Kudu Bull

[Morkel Erasmus]

Another experiment in my current mono-and-duotone series.
Curious about your thoughts here. This wind-swept Kudu bull was photographed in the Kruger National Park in overcast gloomy weather.

Techs:
Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II + 1.4x TC @ 700mm
f7.1 @ 1/1600 SS @ ISO-1600

[Diane Miller]

This is drop-dead beautiful and the BG is perfect -- it complements without distracting. My only slight quibble would be that I miss seeing the whole animal -- it feels a little chopped off. That might be mitigated by a slightly light vignette on the bottom area of the chest, so it doesn't run into the bottom of the frame so abruptly. All the other edges appear subtly lighter.

I'd love to see more of your series -- I'll check your web site in hopes of finding them there!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, why have you gone Mono, is it the BKG perhaps, just curious why you chose this route? Might help for feedback?

The GS unless viewed in PS/CS does I feel, have a slight 'blue/selenium' tinge, but that is just the viewing in web. In converting the GS to RGB and then having an sRGB profile no change I can see.

Personally I feel it lacks 'weight/presence', especially when you look back at your previous 'toned' images. The BKG I feel also clashes with the subject, but that perhaps is down to tone and being quite busy, having more tone/contrast in the subject my help separate it from the BKG, WDYT? Have you applied a vignette running along the foot of the image?

I think the jury is out at present for me, only because of the previous images, but it will be interesting to see what others have to say, as the above is just my take.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Morkel - I like the windswept look and straight on stare of the kudu but as so often happens with kudu shots, the bg distracts a little bit for me with all the intersecting lines of the branches. The bg also appears a bit smudgy to me, most noticeable below the kudu's left ear and horn (right side as we look at it). I might also consider cropping a little more from the bottom of the image to where the kudu's rump begins to slope down. Not my favorite of the series but still a nice addition to it.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel ,
i like the bull standing in the wind facing the viewer.
I like the contrast and the detail in the bull, but the issue here is the BG.Too busy, for my taste, think specially in B/W.

I think the options for me are ,lighten the BG dramatically and darken the bull a tad more, but lighten the eyes.
I would try to make a RP myself, but cannot sit for a longer time , had just a surgery yesterday and have some pain .

Cheers Andreas

[Ignacio Yufera]

In my limited experience, Great Kudu are woodland antelope and it's rare to find them in open areas without bushes or trees behind. In this case I think you've achieved very good contrast with the BG, and the B&W helps. It's also an impressive bull, and I love the intent expression and the windswept feel. I share Diane's concern about the cropped animal, I think in cases like this a vertical frame with at least part of the legs showing works best - difficult with those massive horns though.

[dankearl]

I like the pose, I think iso1600 with the D7000 is too much,
another round of NR to smooth out the BG would look nice to me.
I think the dead on stare is really good.

[Diane Miller]

I like the pose, I think iso1600 with the D7000 is too much,
another round of NR to smooth out the BG would look nice to me.
I think the dead on stare is really good.

What I see in the BG is what I think is not so much noise, but heat wave distortion in the atmosphere. Not much can be done with it but embrace it.

[Hilary Hann]

I have no misgivings on this image, I love it. I think the crop is fine as you have kept the balance of the composition, having legs included isn't necessary and would unbalance the image. I think the background works well as it makes the Kudu have some habitat without overpowering him. I think you may have reverse vignetted the top left over the horn a bit and I would bring back the density on the tip just a fraction (and if you didn't dodge it out, I would still burn it in at about 3%).

I think the processing has given the image an ethereal look and feel which suits the windswept throat fringe. All subjective views of course, but it feels right … the balance, the light touch in processing, the composition. I could look at it for ages.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the varied feedback, folks. I am fine with the crop personally, and feel the BG is actually not intrusive or distracting as it's where they live and it's quite subdued. I did no blurring to the BG but I did process the kudu and BW separately when converting - focusing on different tones and contrasts.

Dan, it's heat haze in the BG, the IQ on ISO-1600 on the D7000 is suprisingly good and if you expose correctly quite usable.

Hilary - will look at that horntip! :e3 Sloppy me...