyone who trains horses... knows the tools are in the hands... which is where the light falls...

From other threads (including the raw vs. jpg "boxing match" thread with Boxer :), I know Cocadori has the expertise to lighten up his dad's face without blowing out the highlights on the hands & horse. Ric, you made a choice (and I agree with it -- as if my opinion matters!

Looking at the tonal range, I think you may have done a little lightening of the face, but whether you did or didn't, I think you stopped at the perfect point! You can see his eyes well, and with those harsh lighting conditions going further would just scream "Photoshopped".

I see many pictures on the 'net which are technically excellent, but are so clearly manipulated that this becomes distracting.

Clearly, all of Cocadori's photos above are not only technically way above average, but they must be valuable for his descendents.

For the benefit of others who missed my post on the "raw vs. jpg" thread: Guys, when you get any truly excellent family photos like Cocadori has here, backup both the raw image and a huge jpg of each photo for future generations of your family.

Why? "RAW" is not a single format but hundreds of formats, some specific to a single model camera of a single brand. It is more likely that today's jpg will be readable down the road long after Nikon's raw format for that particular camera is forgotten and unreadable.

John

Thanks John, for the kind words.

Yep, double back up everything!