Outlook

[Anette Mossbacher]

Meerkat in Botswana doing it's temporary job for 2 min, before another one takes over. Outlook for predators.

What have I done. LR adjusted most, USM for contrast on Mid-tone, applied gradient to darken just the BG grass. At the end Levels. Dodge/burn for the Highlights on some little spots on the fur.

MKIII
70-200mm
Focal was 100mm
f/9 1/1000 ISO 1000 ( could have gone down with ISO, but wanted these guys when they run and dig for critters )

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Gotta love these sweet things. Great guard pose and I love the colors as well. Nice detail too. I only wish the horizon didn't intersect with the eye line but the horizon line intersecting thing seems to be an issue with me:e3 Dunno why.

[Marina Scarr]

Terrific pose you captured on this creature. I have to agree with Cheryl on the placement of the horizon. Once you got this shot, I wonder if you could have positioned yourself lower and/or a little higher to move the horizon. I think this would have looked quite powerful from a lower POV. Your sky appears to have a little bit of purple/mauve in it. Is this the normal sky color at this location?

[Don Railton]

Hi Anette. Love this.. Agree with Cheryl's comment WRT horizon. I think I would have gone higher to put the horizon above the head.. The foreground might have become an issue otherwise..

Don

[Anette Mossbacher]

HI Cheryl, Marina & Don,

thanks so much for your suggestions. The horizon is a little issue, I agree. I can move it :w3, will try that. I couldn't have gone lower, I was already flat on my stomach, sadly above a tiny hill!!
The sky is a bit purple, have to work on that. It is not from the location Marina, it is actually a "dirty" blue sky in the RAW. Was tweaking a bit, but not good enough :e3
Will try again.

Thanks so much everybody for your suggestions and comments


Have a great day

Ciao

Anette

[Brendon Cremer]

Great image, nice light, colours and details. Issue with the Horizon already covered, also may look at a more pano style crop to loose a little of the sky?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Anette - minor issues for me already covered above, this is an excellent image and I agree with Brendon's suggestion to try a pano crop. It looks great with a screen crawl crop from above.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Anette, I think this is one of your best and the PP looks good too. :cheers:

Issues already addressed, but for me, I would like a little more at the foot, just a tad too close for me. :w3

TFS
Steve

[John Ippolito]

Hi Anette, this one works well for me. Love the pose, the light, and the PP. Sky hue easily sorted out. Looking at this several times I feel that if the Meerkat's head was below the horizon, the image would be flat and lacking depth. If it were much more above it would stick out like a sore thumb against the mono sky. Pano crop might make it a bit better. Maybe a bit more at the foot, as Steve suggests.

I really like this one. Nicely done !!

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Steve & John,

thanks sooo much. Had right a way a G&T to celebrate :w3
More ground under the feet, hmmm, will see what my gardener can do. :w3

Thanks a lot John for your time. I will try with hue on the sky.

Thanks so much

Have a great evening or day!! :bg3:

Ciao
Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

Indeed one of your best... :5
The light on this little chap is so sweet I actually wasn't bothered by the horizon!
Love the colours too.

[Nancy Bell]

These meerkats are darling! Can't wait to see one. I like seeing how the color of the meerkat blends so beautifully with the surrounding grasses. And I really like the graceful curves of the foreground grasses adding dimension to the blurred bkgd and the long, straight horizon line.

[Shreyas Mantri]

Great shot, Anette! Got to love the typical meerkat pose and the horizon line is not an issue for me.
TFS

[Anette Mossbacher]

Thank you very much everyone for your kind comments and for sure that you took a few minutes time to write them :bg3:

Steve, I tried to do add a bit more at the feet with all sorts. I tried to extend the canvas with content aware scale and protecting the Alpha Channel with the Meerkat selection. It just did not work as usual. The tail grew to a Ground Squirrel tail, something fluffy, which it isn't. This Meerkat is stubborn !

So I left it out.

Pano crop to close this thread :))

Thank you very much again for all your help and for your kind comments :wave:

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

PS I am not to bothered by the horizon either. For me the Meerkat is looking along the horizon line to see: What's going on ?

[Steve Canuel]

Nice shot Anette. It captures the wide open space in which they live. No issues with the horizon for me either.