Quiet time in the shade

[Carl Walker]

There are many impressive horned ungulates but this will always remain at the top of the list for me. This Kudu bull was relaxing in the hot part of the day in shade whilst chewing cud.

7d - 70 - 200mm f2,8 L IS USM Mk II @200mm
ISO 800 - f8 - 1/400 sec HH

ACR basics
PS CC14 - Lum masks, curvesadjustments

I know I need more canvas on the lhs but my skills not quite there yet.Probably bottom too.

C&C welcome and appreciated thanks

[Loi Nguyen]

Carl, I think this is a difficult image to pull off. The kudu's face was in the shade, so it was hard to pull out good colors and the BG was a bit too busy. Look for more separation between the subject and the BG and the subject will pop more especially if you control the DOF well. Loi

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Nice looking Kudu, good texture and detail on the skin with head turn towards us. You did well in the given situation Carl.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Carl - I agree, love the kudu horns and this shows them off nicely. The light and bg were both problematic but you did well under the conditions. I agree with your self-critique about needing more space but it is not something I would try to accomplish through adding canvas. Rather, I would look for another opportunity in the field and shoot a bit wider next time, especially since you were zoomed to 200 mm with the 70-200. I find the blue sky in the upper left drawing my eye.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

I love them too, Carl. As mentioned above this was always going to be a tough exposure.
I agree with most of the critique above, and would play with this in monochrome...

[Steve Canuel]

Agree, these are some of the best horns in the business. As others have noted, a tough shot to pull off. Lots of alternating bright and dark lines. I've attempted many of these shots with the deer I shoot and have never got one to turn out quite the way I liked.

[Carl Walker]

I apologise for not getting back here sooner. All points noted and thanks all for taking the time to post:S3: