The Bone Collector

[Morkel Erasmus]

...continuing my monotone-duotone series...

...Spotted Hyena with a bone to pick...far northern Kruger National Park, South Africa...

...overcast early morning...

Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f5.6 @ 1/500 SS @ ISO-2200

[Andrew Merwin]

Hey Morkel, I think this image sends a macabre message. I like it. TFS.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - this works well as a duotone and the birds add to it. Just not sure about the vignetting/darker edges.

TFS,
Rachel

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel.

Not to sure what you were trying to achieve here, the result looks like it was made hundreds of years ago when I was young:w3

If anything I think it needs some more contrast, too bring it out a little more.

[Marina Scarr]

This is an extremely powerful and unique image, Morkel. You have a diverse environment, the birds which add a lot and all the details in the hyena with the tail up. It all came together nicely for you here. The BG works very well!

[Steve Canuel]

An excellent interpretation of this image (and subject) Morkel. Maybe just a touch more sharpening on the face and neck (Ken's suggestion of contrast may work as well). Only thing that would improve this would be to have the birds be vultures! Nicely done.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, the colouring looks well balanced and I like the choice of colour tone. Using what appears to be a vignette top and bottom helps sandwich the content/subject. Perhaps a hint more selective USM on the face, but the blacks look spot on, any more increase and you will choke the shadow areas and lose detail.

Nice one. :cheers: When is the exhibition? :w3

TFS
Steve

[LauraDyer]

Lovely processing Morkel, agree maybe a bit of sharpening on the face as Steve suggested, but the ways its presented looks great to me.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel,
besides the vignette, really a good one.
Processed very nicely, but maybe a bit more sharpening as suggested . You are quite productive in your B/W conversions,and very creative i think. But please do not forget the color images, at least for me:wave:.

Cheers Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks a lot for the feedback, folks. Glad you like this one.

I realise that vignetting as such is a very personal thing...in my conversions of late I have been getting inspiration from the work of Nick Brandt and Johan Swanepoel (local guy who is amazing at this), and am intentionally decreasing structure in the details and using the vignette to focus on the subject. Though I did not do so in this image, I am also prepared to clone and patch parts of the image that don't add to the mood/message I want to convey with this series. :bg3:

[Hilary Hann]

Nice to see you trying some different techniques and pushing boundaries, not that I ever thought that you wouldn't. One thing I've found with making vignettes work successfully (both in my own work, and in work I see from successful photographers) is making them look as natural as possible. One way I do that now, is to avoid the software vignette filters and to blend a vignette with a burn/dodge layer painting it in with a very soft brush at around 2%. Building the vignette without an obvious shape and in varying density works with wildlife and certain landscapes really well. At least that has been my experience. The aim is to have an image where the viewer has their gaze focussed without realising that a vignette has been used, funny how often it works. I do think that the feel of the image would be improved with just a tiny bit more sharpening on the hyaena's face as it would give an extra depth to the image without losing the feel you're trying to get. IMHO. :S3:

[Jamie Douglas]

Congrats Morkel on another fine piece of work to add to your collection. It looks like your looking in the right places for inspiration and executing it nicely.

Hope all is well at home with the boy.

Jamie

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks Jamie and Hilary...I am going to try that vignetting method! :bg3:
All is well with the boy, thanks...