Asian Elephant

[Nancy Bell]

It appears that several of us have been thinking elephants lately. I photographed this one in India, in the Jim Corbett National Park, from the safari vehicle.

Canon 1DMark IV, Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS, 1/500, f10, exp. comp. +1/3, ISO 400.

I processed especially considering the tones as I would like to have some visual drama here. I would be glad for some feedback as I don't want to over process and yet I don't feel I have reached my goal. I think all the lines in the bkgd water are distracting and I have blurred them some. What next?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nancy - nice to see an Asian elephant. Great walking pose with the tail swishing in the air. I like the water bg and don't find the waves distracting. I might do a luminosity mask to tame the highlights especially on the grass and water and maybe even some additional burning of the grasses. I would also consider a midtones levels adjustment bringing the middle slider slightly to the right but a lot of this is to individual taste and may not be representative of the actual conditions. Be careful when selecting the ele as there appear to be some slight halos/selection gradients along the tail, the top of the neck and both sides of the trunk. Keep 'em coming, the improvement in your pp in just a few days is remarkable.

TFS,
Rachel

[hirandesilva]

Hi Nancy, I would think the recommended changes suggested by Rachel should make this image better. These young elephants are interesting to photograph as they are always active. You have been able to portray this from the shape of the legs and tail.

Hiran

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Nancy, I agree with Rachel's observations, with each posting your PP grows and there is certainly a vast improvement in the past few weeks, keep it up.

Right, the techs look OK, but the conditions look harsh and so I'm unsure about the overall colour of the image, there seems a lot of Yellow overall, and this looks like an image where you need to combine two images together to get the right look & feel. I would also look at a CW rotation 0.57 based on the Ruler. :bg3: You certainly have the detail, clarity & sharpness in the subject which is good and with the comp I don't think you can do too much with the crop, perhaps a bit more at the foot, however perhaps this is one image where you need to experiment later if you have the time. I would look at the overall colour balance, even look at changing the WB to start with perhaps?

Hiran, great to see you participating, there is a lot we can learn from each other, never feel shy. :cheers:

TFS
Steve

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Nacy,

your elephant looks great. Now with dramatic in color I cannot help much. You got already good suggestions from Steve & Rachel above. I like this image, just wonder if that ele started to run. It looks like it.

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you all for your comments and advice. I'll go back to the drawing board and practice :S3:.

[Steve Canuel]

PP does look good and you captured a nice fluid pose for this animal. I like how the angle of the rippled waves points toward the direction in which the ele's moving. kinda adds to the sense of motion for me.

[Nancy Bell]

Here is a re-processed image incorporating all the advice. This is actually taken a few moments later than the 1st image. For me the biggest adjustment was changing the white balance from the yellow-ish look to a more natural color. I also used a luminosity mask and adjusted the mid-tones. I believe this post is an improvement.

Steve, interesting your take on the waves in the bkgd. I now see them a bit differently than I did.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Nancy, this looks great. I like this much more than your OP. The details are great on the els and the grass looks much more natural. Love as well the movement with it's legs, more dynamic behind. And when you look closely th ele gives you a big smile :bg3:
You whispered to the waves to calm down looks great as well. Never was disturbed by them at all. All in all, your RP I like the most. :wave:

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Nancy, certainly a big improvement and I trust you now feel it has moved in the right direction. I hope this illustrates my point, that your camera does in fact capture a lot of correct data and just with a few simple tweaks helps extracts a lot of that valuable info. If you wanted to you could look at adding a Graduate from the top to the top of the grass to bring some more info out, likewise another to deal with the grass. If you then desaturate the Yellow say -12 for the Elephant, then make a Mid tone Curve adjustment by about 3 points ie 53 and apply this to the Elephant it just brings a bit more form to it. :S3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Nancy - second image is an improvement and once again Steve has given suggestions for tweaks that will still take it up a notch. The nice thing is we never stop learning from each other here.

Rachel

[Nancy Bell]

You all are very generous with your advice and detailed assistance. I so very much appreciate it!! You have sharpened my eyes and shared PP techniques that are new to me. Yeah for the Wildlife forum! I will take the next suggestions and see what I can do.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I'm late to this one, Nancy, but the repost is remarkably better.
Nice pose indeed, the water in the BG adds as per Mr Canuel.
I too see a drastic improvement in your overall image quality as posted :5

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you, Morkel!