Juvi gorilla in B&W

[Randy Stout]

This fine young fellow was captured on a family vacation to Disney World this spring. I took along the V1 and several lenses, to have a light kit. The lighting was quite dim, and this shot was taken from a moving safari vehicle.

V1 30-110 f/5.6 1/80s ISO 1000 hand held

converted to B&W with Silver Efex Pro

The IQ is not up to FX standards by any stretch, but I felt it was an effective image when converted to B&W.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Randy - I like the pose and comp. Looks like you had difficult conditions. Did you have to do a lot of highlight and shadow recovery? It has a little bit of a silvery look on the gorilla's hair. However, I still find my eye drawn to the brighter rocks so I would consider a luminosity mask to tame the highlights a little.

TFS,
Rachel

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Rachel:

i appreciate your input. Not any traditional recovery, but used a little bit of detail extractor on both highlights and shadows, so effectively the same.

I liked your idea of the luminosity mask. I liked the very wide range of tones in the original, but agree that the lighter areas were just too much.

See what you think about this version.

Cheers

Randy

[Rachel Hollander]

Randy - the change is subtle but I think it makes a difference.

Rachel

[Randy Stout]

Rachel:

I realized that although I had renamed the file after the luminosity layer, that the actual change was too little, so I changed the file to the proper in one in my second image. Should be less subtle now!

It is very interesting to look at the difference between the wide gamut NEC and my laptop. Even the original looks quite well balanced on the NEC, but not so much on the lap top! Both are calibrated, but not identical results.

Thanks again.

Cheers

Randy

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the composition but I get the impression the gorilla isn't just as sharp as it could be, it appears to be in focus but the fine detail is not quite there, nevertheless I like the image very much.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Randy, nice to see you venturing into this part of the Form and a warm Welcome.

Going B/W can give the image more presence, drama & impact and I do think going B/W was a good call here. As you say, the IQ isn't quite there, likewise I do find it quite contrasty, however taking the two posts and combining them I think gives a better feel overall. I would also look to applying some NR to deal with parts of the BKG. Compositionally I like it, but if possible a move fractionally to the left would have removed the slightly brighter part of the BKD hitting his back, or just tone it down. I also like the body posture and the intense look whilst carrying out his personal grooming with not a care in the world to your presence. I would add a Curves adjustment to just lighten the shadow areas a fraction, plus additional sharpening to the subject. This hopefully may illustrate my points. Also going portrait does tighten the who image, cuts away a lot of the distracting BKG and puts more focus on your subject IMHO, WDYT?

TFS
Steve

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Rachel, Steve and Jonathan for the input. This is a great site! Love the thoughtful insight and opinions.

As mentioned, this was taken from a moving safari type vehicle so not much choice on composition angles and such. Took a series of shots as we moved along, and this introspective pose only appeared in one frame, and for me, that is what makes the picture.

I will do a bit more polishing of the B&W conversion, and appreciate your repost Steve, as it has given me some more ideas.

Thanks again.

Randy

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Randy, you are most welcome and please swing by more often.

Trying to explain and put a concise and detailed feedback can be difficult, this is why I tend to combine both word and image so that it illustrates my points hopefully in a better way and visually the owner can see the changes, and understand what I have suggested.

Cheers
Steve