Stephen,
I have come back a number of times to this photo of your beloved horses. I finally can articulate my thoughts about it.
First, just based on the color scheme of the abstracted photo, I rather like it. I almost always try the inversion just to see what happens with my own photos. But...this becomes just a shot of two horses, ghostly and pale. And that's ok if that is your intention. But I am a big fan of Chinese brush painting and the thinking behind it; for this technique of painting, the artist looks for the essence of the subject. In your case, it is two horses that you know intimately. If I were taking the photo or manipulating it, I would first ask myself what I want to say about these two particular horses. Are they friends? Do they frequently find themselves in each other's company by choice? And when you consider them, what makes them individuals? I'm not as interested in what makes them fit the generic label 'horse' but rather what makes them uniquely themselves. Is it the eyes, the line of the back, the way the coat feels? I've never been around horses so I know little about them. I can get the information about 'horse' from many different sources, but I can only get the information about these two horses from you. You figure out what you want me to know from the photo, and show it to me. For me, then you have a more successful image.
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