(Possibly the most famous horse book of them all, Anna Sewell's heart-tugging 1877 publication)

I suppose it should come as no surprise to see this here - horses feature pretty strongly in our family at the moment! I know, I know, Smokey isn't black, and he's always treated well and with oodles of love, but his steel-grey markings are really suited to this Challenge - and besides, he IS a beauty and such a friendly animal - I think he likes having his photo taken :o).

But a question - all the good photo books and tutorials say you should get maximum focus and sharpness on the subject's eyes - obviously, I haven't done that here, the light yesterday afternoon was appalling - it was almost dark when I took this shot, but increasing the ISO and using a wide aperture enabled me to shoot from underneath. Thus, I've gone for his nose instead - please be honest, would an eye-focused shot have been more effective? Does having his eyes OoF seem distracting? CC please!!! :o)))

Simples is the order of the day here - the NEF was opened into ACR, Clarity increased to 50% with a slight tweak of Brightness to bring out the features around his muzzle. Then into CS3, where I duplicated the Background Layer*; I added a B&W adjustment layer - the 'High-Contrast Red Filter' preset seemed to work best with Smokey's subtle colouring. I then added a Curves adjustment layer and tweaked the 'Linear Contrast' preset to enhance the contrasts across his face. Almost there! - I made a selection around his muzzle (feathering to 50%) and added Smart Sharpen (65% at 2px). With the selection still active, I flattened the image, Smart Sharpened again (85% at 0.75px) and resized.

* I always duplicate the Background Layer and work on that; in the event of something awful happening during my editing therefore, I can always revert to the orignal layer and start over again

Sunday's who's-a pretty-boy-then? entry to the Challenge; click here for other monochromed Pbasers in January