African Wild Dog Grooming

[Loi Nguyen]

On our last day at Sosian Ranch, Kenya, our guide successfully found a wild dog pack of 19 strong. It was late in the day and by the time I got to set up for the shots, the late evening sun was covered by cloud, and the colors of the images were disappointingly flat. So I put these images aside until now.

1DX
500f4 II
1/160
F8
ISO-800
Beanbag on the ground

Adjusted for WB in LR5 with the eye dropper
Cloned out a distracting OOF blob in front of the dog on the LHS
Cropped a little from top and left
Levels, Curves, Saturation, UMS in CS6

The BG is a little busy, but I chose F8 to get all 3 dogs in good focus.

The dogs had awoekn from their afternoon nap and this was part of the grooming ritual before the evening hunt.
We saw them caught a hare. 3 Dogs went after it and the whole thing happened in less than 10 sec flat.

Appreciate your comments.

Thank you.

Loi

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Nice low angle of view Loi, The dogs are in focus and I like the eye contact of the dog on the right. Well done despite the bad light.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

very nice done with the details and all. Like it very much. I read you used WB in LR5, there is still a blue cast in the image. Check out the blacks - nose - fur in the dogs! Unless you like it that way. I personally would remove this, just me :bg3:

Have a look at the RHS side corner! :w3

Have a great weekend

Ciao
Anette

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Anettte, I have been fighting the blue cast of this series of wild dog images for a while now. Below is a RP with the Color Balance towards Yellow. I hope it is not too Yellow, I also cropped the RHS corner just a little bit.

Thanks

Loi

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Loi

This is just lovely. You have handle it well, and I don´t see any flat colors. I do think your repost is a slight improvement. Great look from the dog on the rhs, but too bad you cliped his leg.

TFS / Gregor

[edwardselfe]

Lucky you to find these in an open area like this. I would add back in the space on the LHS if you can and perhaps crop off the half dog on the right and see where that gets you. The moment you captured between the other two is nice and it might bring attention to that. Not sure how much you cut off LHS though and this might not work.
Ed

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

Do it easy, open a saturation adjustment layer and pull the blue down to 40-65%, depends on the image of course. Most of the time I do that selective, when a sky is involved...etc!!
Easier done, till you really get it on the dot with the WB :w3

Have a great Sunday

Ciao

AnettePS

For me your RP is not to yellow :cheers:

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, things are looking up on the PP side, looking good.

I really like the interaction, POV and overall comp, but clipping the paw is rather unfortunate. Best time to shoot first thing or towards the end of day, great for light and it always happens, action when you least expect it, but your camera can take it. Crank up that ISO, I'm hooting ISO2000 currently and the images look fine, no issues :S3:.

Although still viewing on the laptop I prefer the OP overall. I would use the Graduate filter to darken the FG, but would check some 'cloning' on the trim edge at the foot towards the left. Perhaps double process the BKG, or drop the exposure to the BKG as an Exp adjustment, likewise the mouth seems a little light??? Glad you lost the white corner in the RP.

TFS
Steve

[Loi Nguyen]

PP, and you have been a great help.

The blue cast was evident in this series of wild dogs after the sun was covered by the cloud just before sun set. I'd think the 1DX could correct it in AWB, but clearly it did not. When I posted these images on FB for my friends and family, they all asked me if the dogs are blue!

My attempt to use WB in LR5 in the OP still had the blue cast on the dogs. On the RP, I used Color Balance to move color away from Blue towards Yellow, but made the image too Yellow.

Thanks to Anette for pointing out that I could take away the Blue in Hue/Saturation.

So in this RP2, I did just that and then used Selective Color to add more black to black.

I also redid the cloning on the left foot, not perfect, but that was as good as I was going to get it.

Steve, in the heat of the moment, I turned down the SS as the sun was disappearing behind the cloud, forgot to check how low my SS was.

Regarding the clipping of the paw of the dog on the RHS, is it good enough excuse to buy the 200-400? My wife would say "Big Hat, No Cattle!"

Steve, I have begun to use Layer Mask frequently now. Thanks for your time!

Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, the OP colours IMHO do look better and likewise the blacks. Toggling between the OP & last, the blacks don't look as 'rich'? Prefer the crop on the last version. On reflection I can live with the clipped paw as the facial expression and look down the barrel reduces the missing paw as it engages with the viewer.


I also redid the cloning on the left foot, not perfect, but that was as good as I was going to get it.
Is this what's at the foot of the image, LHS?


Regarding the clipping of the paw of the dog on the RHS, is it good enough excuse to buy the 200-400? My wife would say "Big Hat, No Cattle!"

Yes I think I remember this phrase when we met, I exchanged another one with you, perhaps a bit more 'simplified'. :bg3: 200-400, go for it if you can, you will love it!


Steve, I have begun to use Layer Mask frequently now. Thanks for your time!

Great news Loi, it's the way to go and a great way to target specific areas you need to adjust. If you want fire the RAW off tomorrow, Tuesday as I'm returning back so could take a look if you want & will send the Elephants too.

cheers
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Few things beat lying on your belly facing a pack of Wild Dogs! Good to know that they do it in Laikipia. I actually like the colours of your first RP best.
You can circumvent the "paw" issue with a fixed lens by shooting another frame to the RHS and then stitch it in PS (the dog was lying still it seems).

[shane shacaluga]

Very nice series of images a great to see how the OP progresses. Thanks for sharing your hints and tips

Loi, i seem to have missed you getting a 1DX!!! When did that happen?? :bg3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - Sorry, I was away. Nice to see the progression of the image here and you've gotten some excellent advice. For me the color of your last rp is much better. No one else has mentioned it but perhaps a slight amount of cw rotation though it will increase the clipping on the rhs. Always exciting to see wild dogs. I missed where you said you were out of the vehicle, were you?

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

I missed where you said you were out of the vehicle, were you?


Rachel - check the EXIF posted in the OP...last line...
:w3



1DX
500f4 II
1/160
F8
ISO-800
Beanbag on the ground



:5

[shane shacaluga]

It might have fallen out of the car window! :t3

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel, sorry about that, late flight back last night.

Cheers,
Rachel

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Rachel, welcome back.

Hi Shane, I got my 1DX last November, almost 1 year now. No the bean bag didn't fall out of the car window :)

we were on a private ranch in Laikipia. Two of these dogs had collars. The first day out we couldn't find them, but on the second evening, the ranch manager/guide had words that someone had signal. So after tea time we went searching, crashing thru the bush, looking for any opening at all to move forward. Then all of the sudden we came to a learning and they were there, just woke up from the afternoon nap. We had may be 10 minutes with them before they moved off on a hunt. We saw 3 of them caught a small hare. The hunt was over in 30 sec. They caught the hare behind a bush.

i was lying on the ground with the land cruiser between me and the dogs and shot thru the underside of the vehicle.

loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, firstly I kept the incline of the land, thought it was more interesting, WDYT? Secondly, I feel if you had move a few feet to your right it would have avoided the large mound :Whoa!: but we are where we are. :w3

Not much on the WB, but tried to keep the blacks a little less rich, more 'matt', plus in the Hi Res file there is a really good amount of detail, so well done. Interesting to see all the lumps on the ears from ticks etc, plus I wonder if it's a tumour on the tongue that has provided the black spot? I slightly darken the BKG, but not much, you did a nice cloning on the leg! Not much more. Master Curves to adjust things, Shadow/Highlight is too aggressive and not for you. I also avoided any Vib/Sat, but again it's how you perceive the image and the end result you wish to create. Basically get it looking right by understanding the basics, then you can change the direction as you have a good platform to work from.

'Your world is your Oyster'. :S3:

Hope this helps.

Steve

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Steve, as usual, you nailed the colors here. I overdid with removing the blue and adding the black in the last RP. Love your comp. It gives the dogs a little more room. I have another image that I will post later after I incorporated the learning from here. Thanks again. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, if it has helped that's all any of us can ask for. If you have any questions just fire away. Think I prefer your red soil in the last post, but that's an easy fix. :w3