European gray wolf

[Kalin Botev]

Hey everyone,
This is another frame from my encounter with the wolves. It is just before sunrise. And the light was soft and nice. I needed higher ISO but I think the camera did well.
I hope I managed to remove the blue cast I had in my previous image.
Equipment:
Nikon D3
300 mm f/2,8 + 1.7 TC @ F5, ISO 2200, 1/400s
PP:
Local adjustments of brightness and contrast and crop for composition.

Thanks for your comments and advices!
Kalin

[John Robinson]

I love this picture. The sky- the vegetation and of course the animal And the look on the face to show its onto something. As a small nit I would take a slice off the top.
No big deal though. Great picture.
JohnR

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Kalin - The color does look better than the last one and I also prefer this comp though a bit more room below would be nice if you have it. Am I correct that the bg is distant hills again and not sky? If it is sky then I think the color adjustments went a little too far. I would also back off on the sharpening of the body slightly. It looks a little coarse. Keep them coming.

It would be great to have your thoughts on other's images too.

TFS,
Rachel

[Kalin Botev]

Hi Rachel and John,
Thanks for your comments!
@Rachel – yes the background is distant hills, not the sky. Point taken about the sharpness.
Thanks again,
Kalin

[haseeb badar]

Hi Kalin -- I always love to see a Wolf image . This is image is certainly an improvement from the previous one in terms of colours . before reading the comments i too felt that a bit more space at the bottom would have been nice . Also the sharpening looks a bit too much especially on its legs . Hope to see you posting more .

TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Kalin, If you have the image content, then totally agree, the image needs more below, so just move the whole crop down, it's just to tight at the foot. I like the way the wolf is coming in from the left and the warm light hitting the subject. Agree on backing off a little on the sharpening, but to me I feel you have added Contrast to it, adding to the 'crunchy' look???? In addition, bring the BKG up in the Blue I think, has also effect other elements too with a slight bias.

My take would be to reduce the Blue & Contrast, add some luminosity and adjust the individual colours accordingly to suit. No additional sharpening applied, but more detail is evident in the rocks and in the green foliage. If you want to retain the very Blue BKG then just use an Adjustment Layer.

Lets see more Kalin.

TFS
Steve

[Kalin Botev]

Thank you all for your great comments and advices. They are really helping me a lot.
Steve, I will take your advices in mind and try to reprocess the whole image. I hope I will make it better this time. I do have some more space in the bottom of the image.
I will see what happened to the oversharpened legs. I went through some other images of the same wolf I and it looks like the legs and the hair on her belly are wet from the morning dew. May be that adds to the oversharpened look.
Cheers,
Kalin

[Steve Kaluski]

I hope I will make it better this time.

i'm sure you will


I will see what happened to the oversharpened legs. I went through some other images of the same wolf I and it looks like the legs and the hair on her belly are wet from the morning dew. May be that adds to the oversharpened look.

Kalin, just looking at that area, did you lighten any of it? I would, if you applied some, start with lowering some of the Contrast before lowering the sharpening. Agree the fur does look wet, good luck, look forward to seeing the RP.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Late to this one, Kalin. I like the eye-level perspective.
I am finding my preference to be somewhere between your OP and Steve's repost, as the wolf feels a bit thin tonally in the repost.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Kalin always great to see a European wild wolf , big congrats on getting the shot ... your patience paid off very well .
I agree on the comments made above regarding crop and color , i think Steve has done a great job on the colors from my POV .
I just have another point .. i would expect the Wolf and surroundings darker when looking at the sun angle .. i might be wrong though .
The image does look a bit too " balanced" from the tonal POV , just my thought .

Still a great frame , hope you will get more shots of this special species

TFS Andreas

[Kalin Botev]

Hey everyone,
Thanks for the great advices and the motivation to try to improve my images.
Here is my repost. I moved the crop down a little, reduced the sharpening and contrast. Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Kalin