Koala...(C)

[Don Railton]

Hi Guys,

Another Australian marsupial. This is one of 10 Koala's living in a wildlife enclosure at Yanchep National Park, about a 45 minute drive for me. Koala's do not exist in the wild in Western Australia, so this trip was my best hope of providing something other than another Kangaroo shot. :S3: They spend a lot of time sitting in trees eating (very fussy..) a special type of gum tree leaf, which is low in energy. They are also Nocturnal to an extend so the lack of energy from the food along with the need to sleep during the day makes waiting for a change in pose quite a tedious task sometimes... You can't rush through a Koala photo session..!

1D4 + 500F4 + 5 series Gitzo and Winderley2 head.
1/1000 @ F8, ISO 1600.
Manual mode..
Processed in ACR setting leves etc... Nik sharpening and cropped from the left to 5 x 7 format. The leaf in the mouth is probably something I could work further on...

regards to you all,

DON

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Don,
great to see a different species other than a Roo,:w3.Even if i like your Roo images.
I know what you talking about their behavior, took images long time ago of them on your wonderful Continent.There are several great places in South and Southeast Australia. I loved the most Wilson`s Promontory close to Melbourne or Kangaroo Island just south Adelaide.

Regarding the image ilike the crop and the leaf in the mouth is a nice touch, like wise the visible eye.Super smooth BKG differs very well from the subject.Overall i feel it is way too light specially in the HL and 1/4 tones.I think i would rework and give the image more tonal depth and it will start to sing. i think.
I would slightly back off on sharpening , not much though.10-15 % and see how it looks, just my 2 cents.
Like the subtle coloration all around.
TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Don, nice to see a very familiar face from 'Down under'. :S3:

The techs look good, especially at 1600 and I like the slight HA angle on this one. The slight 'marks' in the BKG will be the foliage, nothing you could have done, although you could if you so wish, blend the lines out on the LHS but no big deal for me, but perhaps more leasing to the eye. I would also just remove the grass blades from the chest, easy fix, likewise the leaf on the darker coat, but depends on your POV. Adding one or even two Luminosity layers will help both the nose and retain the depth on the leave, you can then vary the amount by the opacity. Adding a mid tone, or dropping the gamma in Exp adj will help bring a hint more depth back into the face, again all done as an adjustment layer. Avoid adding anything to the whites!

Had a play the other day with that sharpening tool, way to crazy for me, i'll stick to PS. :w3

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Don, just looked in PS there is almost no detail left in the HL in every channel ……….
Andreas

[Don Railton]

Hi Andreas & Steve,

I will have a shot at reprocessing using both your suggestions. Andreas, maybe I pushed the exposure too close to the edge? we will see.... I have many other images anyway, so hopefully I can get one right..!

DON

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Don i think nothing wrong with the image , just a bit too light, and maybe you can recover some HL and you are good to go.

[Steve Kaluski]

some whites are burnt

Hadn't taken it into LR Don, but Peter is right, just drop the Highlights slider down around a third of a stop and they are gone, good call.

[Don Railton]

Thanks for all the feedback guys..! I looked at the raw image closely at import and the very bottom of the neck is blown, so oops, over cooked the ETTR... I could crop it out, but that would spoil the comp IMHO. In the RP I have removed the "marks" in the bg Steve refered to. Unfortunately its now a bit blotchy at that point which I would fix but the blown neck make spending more time on this probably not worth the time... Thanks for the effort you guys have made anyway..

regards

DON

[Steve Kaluski]

Looks much better Don, you could just run some NR or a little Gaussian blur just to knock it back regarding the 'blotchy' areas, but I think it's OK.

You could enable Highlight alert on the camera which will show blown areas by the 'blinkies' and so you could just then pull back the EV?

[Mike Poole]

Nice shot Don with the second version a subtle but worthwhile improvement.

On a side note in the late '90's I was a member of the sun city golf club right next to Yanchep, so thanks for reminding me of some good times (and much better weather than England!)

[Don Railton]

Thanks Steve... I do have blinkies on, and I know you can push to a hint of the blinkies showing and still being ok, guess I pushed too hard this time. mike, glad to take you back to another time and place... you know exactly where these were taken then...


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[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Don - Great to see a koala posted. You've gotten excellent advice above that I won't rehash but the rp is an improvement. The almost frame filling comp works well. Looking forward to more koala images.

TFS,
Rachel

[keith mitchell]

Hi Don, spent many a happy days around Yanchep National Park and remember these Koala's, found some wild ones on Magnetic Island in Queensland in a school playing field, will see if I can find my images. Your repost looks fine to me, do like the mouthful of leaf looks like sticky out tongue, and the Rabbit teeth, and Don you did well to get one with it's eyes open .
Keith.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Very cute, Don, and thanks for the info on their habits and lifestyle (very informative).
RP does it for me for all the reasons mentioned above, just has more depth and clarity too. Good suggestions by Steve to help smooth out the BG some more.
Do you have any space on the RHS? Feels just a tad too close to the ear-hairs there?

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Don, sorry to comment so late, love this Koala image, I think the RP is great:w3, looking forward to more images of these cuties, please!

Kind regards,

[Don Railton]

Hi Morkel, unfortunately this is full width, just a bit of the top to make it 5 x 7. The 500 mm was a bit big really, could not back up more because we were on an elevated board walk that limits angles and position. I need a 300F2.8!!.
Thanks Rachel, Gabriela & Morkel for the comments.. more to come..