Table portraits 3.

And the table portrait/art photo series will continue. This bunch is from April 2020, and as I look at these, I can see I may have tried to redo something from the previous batch. 

Focusing on the eye is surprisingly difficult, especially if you also want to focus on the tack...

I will only splat a few best of the colored pictures here. They aren't that interesting really... And the light coming from the side instead of front is definitely an issue, which also made it hard to pick the photos to post.

It's those black and white ones that I am more into posting. Should not be surprising at all.

This time there is a rider doll, which may be the main update to this batch. The previous one had no rider or reins at all. 

The contrast is set to be as extreme as technically possible already in the camera. When I get to edit them afterwards, I only hone them a little bit further; I want there to be technically pure white and pure black in every photo.

Focusing on the bit, to criticize the misuse of bits, which is way too common in this world.

I see, cropping the ears off from the frame makes an effect. Or then it doesn't.

I could just snap this kind of eye closeup mess photos all day and never get the shot I hunt for! And I could still continue, because detail photos are fun.

As usual, I've just been experimenting with different angles, focus spots and composition to find THE exact right shot I want... And I usually am unsure if I have found it or not. This is why I can have so many photos from the same angles and lightings and other settings. I don't really like to look at this kind of repetitive photo bunches, but that is what there is behind one or two "good" photos that are posted into an online art site. 

Then I get enough of the monotony of what I do with the editing, and want to play with colors, and also the Curves tool. With the latter I can dig up details from the darker areas which otherwise could be just solid black. 

Dark, cold violet - my favorite color - for the shadows, and slight yellowing for the highlights. The curves tool allowed me to make the shaded areas more visible and thus control the contrast a bit better.

Probably one of my favorite shots of this whole bunch.

Favorite color in use once again! I cropped the ears off.

When I critically judge my own photos and edits of this bunch now, I can say the best pics are above this sentence.

...although I kind of like how the leather shines in this one.

Slight yellowish/brownish tone added.

Model horse hobby is why I am aware about all the weird stuff happening in the American side of horse cultures. I still cannot (and never will) see saddleseat or the TWH show riding as anything normal, so of course I try to - loosely - redo that and some of my drawing scenes with the models I have handy. Verdades, or Salinero, is a dressage horse... It sure doesn't turn well into a upside-down stepping show horse, but I can try. Some photos show the illusion better than some others, and of course the fightmore bridle hints that I only try to miniaturize my own fiction which actually doesn't repeat the real world stuff too exactly.

Curves tool used, and then adjusted the colors so that shadows are bluish and highlights yellowish... And while I usually do not want to do too drastic editing to these, with this picture I decided to go crazy and edit the eye further. Gave it a visible eye white and then changed details of the shine in it.

The next bunch appears to be a series of nearly similar shots, which still have some minimal differences I personally notice... And which I have developed further by editing more than a little. Now I don't even know why I had spared so many of these... And which ones are the best ones? I don't know. Comparing nearly similar photos is hard so it doesn't really make any sense to show them all. Let's have just six of them.

Then two last photos, which to me don't seem very artistic. Instead they look like "behind the scenes" shots, which I try to take most of the time.

Proof that I don't always tighten the flash nosebands to the extreme? They help keeping the bits in place... Or not.

The next bunch, which I will post separately, is from the same photography session. At least you don't need to see more Verdades heads with a fightmore on it... For a while.

Table portraits 1.

Here comes the second bunch in the photo bunch/table portrait series... I wish I could just call all of these "table portraits", but how could I when they aren't always taken on a table? Yea. I will split some bigger photo piles into a couple posts. 

So this bunch was taken somewhere in the late October 2019.  I of course can no longer remember what I was trying to achieve with this situation, but at least I had a gorgeous Breyer horse on the table and he had an overly complex bridle on his head. I wanted to photograph it just because. 

I kind of think a Valegro model doesn't deserve any negativity, but then again, no horse does. I happen to be a pessimist and I know way too much about the rotten eggs which are going on in the equestrian world, and that is what I often draw and miniaturize. And the Valegro mold simply has a fitting expression for scenes which include weird tack or poor riding. Enough said? 

The bridle seen in these photos is a mess which I have decided to name "fightmore", because to me it looks like something an impatient, abusive and selfish rider could want to put on their horse, instead of taking their time and effort to get along with the horse and to become a better rider... And in fact, unfortunately, we have seen photo evidence of these bridles existing, and often the rider has wanted to take a shortcut... I definitely call it a fightmore, but some call it hackabit. Maybe there are even more names for this monstrosity?

Though, in theory it is possible for a fightmore to be humane. It's just a normal bridle with a bit, a hackamore, and two pairs of reins. It can't do harm just sitting on the horse and nobody yanking from the reins, could it? I am sure, in theory it is technically possible that a good rider knows how to use one gently.

Well, even a properly adjusted noseband can cause harm. So can any bit. And so can any hackamore. I think this is a dilemma which can't be solved with just decisions like "this tool is yes" and "this tool is nope". I do not have a real horse life and I lack the experience to really know how to comment on these things, but I try to use my common sense and empathy. Horses can smell your feelings, and I'm sure they also smell if a rider doesn't care about their wellbeing. Pfff. 

I sometimes feel like I don't know what I should think or how should I explain it when I publish these horror bridles. Why do I make them? I couldn't like to cram that much stuff on any animal just to give it some exercise. (A harness, a reflective vest, a collar and a LED collar seemed too much at some point when we had our dog... I can't even imagine how some horse people can cope with all the strap adjusting every time they exercise their horses, since especially trotters often have very complex tack.) 

I also don't think it looks good if a horse is totally covered in tack... But for some reason I like to draw and miniaturize exactly that. Maybe it's the detailing which the model horse hobby is so crazy about? It must be that. I also simply like to design the complex mechanisms of hackamore shanks and related, and then try to make them in miniature. It must be that! Some people in this world make scary horror bits which, I have understood, are just pure art and not meant for actual use. And what else is the model horse crafting about than art? In the hobby we see a lot of tack which nobody uses with real horses.

What a rant. But that is what my rotten egg stories and drawings and - seemingly - mini crafts often are about. Plus, I want to say, I think it is important for people to add some explanation to why their photos or crafts look like what they look like. To add a backstory for it. The saying "let the viewer interpret it how they want" does not apply to my works, because I often want to say something specific with these. I do NOT want to take the risk that someone could severely misinterpret especially these rotten egg works. 

The second bunch will also be about a fightmore!