The Black Gem of Africa

[Gabriela Plesea]

You have no idea how badly I wanted this Black Rhino to come closer! He did eventually, after a reasonably long wait, and this was one of those rare opportunities I did not want to miss - therefore I have at least twenty frames taken at all possible settings:)

A bit of work involved here in terms of PP and I have been busy with this frame for a couple of nights now (lots of burning and dodging, curves and levels, selective colour adjustments, and much more.) Just wasn't entirely happy with it, so I eventually sent Steve K an email asking nicely what he thought. Got back one with lots of arrows over the rhinos' face, some pertaining to the need for more detail, of course:w3 Thank you so much Steve, I truly appreciate your time and wisdom!I also did my best, and said I would share when ready - kindly let me know if this is what you had in mind? Slightly darkened BG and tried to extract as much detail as possible, bringing back those shadows where they belong.

Nikon D4
Nikon 500 F4
ISO 1250
F8
1/1000s

HH with no support, image taken from game viewing vehicle. I have not mentioned the location or people present at the sighting for obvious reasons. I thank - from the bottom of my heart - a very dear friend who took me to this location and made this possible.

Cropped about 40% from the original to eliminate lower limbs of subject.

Critique welcome, be it technical or otherwise. I truly appreciate your comments, thank you friends!

[Rachel Hollander]

Well Gabriela, Steve's pointers really paid off because I can't stop staring at this image. I am thoroughly enjoying all the detail you brought out as well as the tones and textures. One of your best processed images and the IQ stood up to the crop. Well done.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Gabriela this is a stunning portrait. I love seeing close-ups of these old battered units and you've done the years of battle and struggle for this bloke justice.
:5

[haseeb badar]

Hi Gabriela -- This is a stunning portrait ! You have brought out incredible details, I cant stop looking at this frame . Suberbly done in terms of techs and PP . Just my take on the crop a slight crop from the right hand side as i think the IQ will stand this . just a personal preference , your original crop as presented also works fine .

[keith mitchell]

Gabriela you have got every nook and cranny with well worn ears creating a real battlefield veteran ,IQ looks excellent to me,will leave the cropping to others with more knowledge than I.

Keith.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela what a character !!!!!
Stunning portrait of a stunning / interesting species .
Love the overall detail and tonal range you have processed , very nice job ..... my little sister :5
Do not how much Steve helped ..... but he did a great job .... i guess .

Very nice work Gabriela , TFS Andreas
Enjoyed viewing this

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Rachel, Morkel, Haseeb, Keith, Andreas!

A Black Rhino portrait is something I have been dreaming about for some time. I am ecstatic with your feedback:)

To those of you wondering how much, or what kind of help I got from Steve K: I sent him what I thought was the final product and Steve gave it back to me with a few arrows (red and white) here and there, stressing the need for more detail in places, some more sharpening needed here and there, he also suggested a slightly darker BG. He emphasised that I lifted shadows too much on the chest of the rhino, I realised it looked unnatural so I went back to the RAW and reprocessed accordingly. Small things perhaps but they made a world of difference and I am quite happy with the final product - thank you Steve:5

And thanks Haseeb for coming up with another option in terms of crop, appreciate it! I am pretty sure not much IQ lost in your version, just not very fond of square, or almost square compositions. Your RP works for me too but somehow I feel the rhino needs a bit more space around him? Interested what the other members' opinion is, I am open to suggestions and ready to change my mind if you give me a good reason to do so!

Warmest regards,

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Gabriela, this is an awesome portrait, of a very special animal species struggling for survival. I would be very happy to have this shot. Great detail, sharpness and PP work. Am sure you must be very pleased with this shot. Well done. And kudos to Steve to help you out. Cheers.

[Marc Mol]

Agree with everyone on your detail and quality of PP work here Gabriela, but above all is the fact that it still has both horns untouched, that for me is the cherry on the top.
All too often we see cut horns, a sad fact of life in these current times of poaching.

TFS

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Sanjeev and Marc,

Marc, you are SO right. This morning I saw images of three rhino killed last night (not at this location though). One photograph was very hard to look at, it was showing mother and young. The mother's horn was removed while she was still alive, the investigators say. Perhaps the baby was shot because he was hanging around in distress, he had no horn yet, just a tiny knob. The memory of what I have seen came back while reading your reply, I feel this lump in my throat and I am so angry.

I once saw an image of a tiny baby rhino suckling its dead mother, her horn was removed and she was lying in a pool of blood. Sorry to go off topic here, I think everyone needs to know how special and how truly endangered they are.

Thank you for caring, Marc.

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, glad things worked out, I still think there is merit in looking at B/W or a toned version.
A subject very close to your heart I know, so I think there is some/part of you that comes through within the captures, not that I'm saying you are a Rhino. :S3:

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Steve,
Thank you from the heart:5

I am so grateful for your understanding of what lies behind my images. And of course, for pointing out those areas where my rhino frame needed more attention:)

As much as I try to temper myself, I often feel the need to express my disappointment and hurt when I see the growing need of humans to destroy wildlife to satisfy own greed. I might not have your skills and experience when it comes to photography, but I have a passion that drives me to go out there and capture special images. The rhino cause is so close to my heart. We have a huge crisis here: almost 2000 rhino were killed in SA only last year. The thought that the species might become extinct during my lifetime is very upsetting.

I dread those nights with full moon, and helicopters hovering over my village the next morning.

Warmest regards,