Hope Newton, Unspoken grace (LIGHT/SHADOW - Entries close 30 September 2026)

I captured this portrait using my Canon EOS R7 fitted with a Canon RF 100–400mm f/5.6–8 IS USM lens at approximately 300mm. I wanted to create an intimate portrait that highlighted the horse's gentle expression while eliminating any distractions from the background. To achieve this, I selected an aperture of f/6.3, which provided enough depth of field to keep the eye and facial features tack sharp while allowing the background to blur smoothly. I used a shutter speed of 1/800 second to freeze any subtle movement and set the camera to ISO 400 to maintain image quality in the available light. I chose single-point autofocus, placing the focus point directly on the horse's eye, as this is the most important element of the portrait. Spot metering helped me retain detail in both the highlights and shadows across the horse's face. During editing, I cropped the image tightly to strengthen the composition and create a more personal connection between the viewer and the subject. I converted the photograph to black and white to emphasise texture, form, and emotion rather than colour. I carefully adjusted the exposure, contrast, and tonal curves to produce rich blacks, clean highlights, and a full range of midtones. I selectively increased clarity and texture across the horse's coat to reveal the fine detail of the fur while applying additional sharpening to the eye so it became the clear focal point. Finally, I applied subtle noise reduction and a gentle vignette to draw the viewer's attention towards the horse's face, creating a timeless, gallery-quality fine art portrait.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.