Kudu in Habitat

[Rachel Hollander]

I saw a lot of Kudus on my recent trip both in Namibia and in South Africa. Often they were running away or in thick brush. This one was in Damaraland on the bank of the dry river.

Canon 5DIII
70-200 II @ 200mm
1/800
f5.6
ISO 400
HH from safari vehicle, slight crop for comp, levels, curves and sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Ken Watkins]

Rachel,

What magnificent creature these are!
Always difficult to fund them in the clear and this is no exception:w3
Even with the bust background I like it as it show the habitat, great positioning in frame.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, can you tell me, if the sharpening process is your own style/workflow, or using the Download version?

I will comment later, once I know.

Thanks
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Steve - one round of smart sharpen at 125, .2, 0 selectively on the kudu only and then the sharpening for web/resizing action posted by Morkel in the sticky with opacity percentage somewhere between 50 and 70% (can't remember what it was exactly).

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Rachel.

OK, my personal preference is USM, not Smart sharpen as I find it too aggressive, even in small amounts, but if you feel comfortable and it works, fine. I do think however that the additional 'Download' sharpening is perhaps clashing with the Smart sharpen, as it may also be adding sharpening to the the whole image? As I do not use it I hope Morkel might be able to clarify this, as overall I feel the scrub bushes etc are all a bit too fine & sharp. I wonder how it might look with just one of those actions applied?

Regarding the image I feel you have given the subject a good amount of habitat/space to portray the subject in, likewise for the same reasons I commented on Andrew M post of the Toad. I also like the sloping horizon line, it's different. I think you could afford to apply a tad more saturation or a Lumo mask (your call on that rote) to just bring up the colour more, plus some adjustment layers of Curves, Brightness/Contrast too. I have set-up my Curves totally different, with quarter, half & three quarter tones, as I only occasionally use the pre-sets now, but they can still work with good effect. All I have tried to do is bring out a bit more depth to the whole image, colour may not be as close to what you saw or captured and can be adjusted to suit, the main aim was to extract/define some more detail which I think is still there.

TFS
Steve

[Ken Watkins]

Personally I find smart sharpen perfectly adequate if applied in stages, I have also not used the action posted by Morkel as I find that any sharpening necessary after resizing and conversion can be adequately be rectified by using smart sharpen.

The main difference I see in the re-post is that it is darker which is most notable on the sand, having spent some time in the desert areas of Namibia I cannot recall ever seeing it that dark, perhaps after rain, as for the sloping horizon you would be hard pressed to find any flat backgrounds available in Damaraland

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Rachel,

I like the comp and the space around the Kudu very much. It is a great looking chap :S3:
For sharpening I would have done the Kudu separate form the rest. Well, that depends how it would come out of my black box. Steve covers this already and I am sure some more who have a better idea with sharpening actions :bg3:

Ciao

Anette

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel,
like the habitat shot .Framing is nice , maybe a bit busy in FG.Like the look back of the Kudu.
OP looks a bit flat in contrast and colors , but a bit oversharpened in the finer parts of the shrub.
Steve`s tweaks improved the image .

TFS Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions.

[Steve Canuel]

I like this shot Rachel. Nice pose by the Kudu, I also really like the surroundings with the opening between the bushes and the view of the habitat in the BG.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Rachel, lovely animal. I like how you have shown the Kudu within the habitat and I like the slopping hillside in the background as well. The FG is a tad busy, but the image is to show the Kudu in its habitat so I think it should stay as is.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve and Andrew, much appreciated.