Wild Hog

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image of a Wild Hog at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Merritt Island, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 70-300mm VR AF-S ED shot at 300mm (450mm FFE)
1/500 F/8 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 280 AWB
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, nice to see you on here and to see something new, 'Pulled pork' hey?

I don't mine the shooting angle, was this from a car or truck and the comp works I feel, with the head to camera. However, to me the big issue is the harsh light which is almost bleaching out the grass, is this as it was or through PP? I might double process and so you can deal with the two items separately, Hog and then the environment. Also at the top the grasses it appears blurred in parts, heat haze may be, if the temps were high perhaps? Techs I think you could have gone to 400 to gain a bit more SS very easily, I think you can be rather reserved on the ISO at times, but it's in your favour here.

I did look at it, but to get anywhere it starts to look a bit hammered.

Hope others chime in and look forward to more.

TFS
Steve

PS Joe, I meant to ask, was the word 'Wild' to differentiate it from the domestic, we tend to call them Boar over here?

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Joseph,

this one looks similar to the wild boars we have here in Swissy or Germany. Yours just has bigger ears!

I agree with Steve the harsh light in the front grass, I would turn that down quite a bit if possible. I would also work a bit with the FG grass it is quite attracting my eyes to it!

The animal itself I might also turn down the HL. I had it in PS, yep would do so. The major part for me is the FG grass.

Have a great evening

Ciao Anette

[haseeb badar]

Hi Joseph -- I too agree with Steve and Anette , the grass is way too bright and also the hog appears a bit crunchy to me may be coz he is all wet and the fur is shiny and crunchy because of the bright sun . Is that a big crop ?

TFS !

[keith mitchell]

Joe points pretty well covered, I did think that it all looked a have a bit to much contrast but that's been covered, well done for getting the shot.

Keith.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Joe - I agree with the above critiques and also that it is nice to see you posting in Wildlife and a species that I cannot remember being posted before. It gave you a great look to camera. Definitely worth spending a little time refining it.

TFS,
Rachel

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, commenting, and suggesting improvements. I went back to the original and started over paying more attention this time and using your suggestions as a guide. Above is the edit and repost. This time I double processed it as Steve suggested one exposure for the hog, another for the grass. Thanks again for your suggestions.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, looks a lot better, WDYT?

It might be these 'old' eyes, but just look at the masking around the ear RHS as viewed, I think it just needs a little tidy up on the masking, always work at least 50% - 100%, even more if required.

[Jonathan Ashton]

The repost Jo is a big improvement, the double raw processing is a handy trick to remember.

[Steve Kaluski]

the double raw processing is a handy trick to remember.

Jon, it works best as a Smart Object and you Export direct from the RAW, JPEG/sRGB forget.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Jon, it works best as a Smart Object and you Export direct from the RAW, JPEG/sRGB forget.

I know Steve but thanks anyway, I have only recently been playing around with Smart Object files.