Dare to Dream III

Good focus and lovely sepia tones.

The focus immediated drew me to the horse's eyes but composition forced me to focus on the horse's mane. In my opinion, to create a greater impact, the composition should work in conjunction with the focus to draw attention and place emphasis on the eyes of the horse. To accomplish this, try composition the horse's eyes in a rule of thirds. Or maybe use a diagnonal composition with the horse's manes forming a diagonal and leading up towards the eye. More experimentation with composition would be necessary to determine the best one for this photo. Don't be afraid to compose your shot at an unconventional angle or use rotation in post editing. A diagonal composition would've required rotation.

There should definitely be more negative space towards the top and right. Right now, the ears feel crowded up against the top border of the photo.

The leg casts a strange shadow on the horse's torso in the lower left hand corner. I probably would've simply cropped this out.

The horse's snout and mouth are underexposed such that they appear as a black blob. The same thing occurs with the horse's ears. Be careful of underexposure as it destroys detail. To avoid underexposure, perhaps try a more even ambient lighting or reflectors to avoid shadows. In post editing, try not to use brightness and contrast editing and instead use tonal-curve editing, which allows more control and better preservation of detail.

I find the one bright pixel in the horses eye somewhat unnatural. I'm not sure if it was added or just a result of post processing. But it's just a minor detail and not a big deal.

There is an odd gradient in the background. Background lighting can help emphasize elements in the foreground. However, right now, the gradient in the background leads the viewer's eyes to the upper left hand corner, or the brightest area. Be careful of background lighting in the future. For greater impact, the background lighting should've been even or perhaps with the brightest area towards the upper right near the eyes.

This horse, being so white with dark eyes, would be a beautiful subject for a high key shot; just something to try in the future.

Hope this helps <img src="e.deviantart.com/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Big Grin)" />