Sable Antelope portrait (C)

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Let me be one of the first to post something under this month's theme. To me: one of the most impressive horn sets in the antelope world. Captured at a reserve closeby.

Common adjustments for light & shadows in LR. Cropped for composition.

All C & C's welcome.

Nikon D600
Sigma 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO DG HSM OS
f/5.6 | 1/400s | ISO 100 | beanbag in car window

[Marc Mol]

My favourite antelope Tobie, totally agree and this is a fine specimen. :w3
I find these guys are always hard to frame effectively with their large swept back horns, and might consider a bit more looking room if you have it on that side?
I'd also look at reducing the reds overall and more so on the sable itself, and you could recover some more shadow detail on his neck.

TFS.

[Carl Walker]

Hi Tobie - I agree with you. Marc has pointed out a few things and would like to add that perhaps taking some off on the rhs if you do add to the left.TFS

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

My favourite antelope Tobie, totally agree and this is a fine specimen. :w3
I find these guys are always hard to frame effectively with their large swept back horns, and might consider a bit more looking room if you have it on that side?
I'd also look at reducing the reds overall and more so on the sable itself, and you could recover some more shadow detail on his neck.

TFS.

Thanks for looking & commenting Mark. You're right - I can never decide what is a good crop for the guys with long horns and I was hoping to get a suggestion or two from you guys. I'll follow up with an RP. The pic does look a little red - it was taken mid August when everything is really dry & dusty (the animals too!), about 4 months away from the last rains. But I'll see if I can reign in the reds a little.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Tobie - Nice look at those horns. Marc has covered the critique well.

TFS,
Rachel

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Thanks for the comments guys. Reds brought back a little on the animal's body, space provided on the left and sharpened a little with PS' USM. Selected 'Auto' Tone in LR which removed a lot of reds overall.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=145337&d=1412261051

[Morkel Erasmus]

Impressive specimen indeed. Repost looks better colour-wise, but the sable has a lot of blue coming through now :e3.
Harsh light is hardest to handle in animals/birds with black coats/plumage. You did reasonably well here, Tobie.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Repost looks better colour-wise, but the sable has a lot of blue coming through now,

Thanks Morkel - I've missed it! Let me try again:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=145345&d=1412273220

[gail bisson]

Hi Tobie,
Still too much blues in the last repost. Did you try going to color balance in PS and selectively reducing the reds on the sable,
Gail

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Hi Tobie,
Still too much blues in the last repost. Did you try going to color balance in PS and selectively reducing the reds on the sable,
Gail

Tanks for your input Gail - yes, I did. That brought the blues to the fore. I then reduced the blues (only) and I must say it looks fine on both my monitors.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Tobie, a lovely looking portrait which shows off those horns to their best, lovely curvature & detail. Totally agree on shifting the whole crop, more to the LHS, less on the right. Nice to see the eye too.

The OP is very warm, something that should be addressed at the WB stage, the RP seems very much a click of the Auto WB giving the Blue hue to the image. I'm certainly not saying this RP is ideal (as it's based obj the workings of the OP) by any shape or form, but adjusting the WB, Tint, Red & Blue channels in Curves and finally some HSL colour adjustment in 'pegging' the colours back, it starts to lose the bias. This has the basis for a very nice portrait Tobie, with good detail, would be worth taking some time out to refine things a bit more.

TFS
Steve

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Hi Tobie, a lovely looking portrait which shows off those horns to their best, lovely curvature & detail. Totally agree on shifting the whole crop, more to the LHS, less on the right. Nice to see the eye too.

The OP is very warm, something that should be addressed at the WB stage, the RP seems very much a click of the Auto WB giving the Blue hue to the image. I'm certainly not saying this RP is ideal (as it's based obj the workings of the OP) by any shape or form, but adjusting the WB, Tint, Red & Blue channels in Curves and finally some HSL colour adjustment in 'pegging' the colours back, it starts to lose the bias. This has the basis for a very nice portrait Tobie, with good detail, would be worth taking some time out to refine things a bit more.

TFS
Steve

Thanks for your comments and for spending time on this Steve! What you decribe is exactly what I've done (first WB in LR and then color adjustments in PS) - perhaps not to the necessary degree. I love the colors you've ended up with and will try to squash in some time to remove even more reds from the picture (and fight the blues at the same time).

Nice day on your side of the globe!

Tobie

[Steve Kaluski]

What you decribe is exactly what I've done (first WB in LR and then color adjustments in PS)

Tobie can you ping me a reply to my PM, will save cluttering the thread up. :S3:

Cheers
Steve

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Tobie can you ping me a reply to my PM, will save cluttering the thread up. :S3:

Cheers
Steve

Thanks Steve I've seen your PM - will get back to you as soon as I'm back home with my LR / CS6 laptop on which I can check my settings. Regards, Tobie