Antler Drop

[Ashleigh Scully]

A Bull Moose from near Ditch Creek outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Canon EOS 5D MIII
Canon 500mm f/4L IS II USM

ISO 640
f/4
1/800s

I used a Gitzo tripod.

I cropped about 20% off and did a USM in Photoshop on the Moose only.

I could've increased my ISO a lot more and then gone to f/8 or higher to get more dof but I wanted to see what the effect would be with a lower aperture.

Please let me know what you think.

Ashleigh

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Ashleigh - Glad to see you posting another wildlife image. The comp is great and it's interesting to see the antler drop. It makes it a bit different from most moose images. A few things that I would suggest. First, your image does not have an embedded color profile which could cause a shift in color between PS and viewing on the web. Check out the sticky at the top of the forum on saving for web. Next the blacks in the moose are a little choked up, you can see if you can open these up and get a bit more detail in your raw converter. I would burn the highlights on the remaining antler slightly. Finally there's a blue cast in the upper part of the bg and a tiny bit in the blacks on the moose. I would reduce the blues either through a hue/saturation adjustment or in selective color. Let us know if you have any questions about how to make any of the adjustments. It's an image that is definitely worth making these small tweaks.

TFS,
Rachel

P.S. I would also apply a bit more sharpening to the nose.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Ashleigh, Rachel has provided a good basis to build on and to take your image further.

As I have said before, don't be frightened about cranking up that ISO on the 5D. It's great that you have an enquiring mind as it's only in this way can you learn and understand the results of your actions, i.e. shooting wide open. Personally, my advice would be to get the shot you want, then experiment with changes in DOF, format i.e. landscape to portrait, and if time allows shooting tighter for detail or wider for the inclusion of habitat & the environment. I like the composition and the look left with a nice amount o space, great to see a different species, keep them coming.

Looking at the image I think you can afford to adjust the white slider in Levels to around 250 before it clips, adding some mid tone helps, but if you are using LR or ACR then you cn get a lot more detail from within the rack itself. The image definitely requires more sharpening, not just on the subject, but by using a mask, so you can include some of the bushes on the same plain as the subject.

Look forward to seeing more like the Mountain goat & otters. :S3:

TFS
Steve

[edwardselfe]

Hi Ashleigh - nice image with interesting details such as the shed antler and the over-the-shoulder look. It actually looks odd to see one antler without seeing where it's attached to the head - makes you look twice before resolving it.
In this situation, I would like to have seen a little more of the bg in focus, so perhaps increasing your dof a little would have been nice. As it is, for me, there's a little too much dead space, which is filled with only out of focus brush and the mountains (?) in the bg. I would consider all the suggestions above, but also a 16x9 pano crop (the full width and cutting through your watermark at the bottom) or a 2x3 ratio vertical crop, with the moose just off-centre to the rhs of the frame as you look at it..... To me, that would be the best option. Something like this. You still get all the lovely winter colours and the blue bg, but there's less empty space and more attention on the moose.
A lift in the shadows, a tiny bit of sharpening and some global contrast boost also helps I think.
136610
Hope this helps.
Ed

[Ashleigh Scully]

Thank you all that's very helpful. I also like the tighter vertical crop. Ill try posting a new one later today.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Ed, your RP illustrates my point about once you get the shot 'in the bag' that YOU want,change your options. The only issue I have, but it's OK at this size, is the amount of information and IQ you are then throwing away. :S3:

[Loi Nguyen]

Ashley, Ed's RP showed the moose well, but I like your wider shot that shows the habitat and the OOF BG and colors. Your moose is a bit dark and lacks details and sharpness. You had good suggestion above. I'd use Curves to bring up the dark area of the Moose selectively and then after re-sizing, sharpen it. Good to see that you have a Gitzo tripod for this type of shot. Good work. Loi

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely scene and good natural condition/behaviour shown here Ashleigh!
You've received some excellent feedback already. I agree the moose looks a tad soft in the OP, and quite like the space you've given it compositionally.
Looking forward to seeing more of your recent work! :5

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Ashleigh,
i quite like the OP in terms of crop, you got good suggestions by all the others above me.If you take them and tweak the image for your liking , it would definitely become better.

So i not add something more.

TFS Andreas