Portrait of a Buck Antelope at Sunrise

[Mike Eastman]

Canon EOS 7DII, EF70-200mm, f/2.8 IS II, 1/250 Sec at f/2.8, Cropped, On the 8 of August in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone at very close I photographed a buck antelope with nice ivory tip horns in the yellow glow of the sunrise

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Mike - What pp software do you use? How much of a crop is this? It looks like some of the HLs on the side of the pronghorn were a bit hot and recovered. I also feel the image is a bit too contrasty and the sharpening a bit strong. Perhaps post the image straight out of camera and we can give suggestions on processing it so that you accentuate the light but it looks a bit more natural.

Also, as I indicated on your first post, it would be great to have your thoughts on other people's wildlife images. It's the best way to become part of the community and to get the most out of BPN. We recommend commenting on 3-5 other wildlife images each time you post one of your own.

TFS,
Rachel

[Stuart Philpott]

Stunning light Mike I like the framing of your subject,but I'd like the POV to be lower I'll leave the techs as I don't have the experience but thanks for sharing this. I love the horns they seem so unusual in shape.

Stu

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Mike, the early morning/late evening 'Golden Hour' always is a special moment and often provides the best times to shoot, providing that lovely warmth to the images, but I do feel this is just too saturated overall. However, this perhaps is due to having a ProPhoto RGB embedded profile rather than the sRGB embedded colour profile for web presentation and so the image is not displayed to it's full potential. I would check your workflow, just in case some boxes are unchecked when converting the image, but industry standard is sRGB for ALL web postings and projected images.

The image is very crunchy, as if there is too much Sharpening, Contrast and or Clarity, backing off in all three areas will create a better image. Is this a big crop and what is the ISO, as you don't state this in the intro. Avoiding heavy crops and 'Pixel' bashing will always generate a better IQ to any image. The blacks are also 'clipped', filling in the dark/Shadow areas creating loss of detail. I don't mind the crop, but why shoot at f/2.8, although without knowing the ISO I can't see the point shooting wide open here. If the ISO is low, all you need to do is crank it up a bit more i.e. 1600, to gain more SS & DoF, especially if the subject is close by. If it is, then say f/8, 1/1250, ISO 1600 no problem and if exposed correctly, even on the 7DMK2 any noise can be easily dealt with with PP and you would still have a diffused BKG creating standout of the subject.



Also, as I indicated on your first post, it would be great to have your thoughts on other people's wildlife images. It's the best way to become part of the community and to get the most out of BPN. We recommend commenting on 3-5 other wildlife images each time you post one of your own.

I can only echo Rachel's comment here Mike, as we endeavour to create a 'Community Spirit' here on BPN unlike other Forums, where, posting images and replies to other threads, bolsters this and knowledge.

Mike, not ideal working from the OP, but hopefully you can see a difference and this now also has an sRGB embedded colour profile.

TFS
Steve

[haseeb badar]

Hi Mike -- Techs already covered nicely by Rachel and Steve so I wont comment anything on that but i would like to say that keep posting images and also provide your thoughts for other images as it will help you grow as a better photographer . You can certainly check My or Stuart's or for the matter of fact anyone of our images starting from first post and the last post and you will definitely understand what point I am trying to make .

TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

Mike, I get the impression the settings in DPP are "wrong", if you want to tell me (PM or email) what you did or if you want to send the raw file I will see what I can do to help.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Certainly looks like an impressive buck!
I would agree that something looks a bit off in the texture, bokeh and overall fine detail in your original post. The contrast and saturation also seems overcooked. It's easy to get carried away with those settings, and the longer you process and view other people's photography the more I've found those adjustments get "reigned in". Some of the highlights on the fur look over-recovered from potentially overexposing them?

Can't add much more - Steve did a good job with his repost from the original jpg to pull back what's bugging the eye.

I'll echo what was said above - this community grows in image-making together and everyone's got something to add.

Cheers!

[Steve Kaluski]

Mike, I get the impression the settings in DPP are "wrong", if you want to tell me (PM or email) what you did or if you want to send the raw file I will see what I can do to help.

Jon, unless DPP works in ProPhoto, which I doubt, then it simply comes down to two things - PP issues (initial conversion) and large cropping. :wave: