Desert elephant herd

[Anette Mossbacher]

Yes, I know the 3rd elephant image in a row in this forum :e3
But would love to get this one done!

This herd came from a waterhole in the Hoanib river bed.

I did, LR, Levels, curves, dodge/burn for a few Highlights, cropped in Pano, because there was to much sky above. I have space left above and bottom, but not to the LHS.
The horizon with the bushes, that this is blurry and the mountains more or less appear sharp is mother natures game. The air was cooking and that is caused by the heat coming from the ground.

MKIV
ISO 400 ( could have gone to 200!! )
f/8 1/2000
Beanbag :S3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Anette - very stark desert landscape. When I saw them they were still in the riverbed or surrounds so there was always a bit of vegetation. I like the family grouping here and the dof looks good. Looks like the light was pretty harsh, I think I would apply a luminosity mask at about 40% to see if it can be tamed a little more.

TFS,
Rachel

[Loi Nguyen]

It is quite a difficult living conditions with nothing growing. Amazing that these elephants can survive there. Love the little ones. I think you handled the light well here. Would love to see how Rachel's suggestion of luminosity mask would help since that is something I still need to learn.

[hirandesilva]

Hi Anette, This picture looks complete with the one of the Females walking towards the camera leading the heard. The small ones in the middle for protection. The Framing,exposure and depth of field is good. Would be interesting to see the outcome of Rachel's suggestion of a Luminosity mask. The mountains in focus gives the idea of the true living conditions of these Elephants.

Hiran

[Anette Mossbacher]

Thank you very much Rachel, Loi and Hiran for your input.
I have run a lumo on the lights, thanks Rachel, that is the result. Pulled the opacity down to 38%, that works fine for me. WDYT?
Forgot to add, this was taken during the day around 1:45pm! Well, there is not much choice, you take what you get while hanging around all day in the dry river bed.

Rachel this was close to the "end" of the Hoanib river bed. 2-3km further was a sign, telling you, entry only with permit. I had none, will check next time to get one, if possible. In the distance I could see the big dunes and 2-3 elephants hanging around there. Next time I also will camp in the river bed and don't drive back to Sesfontein all the time. That takes from the end, the sign, about 2-3 hours non stop! You know the speed you can drive in a river bed :w3

Thank you very much for your suggestions and help

Enjoy your day, we have sun today, yeah, something different here in Swissy!!!

Ciao
Anette

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Anette, I like the image as it portrays the very hot & arid environment these 'Big Old Units' live in, tough conditions.

Now I have pushed this from a visual POV quite a lot, in terms of sliders very little, just used the Graduate and tweaked the sliders for the sky & hills only to illustrate you can push it a bit more if you wanted to give that layering feel and depth? I also just added a bit more Exposure to the FG, all done in LR, then added a White mid tone & then Black mid tone (lighten & darken) and applied it to one or two of the elephants. I agree that ISO200 would have been better, but no harm done, was this with the 70-200? A bit more on the LHS would have been better, but as this is FF then OK.

TFS
Steve

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Steve,

thanks so much for your input. Also that you took the time for it. :w3

Yes I have used the 70-200mm L IS II, all Desert elephants are shot with this one. There is no need to bring a large "gun".
I see what you have done with the mountains, not sure if that looks good on the big file. Due the big " invisible blurry air bubbles" the cooking air, some parts might look strange of the mountain, but will give it a try for sure. As well the White & Black :bg3:
Sorry that I forgot to mention 70-200 and FF. Was to fast I assume :bg3:

Have much fun in the field

Ciao
Anette

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Anette it was just looking at what maybe achieved or wished for, just a working example. :w3 Certainly images like this do not need the 'big Guns' the 70-200 is awesome and ideal for this kind of imagery.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Hiran,

thank you very much for your input, I highly appreciate it.
Wish you a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

thank you very much for your comment. I am right now redoing the image, will be posted shortly :w3

Thanks so much

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Anette Mossbacher]

So, have done all of your suggestions in this last RP. I assume that it is. If not I am happy to do one or two more.

What I have done and WHAT I have missed out in my previous RP!! I missed color adjustments / curve. Was to busy lately with Meerkats at sunrise!!!!
I love to start from scratch with all suggestions on a post-it under the screen :e3 Guess that is best to learn start over a few times. The B&W have about 10-20 attempts in my "office". Love it, because I learn.

Well, here what I have done.
LR starter, pulled and pushed a bit here and there till the Histogram was sort of "even"! A bit space to the blacks and a bit space to the whites. Used the Details/sharpening to in LR a tad, not to much. Gradient and Steve's suggestions.
Pulled it over into PS, checked Levels, hmmm, opened a curve and did color adjustment. I assume you all see the difference. Sorry for that.
Nevertheless after that Levels and than the beloved Luminosity masks. I don't think that I have to list all, not many so. Dodge/burn like Steve suggested. Pulled out the blue in the mountains in the far BG with saturation adjustment, had an extra mid-tone contrast run over the far BG, to bring it out more. Guess that was it. :tinysmile_shy_t:

WDYT??

Ciao
Anette

[Steve Canuel]

What an interesting shot. These elephants just look so out of place in this environment, it's amazing to me they survive in this kind of habitat! All the posted versions look okay to me. I like the composition with the position of the herd in front of the rocky, hilly BG.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Thank you very much Steve C. for your comment. I highly appreciate it :bg3:

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Jonathan Ashton]

I love the original and the subsequent images look fine. I really like the composition and the environment, the detail in the thick elephant skin is excellent.
Just my personal opinion but I can't help but feel there is an awful lot of unnecessary processing in Photoshop. My view is that if you get the ACR conversion right then eight times out of ten you need to do very little else in Photoshop. I fully expect to be shot down in flames - just my opinion.:S3:

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Jonathan,


thanks a lot for your comment. I actually did not much in PS, I have about 7-8 layers in PS. I don't think that this is to much, as every layer did what it had to do and LR could not for me. In LR/ACR I did most, yes could have done the White Balance in LR too, but sometimes I am just not happy enough and go again in PS with a curve to check. That is in 1-2 min done!! :S3:

Thanks again your input is highly appreciated. No need to shoot you down :bg3:

Have a great day

Ciao

Anette