Eastern Grey Kangaroo in memorium

[Ian Wilson]

This is an old-man kangaroo that I photographed in a State Park near home in June 2013. He is pictured soaking up the last rays of sunshine on a mid-winter day, surrounded by a mob of females and offspring. He was a big fellow, as tall as a man, and even more impressive when on his toes sparring with a rival. Two weeks ago I was dismayed to read in our local newspaper that the park authorities had killed the 20 largest males in the park 'to restore a natural balance and protect public safety and well-being'. It's a crazy world.

This fellow was quite at ease and allowed me to set up about 8 m away while I took a few test shots to get the right balance of ambient light to flash light. News of this pointless cull and his certain demise reminded me that I had this frame in my files. I hope it does justice to a harmless and beautiful animal.

Canon 5DIII + 600 mm f/4 II, 600EX-RT with Better Beamer, Kirkphoto gimbal on Gitzo 3532LS.
Manual, spot metering, spot AF, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO 200, 1/8 flash power.
Processed with DPP4 and PS Elements.

Thanks for looking, critical feedback welcome and appreciated.
Regards, Ian.

[Loi Nguyen]

Ian, I love this image. The kangaroo really popped against the dark BG and the filled flash worked perfectly. But why such a low SS? You could easily have shot at ISO-800 with the 5D3 and not seeing and noise here. Loi

[Ian Wilson]

Ian, I love this image. The kangaroo really popped against the dark BG and the filled flash worked perfectly. But why such a low SS? You could easily have shot at ISO-800 with the 5D3 and not seeing and noise here. Loi

Thanks Loi. This is a bit like studio work with a sitting subject and camera on a tripod. In these circumstances I always use the fastest x-sync available on my camera, 1/200 sec for the 5DIII, and manually adjust the flash output power to achieve the result I want. In this case I used 1/8 flash power which has a pulse width of about 1/4000 sec. This means that the effective exposure time for most of the kangaroo's face would was also about 1/4000 sec. Using these camera settings I am able to get a very sharp, high dynamic range, noise-free image with plenty of latitude for adjustment in post if needed. If I was hand-holding, I would use hi-speed sync flash with SS 1/500 - 1/1000 sec and full flash output power set manually and adjust the exposure by dialing up and down the ISO. I rarely use ETTL flash control, it has the same pitfalls as using aperture priority shooting. Kind regards, Ian.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I an that is a really imaginative shot - I keep looking at it because it keeps a hold on my attention. Sorry to read your narrative yet it makes the image that more poignant. I like the DOF, I am just wondering if it would be a good idea to brighten the eyes slightly but you do make the point that he is or was an old chap.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Ian - This has a nice 3D effect to it and the lighting works very well to set a mood. Sorry to hear of his demise and in that way. If it were mine I might back off on the sharpening.

TFS,
Rachel

[dankearl]

Lovely light and comp.
i might get rid of the small twigs at the bottom.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Ian, great to post a different species, thanks.

I like the framing, but and I'm not sure if it is then too tight at the foot, but I might crop a fraction of the bottom to remove the black gap between the legs and so you have a cleaner trim edge??? I might be tempted to darken the darker portion of the BKG and run a little NR, only to emphasis the nice rim light on the ears. Good choice of DoF and I'm OK re the sharpening, but might reduce the Contrast so the blacks aren't so black, in turn you should get a little more finer detail back and this may help the dark area under the eye. The eyes I think look about right, however as viewed the right eye looks to have been lightened, I would have thought it would be more in shadow????

TFS
Steve

[haseeb badar]

Hi Ian -- pretty late to comment on this but I also liked the image and the flash effect to it , nice sharp image with a beautiful individual. I might try to crop from the top as well to make it as tight as possible . TFS !

[Morkel Erasmus]

a class portrait and sad story, Ian
nice use of flash and setup to create a great portrait shot of this dude
there's one hot spot under his left ear (as viewed) that might need some touching up?

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for some great feedback and helpful ideas on how to improve this image. Kind regards, Ian.