Elephant silhouette

[Nancy Bell]

I just about missed getting this silhouette in before July drifts into August. Taken in Botswana from the photo boat. I was laying on the front deck using the 24-105 lens. I found out first hand that items "are closer than they appear", when I lifted my head from the camera and was well splashed in the face from this ellie! That particular image did not turn out, but this is one just a few moments earlier.


Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-105 f4 L IS @ 80mm, 1/640, f8, exp. comp. +2/3, ISO 400.

Comments and critiques most appreciated.




p.s I've been traveling in Newfoundland these last few weeks. Only land mammal I saw was caribou suffering from brain worms. Sadly, it seems to be a large problem there.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Nice moment captured here, Nancy! I think had it been mine I would have brought the highlights way down to reign in the bright light in the LTC and perhaps do some work to get a little darker BG in general. I'm not too sure that the sillhouette against blue sky works for me (but that's just me!). Show us some more of the trip! :S3:

[Marc Mol]

I do appreciate the concept here Nancy but agree with Tobie, that it's not working for me here, the sky is blown, have you tried to recover the highlights?
If that's possible you could then extract some slight detail on the ele itself and that combination would be more suitable.
If only you had a setting sun behind him, that would be a different story!:w3

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nancy - unfortunately I agree with Tobie and Marc on this one. I do like the pov and comp but I think this would have been better had you used negative exposure comp in the field rather than +2/3. If I am going for a silhouette in the field against a bright bg I stop down a bit and also use a very fast ss.

That's too bad to hear about the wildlife on your trip to Newfoundland.

TFS,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Nancy!

Great to see you posting again in Wildlife, and I see you had some spectacular sightings on this trip, although I am sad to learn about the health problems of the caribou - do you know what is the long term prognosis? Forgive my ignorance, I do not know much about this ailment and how it is transmitted. Will try to find out more about it but I would appreciate any information you have.

Regarding your image - I too love the POV and the framing, it's just the blues that are I find bit overwhelming. I thought of something and I would like to share my idea with you, not sure it works but here it is anyway...What do you think? I converted your image to B/W and then added a coffee toning in Nik. I hardly ever use Nik but on this occasion I thought I'd give it a try:tinysmile_shy_t:

Kind regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Nancy sadly i am also feeling this does not work really as presented and i feel i am with Gabriela about the blue/cyan is your biggest enemy here.
I like the framing and the low POV , the splashing water adds to your comment of getting sprayed with the same.
Gabriela came up with a good idea going B/W in this case , even if i do not really like the toning , but well worth to experiment.

TFS Andreas

[Brendon Cremer]

Hi Nancy, it certainly is different which is not necessarily bad. There are a few obvious issue which have been mentioned, with the colour version, the blown sky (not a biggie if you going for different) and the colour of the blues which are there. After seeing Gabs B&W version this is definitely another option a gives you a little more space for different ideas.

[Nancy Bell]

Many thanks for all the helpful advice! I think this is one of those images where the memory of the event is more important than the image. I do like the b&w idea from Gabriela, thanks! Maybe I will play with that.

Gabriela, I do not know much about the brain worm in caribou either. The visitor center did not have any info to hand out.