Male Kudu

[Loi Nguyen]

Image taken at Duba Plains just before sunset. We had such fabulous light at this location at sunset that you can photograph anything!

1Dx
500f4 Ii + 1.4 X III
1/800
f5.6
ISO-1600
Handheld

Thank you for your comments.

Loi

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Nice two year old in top form, Loi! I love the smooth skin texture complemented by perfect mid tones. Great shot!

[Andre van As]

Hi Loi
Very nice textures and color of the coat. In a harsher light they look an uninteresting grey but you have captured a beautiful tonal quality here. DOF well handled. I like the detail of the strands of grass in front of this beautiful young bull. Some of the closer ones are OOF and could do with removal as they appear as a blur over the Kudu.
The left side of the image could do with some cropping as it does not add to the content overall. Not sure what to say about the sky??

Nice shot.

Andre

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - Nice light and good pose from the kudu. They don't often cooperate. Detail and sharpness look good. If it were mine I would do a levels adjustment, bringing in the right slider to just before they clip and perhaps opening the midtones slightly. I am ok with the space on the left but I like negative space. I would take some off the top though. Very nice overall.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, told you you would like Duba, but I still think Selinda is better, but it depends on what you want. :w3

Lovely light, nice soft tones and this has helped with the lighter whites. Interesting, I think you could try a 5x4 crop going tighter, I just feel the space on the LHS isn't quite working, but we all see things differently. I would look to dropping the Cyan & Blue on the subject, you can see it creeping in on the horns and head. Just watch the Blacks & shadows do not start to choke. Detail looks good, but people have too realise you only have one centre FP using this combo, did you re compose when you frame/shot this?

TFS
Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

Detail looks good, but people have too realise you only have one centre FP using this combo, did you re compose when you frame/shot this?

Sorry Loi, thought you had the 2x :bg3: lack of sleep, too many early starts!

[Loi Nguyen]

Sorry Loi, thought you had the 2x :bg3: lack of sleep, too many early starts!

Hi Steve, I had both the 1.4X and the 2X. Will take a look at this image later tonight. Cheers. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hey Loi, if you are feeling flush on the cash front then I have another bit of kit you can get, saves bolting on & off that 1.4x. :bg3:

[Loi Nguyen]

Hey Loi, if you are feeling flush on the cash front then I have another bit of kit you can get, saves bolting on & off that 1.4x. :bg3:

It's a real pain, isn't it? taking the TC on and off all the time. Moving the vehicle can be done in principle, but often not possible without upsetting the subject you want to photograph. Loi

[Loi Nguyen]

Thank you everyone for your kind and good comments. I did take away a sliver on the left, but also inadvertently a sliver on the right, either way it does not bother me. Rachel's suggestion to lighten up the image is right on. I had reduced the exposure by -0.22EV in CS6 to avoid clipping the white, but now I see that was not a good idea as the image looks a bit dark. Increasing the exposure by +0.11EV from the OP seems to do the job here. Steve's call on the color cast was brilliant. Hope you like it better.

Steve, it's a tough call between Duba Plains and Selinda. The light was better when I was there at Duba Plains, but there were more things to do in selinda and it was hard to beat watching the wild dogs hunt.

Thank you again.

Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Although on an uncalibrated monitor it does look better and even though you took a sliver off the RHS, glad you did not clip the grass.

Nice RP.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi , the RP does look good to me as far as i can see.

TFS Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - rp looks better.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hi Loi,

Sorry to come in so late, here public holiday and been doing all sorts of home chores, also struggling with my "croc and ants" image the whole morning but not giving up:bg3:
I love this, outstanding light and IQ to match, and just like Rachel:w3 I like the space on the LHS. Cannot see much difference between the OP and RP, love this as is, stunning work-congratulations!

Kind regards,

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely light and specimen Loi. RP looks better.
For interest' sake - who can tell me why Tobie said it's a 2-year old?? (Tobie, not allowed to answer just yet. I'll give you the honour of telling them if nobody gets it right).
:bg3:

[Loi Nguyen]

Lovely light and specimen Loi. RP looks better.
For interest' sake - who can tell me why Tobie said it's a 2-year old?? (Tobie, not allowed to answer just yet. I'll give you the honour of telling them if nobody gets it right).
:bg3:

Morkel, I'm guessing it has to do with the number of twists (2 in this case) of the horn. Thank you for asking. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Well FWIW, I think it's either the colour of the beard, as it gets darker with age, or the number of side stripes. Loi you could well be correct, although I understand they twist once at around two, not reaching the full 2.5 twists until six.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Mmmm. Morkel I must admit I could have been brought up with the incorrect believe of one twist per year (never even questioned it). Steve is correct so this bull is probably around 5 years old. Well, we never stop learning, do we? :cheers:

[Steve Kaluski]

So was the thought this was a 2 year old, a 'red herring'? :bg3:

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

So was the thought this was a 2 year old, a 'red herring'? :bg3:
No Steve - plain, honest ignorance... :t3

[Steve Kaluski]

Honesty is good. :5

[Morkel Erasmus]

First time on BPN today folks...:t3
Was meaning to say - common conception is that it's a year per curl of the horn, but Steve reflected the accepted observation more correctly, that the 3rd turn/curl usually begins at around 6 years of age. First full twist is usually sign of a 2-year old.
Good fun anyway, and nice to know.