Pictures
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When I start to do a web site, there are several kinds
of pictures I really like. This page is designed to show
those pictures, and in some cases, how I use them.
If you haven't seen it, you should also read the text in my FAQ about
pictures.
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Landscapes
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I like using landscape pictures for a few different things.
First, I like having a good landscape to showcase the main
page. Essentially, it is the cover shot to immediately display
the gist if the site. |
This is a typically good picture. It has a bunch of goats
grazing with farm structures in the background.
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| I also like creating long narrow banners to
separate the bottom of the page with the contact information.
Below, you will see the original image, with the cropped
and colored image. These tend to be best when the photographer
is a decent distance away from a group of animals. With these,
I tend to exaggerate the colors and give the pictures more
of a watercolor or oil painting look. |
When this picture was cropped and colored, it came out
like this:
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Here is another one
Cropped and colored it looks like a painting:
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And here is an example of adding color to make a mundane picture into a colorful
background:
Cropped and colored:
You can see how adjusting the levels and hue/saturation in photoshop can really bring a picture alive.
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Goats
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| If you want to know how to take pictures of your goat, there are a few
ways. The best pictures seem to be when the cameraperson
is at the same level as the goats (either sitting on a stool
or on the ground). These pictures make the goats appear more
prominent. |
This might not be the best picture to show the bulk of
the goat, but since it was taken at the goat's level, I
like it. It probably could have been taken at a little
less oblique to show more of the goat's body. At the bottom
of this page, I have another oblique. If you need to take pictures of the goat on a lead (or leash), I might
be able to Photoshop out the lead in the final picture.
Also, note that there
is a lot of green grass in the background, but this picture
was taken with the goat in a patch of no grass -- in
my experience, standing in the grass is better. The green
displays better on screen. Speaking of which, pictures
in the spring and early fall are a lot better than pictures
in the winter.
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If you are lucky enough to have any notable landscape,
please take pictures with the goats in front of it. The
mountain in the picture above is obvious. Less obvious
are bodies of water (lakes, ponds, streams, creeks) and
open fields with barns in the background. If I see a good
picture, I might use it as a backdrop for a goat.
This was a good picture of the creek. I haven't used
it on a site, but I could cutout one of our goats and
display it as if it was in front of the creek like below.
I also like having some sky in the background of the picture.
The only way to really get a good picture of a goat with
some sky in the background is to get close and get nearer
to the ground. Otherwise, I have to crop the goat out like
above.
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I also like having close
ups of your best goats for templates, showcase pictures
on the default page, or for artwork. Here are two that
I have turned into artwork. |
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| Finally, there are the traditional goat poses.
These are the easiest to get. When you take them (or choose
which ones to send to me) try to look at what is in the immediate
surroundings of the goat. I will likely crop everything out
except the goat, so the clutter on the edge of the picture
may not matter. |
Traditional broadside (I probably would crop this closer
to the goat, but I wanted to show how having blue sky in
the background adds nice color)
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Here is a slight variation of the traditional pose. It
is at a slight oblique, which I really like (note the difference
between this oblique and the oblique near the top of the
page.
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For more details, check out the FAQ, which has more information
on tips to take pictures. |
I hope this helps. |
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