King of the Mound

[Douglas Bolt]

Canon 7D2, Canon 100-400II@400mm, 1/400s, f5.6, ISO 400 HH.
Baboon staring at me from a termite mound with an evil look in his eye.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Doug -- What a great pose and a lovely eye contact ! I loved the way it is perched on top of the mound , the framing also works for me . A find it a bit soft though , a round of sharpening can lift it up . All in all a lovely frame .

TFS !

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Douglas , a cool looking baboon having rest on the mount .
I like the illuminated eyes and the overall color and tone within the frame . You have a nicely separated BG with some irregular patterns , this works quite well to me .
Not ideal from my POV is the cut off of the tail tip . Going vertical would have been the better choice IMHO .

TFS Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Doug - I like the pensive pose and I like negative space so the comp works quite well for me. I am not concerned about the tail though it would have been preferable for it to go behind the mound rather than be clipped. Yes, to a bit more sharpening in the shoulder and cheek.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Doug, I like the facial expression and the hard, fixed gaze as he keeps an eye on you. As presented I might look at a 16x9 keeping everything the same, but loosing the space above, or just move the crop down, having more of the mound and less above, however...

I don't feel the framing/crop it's working that well and like Andreas, I would have shot this vertical, but then after getting some frames in the bag, then played with alternative formats if both time & subject allowed. Always good Doug to add in the intro if the image is FF or cropped and if cropped, approximately by how much. I also agree on the comment that the subject looks soft (up the ISO to 800 would not have hurt), however I hope it is a matter of applying a bit more sharpening rather than the RAW actually being soft. Question, did you focus with the centre point, then re compose, or move the FPs to the subject, as using a single, outer FP may not always provide the sharpest image, or were the FP's expanded? Just a thought.

If you have applied a mask for sharpening, then the BKG appears to me, to be over running into the subject - down and along the back, if that makes sense? The clipped tail is unfortunate, but not a deal breaker for me, although I feel it could have been avoided if you quickly checked the screen on the back of the camera, as the subject seemed relaxed and wasn't in a hurry to leave, so you had time.

That first frame is so important, you check the Histogram and comp, make adjustments, then fire a few more frames, check, continue, as I would say 90% of the times, your subject will have given you the time to get it right. I know it's easy to say Doug, but getting some simple 'Protocols' in place will often be a life saver.

TFS
Steve

[keith mitchell]

Always wonder what they are thinking ,this one looks deep in thought,I like all the colours in the bg and how the animal fits into it,all works for me.

Keith.

[Douglas Bolt]

Steve,
Thanks for the very helpful comments. And, thanks for taking the time to both analyze the image and then post you thoughts.

After your comments, I tried different standard aspect rations, but didn't find one i liked better than the landscape 3x2. As to crop, I took more off the left and top to put the subject's right eye on the upper/left 1/3 cross hairs.

I don't recall details about focus. I use back button focus and have the AF-ON button set for expand/servo and the * button set for single focus point and to stop focus. I'm guessing I used the * to focus on the eye, but I can't be sure. My thumb does not always hit the button that I want to use.

I did use a masks to sharpen the subject and blur and desaturate the background. Obviously, not with sufficient care.

[Steve Kaluski]

After your comments, I tried different standard aspect rations, but didn't find one i liked better than the landscape 3x2. As to crop, I took more off the left and top to put the subject's right eye on the upper/left 1/3 cross hairs.

Post the FF version to the max 1200px wide, someone may have a 'spark of genius' to an alternative, working crop???

[Douglas Bolt]

Steve,

Here is the untweaked version with default settings, including As Shot White Balance. Have at it!

[Steve Kaluski]

Doug, the original framing I feel is far better than the OP. I think you also have left enough room to give yourself the final crop option too, but obviously avoiding a heavy crop where IQ will drop.

Perhaps something like this, ignore the WB, I just wanted a bit more distinction between subject & BKG. I also like the hint of blue sky creeping in and partially breaking up the 'sea' of green.