horse jumping - help me edit please!

[mj702002]

OK, this is obviously taken from a distance, it is a young horse, so I couldn't move around much, nothing I can do about the ring- it is our training ring so it is ugly. I took this in the morning-sun was behind me. What I try to do is crop some to make the horse/rider/jump closer and larger without losing too much clarity- is that even possible? I have PSE7--and still working on learning it. When I try to crop, i lose clarity and also see a lot of red. What would you do and please tell me what you did! (Also, I copied and saved it in pse7 to jpeg...is that the right way here for someone else to take a shot at editing?) Here are the shot settings if I should do something different there too:
Camera Model Name
Canon EOS 40D
Firmware
-
Shooting Date/Time
6/25/2009 09:14:31
Tv(Shutter Speed)
1/8000Sec.
Av(Aperture Value)
F6.3
Metering Modes
Partial metering
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
1600
Lens
-
Focal Length
28.0 mm
Image size
3888 x 2592

Thanks ahead for your help!

http://www.proudphotography.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=167&pictureid=1074

[solo1]

I tried to save your picture in my Ps CS4 but it is only 600x400 pxls.
Do you have a larger version of this photo.

Aideen

[mj702002]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[kinetic]

Hi MJ I have just downloaded your photo, the first thing you should do
is drop the ISO down to about 200, at 1600 this will show noise.
Mark

[kinetic]

Hi again MJ I will do a bit of editing on your photo and see what I can come up with.
Mark

[mj702002]

Thanks Mark

[mj702002]

What would you suggest for shots like this - as far as the settings on my camera? Mark, you already mentioned lowering the ISO.

[kinetic]

Hi MJ I have sent you a new private message, with photos.
Mark

[solo1]

Here are 2 version of your picture

[Focusman]

The pic needs to be of greater resolution (more pixels) that is why it breaks up when you try to crop a smaller section from the image.
I have had a play with the pic but don't know how to post it for you.

focusman

[mj702002]

Hi Focusman - the link below my original post is of a jpeg converted in high quality from the origanl raw shot.
Actually since my op I was told that the settings I had used caused a lot of the grain.
Thanks for trying!
MJ

[jayne]

My first post here. Don't know if this is too tight a crop for you, but I had a go. :)

[Giddyup]

This may work for you?

[Pat]

Hi mj. Two things. As Mark mentioned...the ISO setting. On a bright sunny day I'd set it even lower; 100 or less if you can , though 200 is a good, all round setting if you don't want to fiddle with it for every shooting.
Second... a 28mm lens would not have been my choice for any sort of sporting event. I'd bring it along for possible group shots or semi-panoramas. A longer lens, preferably a zoom, would work better.
On to the pic. I don't understand how you are losing resolution when you crop. (not to mention gaining a red colour cast). If you are cropping then blowing up your crop then yes you will lose resolution (your choice of interpolation will have a mitigating effect here, if you have a choice, I'm not familiar with PSE.)But when you crop, the resolution should remain the same.
So for kick at the can here I cropped it down, adjusted the shadows and highlights, applied noise reduction followed by sharpening (a bit of a balancing act). Then I took a blur brush to the riders arm and face, and to the horse.
In the second rendition i went on to mask out the horse, rider, and foreground to create a selection of the background, to which I then applied a gaussian blur to simulate DOF. I do believe, however, that they're going to load in reverse order.

Cheers...

[StephenK]

All but threw the kitchen sink at this one... It's a little busy but I was pushing for the bizarre anyway... :^)

[StephenK]

I was curious to see what would be involved in flooding the practice field... :^)

[StephenK]

I'm still messing around with this one.... a mixture of several filters, textures, (with channels masks) and the resulting balancing act that
goes with tossing this much at an image.... :^) The edit would go far afield, then through opacity, a couple of
overlay dodge and burn layers, and a Color blending mode layer at one point, I would gently nudge the image back to "presentable".
Was going for a grungy emotionally focused look... :^)

[NikkiM]

What amazing edits you guys... just love them.
I'm not on here often but realise I must practice my shots and editing skills after viewing these.

[judilori]

I had to learn to count the steps between the jumps and hit the button 'just' before the jump started and then my digital would catch the jump in the air. Also watch the horses muscles to see when he/she was going to jump My grandson was a jumper and I was constantly taking photos for 7 years. I also learned to watch the horse with my left eye and the view finder with my right eye! All that and I got only a few great shots!! Definitely use a tripod!!

[jomanros]

There are too ways to get great photos from horses jumping. We can shoot with a great speed, we may use the automatic sports button or a slow speed, with a tripod. But you must pay attention to the background of the lead image. In this example you have dark green trees, the horseman has dark clothes and the horse is dark brown - if the horse was with it was a good background... Do you see what I mean? We must take care with the contrast, the final result of the photo.

Jose

[jomanros]

I've used Photoshop CS4 - one layer is changed with light colours, then I've used a dark contrast on the other layer and I've selected the horse with the girl (magnetic lasso tool). To finish the work I've pasted the the jumping horse on the the first layer (with more brightness, more light colours).
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_ND60Clgl65I/TcnBQeN0PaI/AAAAAAAAAb0/Qyb8OY2KY2s/s640/Horse_a.jpg

[jomanros]

I forgot to say that, first, I've cropped the picture to enhance the image of the horse and his rider ;)