Thirsty Elephants

[nick clayton]

143255

Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. 06/08/09

Canon 40D
Canon 100mm macro lens

1/500 @ f8
0 EV
Aperture priority
ISO 400
Pattern

RAW converted in Canon DPP

Levels
Curves
Saturation
Selective Color
Color balance
Photoshop USM

Small elephant cloned out at left side of frame

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nick - A very nice scene with the elephant herd around the waterhole and most of them facing you. I like the inclusion of some of the habitat as well. I haven't been to Tsavo but the soil here looks more orange than the red I would expect. Part of that may be due to the fact that the image does not have an embedded color profile. I would check the wb in the raw image or reduce the yellows and to a lesser extent the reds if it were mine. Finally, I would reduce the blues and cyans on the hillside in the bg. All easy fixes.

TFS,
Rachel

[nick clayton]

Thanks Rachel for noticing my image doesn't have an embedded color profile, it's something I haven't thought about for a year or two and hasn't been mentioned to me before, except I think you mentioned it on one of my other images the other day. I have now uploaded the image with hopefully an embedded color profile, does it look any different?

143262

[nick clayton]

Hi Rachel, thanks again for your comments. I have to say the soil does look the colour I remember it, it is in reality more of an orange than red, if anyone who has been to Tsavo East would care to comment it would be appreciated. On my computer I cant see any difference in the two images I have posted.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nick - whether or not you see a difference I believe depends on what browser you are using and whether the browser is color managed. As I said I haven't been to Tsavo but have experienced red soils in other parts of Africa.

Rachel

[BenBotha]

I think the reds are slightly less intensive on the ellies in the repost.
Ben

[Marc Mol]

Your colour profiled RP Nick has reduced the saturation in the reds and cyan/blue's to a small degree and it is noticable on my cal monitors,
the soil colour is certainly close to accurate from my trips to Tsavo and reviewing back images from that time, a pleasing scene nonetheless.

TFS

[nick clayton]

Thanks Rachel, Ben and Marc for your input. I think this has served as a useful exercise for me not least because I haven't been using an embedded color profile for a while now and it has been illustrated what affect this can have on how an image appears.

[Morkel Erasmus]

A lovely moment/scene from a part of Kenya I am yearning to visit!
Light was harsh but alas that is when ele's love to quench their thirst, and you handled it well. RP is slightly better for me colour-wise.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Nick, I see a noticeable difference on the two versions, the Op was much too Red. Lovely scene, light was harsh, but that was the time of day. I feel the image is a bit too bright, again that was probably the reality, but you could consider reducing the brightness to bring out a little more details on the elephants and the sky. Loi

[nick clayton]

Thanks Morkel and loi :S3:

[edwardselfe]

I still think the reds are a bit too saturated and I would expect blacker blacks at that time of day. Perhaps a bit heavy with the shadow slider? But I would re-work as it's rare to get so many ellies cooperating and drinking facing in the same direction. The framing and execution are great, just a bit or work to do in processing IMO. Ed