I decided not only to record a video of the editing process for my image ‘Spirit of Adventure’ (click the image) but to also keep a journal over the week. The theme I set for my group was adventure and the challenge was to use a book or books. The following is a day by day account of how I planned and put together the image.

 Day 1 

 I decided to take my lead from books. So off to root through books shelves. 

I’m about 100% certain I will want to include the book in the finished image. I find two old books on the Wild West. Definitely not my usual subject matter; but I have been meaning to do an image with a horse or horses for a long time now; so this might be a good opportunity. 

My youngest daughter is obsessed with cowboys (rdr2) and I have caught her trying to lasso the dog before. By the end of day one I have an image in my head of a cowboy on a horse jumping out of the pages of an illustrated cowboy book. The mountain men in search of a kingdom of beaver is probably the least offensive chapter title in the book I’ve chosen. The language is definitely of another era, thankfully. 

I have an idea of how I want the cowboy to look jumping out of the pages, but I will need to sketch it out with my trusty matchstick people. 

Day 2 

Ok I’m happy with the concept. I’m planning at this stage to photograph my daughter separate to the horse. This means either the shot of my daughter dictates how I want the horse to look or the shot of the horse dictates how I need to shoot my daughter.

At this point I’m leaning towards getting the action shot of the horse right first and then shooting my daughter in the position to suit the horse. This may change - today I’m going to try and shoot some action shots of horses in a field and hopefully of one being ridden.

(At this point if you don’t have access to horses you could consider a stock image. But I would encourage you to look through your back catalogue of photographs or plan a trip somewhere to build up your own stock of horse photographs. In Ireland we’re lucky to have a National Stud in Kildare and race meetings across the country including Laytown races in September which take place on a beach. Currently, with government restrictions on gatherings like horse fairs, country shows and race meetings are not going ahead but hopefully in the future they will return in some form). 

Day 3 

Need to get my shots today. A very good session out in the arena, as I watch the photos load onto the computer I see some jumping shots with great potential. 

It got me thinking, I’ve always been hesitant to include horses in my work to avoid the whole; ‘Well it’s easy for you; you’ve got a horse’.

Yes I do. Get over it. Use what you have access to and be proud, never let anyone tell you what you can and cannot create.

It’s not easy, none of this is easy. So focus on the positive.

 I have a couple of nice shots of Echo jumping and this evening - I photographed the book I’ll be using outside during the golden hour. I photographed the pages at different vantage points in the hope one will suit my pre-visualisation of the horse jumping out of the page.

Tomorrow I need to choose the horse shot so I know how to position my cowboy. 

Day 4 

Most of my time for the cowboy shoot is spent setting up the saddle at the correct angle by continually referencing the image of the horse I’m going to use. I’ve saved a copy of the horse jumping shot to my phone. The actual shoot only takes ten minutes. Preparation is always key. By the end of the day I have all the elements I’ll need for the final image. 

Day 5

Time an issue today but managed to spend some time in Photoshop. Camera Club is just about to Zoom but I’m happy with composite so far. Just textures, colour work etc to do in the morning with fresh eyes. 

Day 6 

Textures added. Finishing touches and colouring to give the image an overall rich golden hue. I like the de-saturated look too, but I think for impact it needs a pop of rich colour. I’ve also managed to record the whole process on screen. At least six hours of footage I like to compress to about two and a half minutes for a speed edit video on my Youtube Channel.  I always like to compose some simple music to accompany the speed edit videos and I’m happy with the country vibe I achieved in about half an hour with Garage Band on my Mac! 

Click on the image above to see the whole editing process in a Youtube video.

If you’ve any questions leave them below in the comments section or use the contact form in the top right corner to get in touch. Stay safe xx