Carnage

[Andre Pretorius]

Image captured in Kgalagadi Trans-frontier Park. The Springbok died the previous night, we suspect it was hit by a vehicle.
There were no big predators present during night or following morning, this left gate open for Blackbacked Jackals.

Nikon D3S with 600 F4
ISO 400
F9
1/1250
Centre weight exp.

Image cropped and selectively sharpened, levels done in PS

Crits welcome.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Andre,

I'm quite fascinated by this image. I think it is the composition with the line created by the eye of the springbok, the eye of the jackal on the right and the jackal in the back.

The image quality looks very good, great detail and colour. And flies!

The eyes and nose on the back jackal are starting to look a little over-worked, so maybe you could ease back on that slightly without loosing the effect. And just a sliver more space between the tip of the bok's antler and the edge.

Thanks for sharing,

Gerald

[Morkel Erasmus]

Welcome here, Andre! Good to see you and Gabriela getting "stuck in" to BPN like these jackal into the springbok. :5
Gerald hit the nail on the head for me in terms of compositional appeal - though it's gory and will be too gory for some - the lining up of the eyes is fascinating.
Good clarity and detail throughout.

I do wish there was a sliver more space on the RHS to move the springbok horn a bit from the edge of the frame? Did you crop on that side?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andre - Welcome to BPN and the Wildlife Forum. Another great first post. Excellent low pov, action and sharpness. I agree with the others about a little more room on the rhs but I would also like a little more on the lhs too. Did you happen to have time to snap any where either the dof was greater or where you focused on the rear jackal? Would be interesting to see and compare. Looking forward to more of your posts and to your input on other threads.

TFS,
Rachel

[Tom Rambaut]

fantastic image and strong story of life and death. A bit more space, losing the border, would make all the difference.TFS

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you Gerald,Morkel,Rachel,and Tom. Will do new edit and repost. Thank you for advice.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre and welcome.

Taking on board the advice above, I think there are a couple of areas you can also tweak, in addition please check how you Save for web, as the image has an untagged profile and appears quite saturated.

Firstly and this is based on the current image, I might pull back some of the yellow, likewise in the whites too. Looking at the Histogram the blacks look clipped and if you are revisiting the RAW then I'm sure this is a simple fix. This may help the much blacker areas like around the eyes which may be what Gerald is referring too. Adding a Mid tone adjustment also helps the slightly bright whites and brings back a bit of tone, however a luminosity layer adjustment would also do the trick I'm sure. It also brings a bit more depth to the horns too.

Look forward to seeing the fruits of your labour with a RP.

TFS
Steve

PS You might light to consider knocking back your © it's a little distracting IMHO.

[Andre Pretorius]

Thanks Steve, will labour tonight!!!

[Nancy Bell]

I also am captivated by the composition of the three eyes in line. Very well positioned! Good advice given above per details.

[Andre Pretorius]

Good evening to all. I have reworked the image and here is workflow: (please advise if you think it can be improved)
LR3: Image cropped according to advice. More of FG was included to prevent sq crop.
In Basic: Blacks value 5 (no clipping),Contrast 32,clarity+9, Vibrance to +7.
Tone curve: highlights -5

CS6:
Adjustment layer levels, mask on subject, darks 5, midtones 0,95 , Highlights 242
Sharpened with Unsharp Mask 50% @ 0,3px
Burned @ 4% horns selectively, black line @ eye to mouth.
Blurred BG with blur tool @ 100%, careful not to touch flies.
Used sharpen tool @42% to sharpen flies.
Saved for web using Steve's advise in sticky.
The back Jackal was not worked on.
Better?

[Jonathan Ashton]

I really like the repost the detail and colour rendition in the fur is excellent. The distant jackal's eyes look more acceptable but I think they could stand just a minor addition of light.
Nothing wrong with the end result, horses for courses but I suspect you could have got very near to that in the ACR workflow. Only becasue you mentioned the blur tool I suspect it is now a little apparent, maybe some simple noise reduction would be adequate. I also like the recrop, I think this is a super image.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, having more room around and toning things back has certainly helped the overall image. I do think you can still get a lot more out from your original capture and by doing so will create even more impact. I think the balance of clarity within the image looks right, especially to the LH animal and the one behind.

- Overall it needs some more selective sharpening
- There is more detail & tone you can get from the horns/ear
- Likewise in the exposed flesh parts

I have based the above from your RP and hopefully the attached will clarify my points. Sharpening is a very personal workflow so if you have used the PS tool that is something have never used, I guess the favourites are USN or Smart sharpen. There was a thread recently where Artie uses only 140, 0.3, 0 settings in USM, with no pre sharpening in RAW, you may like to try this or have a search in the Forum under workflow. Glad you got the correct profile as it does make a difference. :S3:

Hope this helps
Steve

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you Steve, really appreciate you time and input, learning a lot!!!!! Saved all three images in folder, will compare side by side. TX again:S3:

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Andre,

welcome to the forum. All suggestions are already said above. Steve's RP looks great to me.
Love the eye line an details in this image. I as well agree with Morkel on the horn.

Have a great wknd

Ciao
Anette

[Shreyas Mantri]

Hello Andre,
This is a great image. The informative discussion on PP has also made for a great repost.
TFS