Elk Bull

[Rachel Hollander]

Another from Yellowstone. Taken in Hayden Valley. With the sidelight on the elk I underexposed slightly to accentuate the rim lighting on the antlers. It was very windy and the toughest part was waiting for the elk to stop grazing long enough to lift his head.

Canon 7DII
100-400 II @ 400mm
1/3200
f5.6
ISO 400
HH, ff, luminosity mask, levels, curves, slight amount of Nik DE, sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot I like the atmospheric lighting.
I am sure you made the lighting on the elk as you wished but I wonder if the darkest areas on the elk would benefit from being a little lighter?

[Marc Mol]

Love the framing and the rim lighting on the antlers here Rachel, very effective, the varying layers of habitat give a nice depth to the image. :5

I agree on just a tad more detail on the face, understanding it can be easy to overdo it here, hence for just a small increase.

TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Jon and Marc. I can look at lightening the head and neck slightly.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[keith mitchell]

Agree a bit more light on the head ,do like the scene you have captured Rachel with the Elk calmly feeding it all looks so peaceful.

Keith.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Rachel -- Splendid scene ! You have captured this so beautifully , absolutely loved this one .

I too agree with the above observation regarding the head but overall very nicely framed with the rim lighting being the highlight of this image .

TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, I too like the layering and to see something new in terms of species from you.

I think there is a bit more 'life' you can tease out, just my take, but certainly more detail from the FG bushes. In doing so, there is more that comes from the head, as mentioned in the above.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Keith, Haseeb and Steve, much appreciated. Yes, there is a lot more I can bring out in the fg but I had purposely muted the fg to place the focus on the rim lit antlers. I can revisit the decision though.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

It was just a passing thought Rachel, but your call. :S3:

[Morkel Erasmus]

I think you did well with the exposure and bringing out the rim light, Rachel.
I can see it working well with slightly less FG at the bottom...and might also work well in B&W?

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel i think you did a good job if you want to emphasize the rim light effect , so i would not change a thing in terms of tones in the subject and FG .
I like the overall tonal and color range , good detail and sharpness where it counts for me .
I would just loose some FG to avoid the central horizontal position of the subject , just my take .

TFS Andreas

[John Hackney]

Wonderful scene with so many options in processing. Well done with the rim light.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel, Andreas and John :wave:

[D. Robert Franz]

Hi Rachel, Trying to visit all your images from your recent trip.. You worked with some difficult lighting and was able to see something to work with (rim light) antlers.. Well done. A bit less FG would work for me but overall I like it!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Dale. The wildlife was not particularly cooperative this trip so I just tried to find some opportunities to create pleasing images.:w3