Mother and Calf

[Stu Bowie]

Let me post my last post in wildlife before I go away on my summer holidays early friday morning. Its not often I used to say that I had too much lens, so I framed this to get in all of the calf, and what I could of mom. I did shoot this vertically in camera. Taken in the Kruger National Park back in Oct. I remember this whole trip being overcast.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +1.4 TC = 420mm
1/320
F/6.3
ISO 640

Exp comp +0.33
Hand held from the car.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Always nice to see a youngster and this is no exception. Nice pose and going vertical was an excellent choice. The reds seem pretty strong, particularly in the grasses, but they may have been that way. If it were mine I would probably drop the reds a bit. There's also a very slight amount of blue coming through in the giraffe's left ear (on the right as viewed). I might also consider cropping in from the right a bit just so it isn't the mom's rear that is prominent, maybe to the inner leg.

Have a great holiday and happy new year!

TFS,
Rachel

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks Rachel. The grasses became a little red from darkening them, as I felt they were a touch too bright. I quite liked the tail being in the image. :w3 Here is a repost with your suggestions.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - yes, I realized that would lose the tail. It's one of those tough calls. Both work so it's down to whichever comp you prefer.:cheers:

Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stu, did you apply a luminosity layer to this, the colours as Rachel mention, do look very saturated and perhaps masking some of the finer detail? The tail stays in for me, but do you have any more right leg?

Steve

[Stu Bowie]

did you apply a luminosity layer to this, the colours as Rachel mention, do look very saturated - The tail stays in for me, but do you have any more right leg?



Thanks Steve, I did apply a multiple blending mode but at a low opacity of around 15%. No other saturation applied to the image. Infact, I never touch saturation in PS. Unfortunately, no more leg on the RHS. :w3

Rachel, thanks for your reply.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Stu, love the youngster and his inquisitive look at you. The grass color looks a bit too red/brown to me too. The tail stays in for me. Loi

[Stu Bowie]

Here is the original untouched. There are hints of the 'redder/brown' grasses visible, and it seems applying the blending mode made them redder. I do agree that the grasses in my OP are too red, and hopefully my repost sorted that area. :w3 Its fun to interact with fellow members.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stu, I was just thinking perhaps going a little cooler, tweaking the HSL it may help. I like the grass in the RAW version looks better, but I would say there is a lot more you can pull out from the image. Just watch the blue in the calf's ears.


There are hints of the 'redder/brown' grasses visible, and it seems applying the blending mode made them redder.

It can do that you need to watch things. :w3

My RP is not great, but you can see as a comparison where I was thinking Stu, it might help, or not. I would have gone to ISO800 just for a bit more SS and removing the 1.4 to get more of the RHS in.

TFS
Steve

[Russell Johnson]

I think you have received a lot of good advice, for me, Steve's repost looks a lot more natural in terms of the colours.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Stu,
lovely little cutie that giraffe baby .Like the alert look of the youngster.
In the field it would have been better to move the camera up to get more above and less in the FG, for me at least.
Colors are looking a bit washed out in both of your versions, so Mr ColorDetail did the move in the right direction, think it is worth to explore the way .Even if he went a tiny bit too cool for my taste.But the image look way cleaner.
Tail in for me.

TFS Andreas

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Stu,

I am late to this many suggestions already. I throw in my 5 cents for the tail. It needs to stay in :bg3:


Have a great summer holiday, enjoy

Ciao
Anette

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you everybody for the great feedback.

Steve, thanks for your repost - it gives me a great head start where to go and produce a result.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice moment here Stu. Much has been said - FWIW I would not crop out mom's tail :bg3:

[Arthur Morris]

Me thinks that everyone might be missing the main point here while concentrating on the minutiae.... First off, I love the baby and the concept. I love juxtapositions. Why not however, have pointed the camera well to the left for the original capture.... I think that Stu may have been able to get the whole adult in the frame with the baby on the left side of the frame hopefully while including the whole tree trunk with a bit of a border....