Impala (female)

[Glenn Pure]

171175
An image from Chobe National Park in Botswana. Personally it brings back great memories because it was taken on my first game drive in Africa. The impala was standing in full sun in front of a deep shadow under a tree, providing the 'spotlight' effect here. I've dealt with the harsh light partly with lighting adjustments in DPP and finally by selectively lightened shadows the ear tips and the shadowed side of the face. I've left the foliage on the left deliberately as I think it fits with the similar shadows on the impala's flank. Even though these are incredibly common, I rarely tired of photographing them during the many game drives we had. I've got most of the frame in this crop.

Technical: Canon 80D with 100-400 MkII at 312mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/1250, f8, ISO 800. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, Sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements with Neat Image NR plugin. Very modest NR applied globally along with some slight sharpening (Neat Image option). Sharpened (sharpness, radius = 0.3 pixels, 50%) after final size reduction.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Glenn, a fine image with well handles light. The dark BG works well to highlight the subject & the few strands of grass add to the image. Nice details & sharpness. The square comp works but a 4:3 can also be tried with more room to the left of the animal. TFS.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Glenn - This works well as presented. This is also one of those images where you can really experiment and take some creative license, painting with light, going deeper with shadows rather than raising them, etc.

TFS,
Rachel

P.S. Meant to say if it were mine I would darken the spot near the ear in the bg.

[John Mack]

Nice head shot of this impala nice light as well like the background.

[Glenn Pure]

Hi Glenn - This works well as presented. This is also one of those images where you can really experiment and take some creative license, painting with light, going deeper with shadows rather than raising them, etc.

TFS,
Rachel

P.S. Meant to say if it were mine I would darken the spot near the ear in the bg.

171194
Thanks for the suggestion Rachel: not something I would have thought of. I have done another version but probably not as bold as you might be suggesting. I thought it would detract from the image too much if I got too 'creative' with the head so I've left treatment there similar to OP. But I have darkened the body and also dealt with the blob above the ear. I think this revised version works better. Any further thoughts?

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Glenn,
Beautiful impala, lovely close-up and great techs too. Subject sharp from nose to ears and the colours/tonality just right, wonderful work:cheers:.

Inspired by Rachel's comments I took the liberty to play with your image. I admit I went overboard a bit, but hope you don't mind? You have such a lovely BG here - it's almost perfect, I just felt those grasses did not really contribute to the image. Not sure of your ethics and how much you are prepared to alter your frames? I used levels here and applied selectively. Wanted a neat image with a dramatic feel. I am not too fond of square crops but thought I'd get closer to the subject to emphasise its beautiful features - just a different version, what do you think?

Thank you so much for sharing and I hope to see more from you. You are like a breath of fresh air here on BPN Wildlife and we love new members! I really enjoy your enthusiasm. Been reading your thoughtful comments on other threads and I look forward to your participation in the future:w3

Kind regards,

[Glenn Pure]

Thank you Sanjeev, Rachel, John and Gabriela. You have thrown a spanner in the works now though, Gabriela - I'm stuck which one to chose! I am a sucker for landscape format crops. I think they paint a scene that is easier to get lost in but that's just my personal taste. Having said that, I think your new crop works very well and does leave me with a new and worthy option, so thanks. BTW, I know square crops are frowned on generally but I'm not in that camp. If it works, it works! Thank you all again for your thoughtful input and suggestions - and your encouragement Gabriela. I hope I can contribute but hope to learn plenty too.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you dear Glenn:bg3:

Why choose, when you can have an unlimited number of versions of the same frame, LOL. I constantly rework my images:w3

Let us have fun, and should you have any ideas when you look at my posts please bring them on!

Have an awesome week-end!

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Glen, I like the thinking here, but prefer Gabriela's thought on the format. Good detail, but remember the closer you are the more DoF you need. However, it's not really working for me as presented as I feel this is crying out to be bang, square/head on, so everything is symmetrical. I would also like to see at least some detail in that eye with it being bathed in light, albeit that it may have created harsh, dark shadows. Even taking the shadow slider 100 still dose not reveal much, but the raw may? If you do wish to explore with light to 'sculpt' the image, then I feel you need to do a lot more and perhaps be more 'aggressive' to provide the contrast, but I think the OP was fine.

TFS
Steve

[Glenn Pure]

Thanks Steve and Gabriela. I take your point, Gabriela, about having a variety of options! Thanks for your suggestions Steve about further working this. I agree I was probably too conservative in my repost. I'll have a further think and play with it but it's not clear what direction it would be best to head... one option might be to essentially 'lose' the body by making it so dark it's barely noticeable. That might be a solution to your symmetry concern as it would largely hide the body. As for the eye, I've gone back to the RAW to see if there is some detail here: none at all! So I checked other shots of impala at fairly close range that I have. Same there. Is seems their eyes are black, featureless balls, except maybe in the most intense, direct light (I have no shots like that)?