Pretzel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Pretzel was (and I hope still is) a self-proclaimed owner of a particular waterhole in the Kalahari. She had the nasty ( but very funny) habit of biting other animals' back side when they attempted to quench their thirst there. Not an easy task when it came to visitors such as Gemsbok, but very often she annoyed and disturbed them persistently until they walked away. On this particular occasion I managed to capture her as she was walking past the vehicle, returning from a very bold attack on an old Badger called Tom. I was busy with the videocamera at the time so just managed a couple of quick shots, I guess a tad more DoF in this instance would have been great...

Nikon D4
Nikon 500mm F4
ISO 800
F6.3
1/1000s

Hope you all have a great rest of the week,

[Glenn Pure]

Actually, I think the very limited DOF in this shot works brilliantly Gabriela. And I remember the Pretzel/Tom interaction very well from your earlier post. Overall, I think this is a really beautiful frame. That highly contrasting fur and sharp focus on the head only really make that part of the animal pop against the rest of the image with its softer and flatter tones. And while it might be tempting to call this shot over-sharpened, I suspect it is the natural high-contrast fur coming through. All the same, I think this could also work well with a touch less contrast as the head would still pop really well against the rest of the image. Might be worth a try if you haven't already done so... but that is purely a 'what-if' rather than a concern I have with this image.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - I too remember your stories of Pretzel and his aggressive behavior. I agree with everything that Glenn has said. Dof works for me. I love the look of the eye and the creamy bg. I too would try a bit less contrast on the fur of the head and ears. It looks a little too sharp and crunchy as posted but I agree with Glenn that it is more a function of contrast than actual sharpening. Still a very nice theme image.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, I like the framing and position in frame with the HA. The open mouth adds to the capture. Not sure if it's Contrast or sharpening or a bit of both, perhaps toggle between the two may help provide a better balance, although it might also be partially down to the original capture. Like the previous posting I would like to see some white come through in say the very brighter areas just to again bring some more 'range'. DoF looks good as presented, but f/8 and a bit more SS would not have hurt with the D4.

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much dear friends,

In terms of DoF I would have really liked a tad more: not bothered about the other ear as such, it would have been nice to have the R eye and that side of the face in focus. I think even 7.1 would have been enough. But this is me, always trying to bite more than I can chew, playing with the videocamera and taking images at the same time, multi-tasking is what I do for a living...This is full frame, the next image is a bit of a blur because Pretzel came too close. Video is quite cool by the way, albeit the sound isn't, I had to add music to replace a not-so-discrete Nikon shutter :bg3:

And I will work on the whites, I also realise it is too contrasty in places, backed off a lot when sharpening so it must be the "treatment": one curve too many.
Nevertheless I will keep exploring - your recent images opened my eyes to a world of possibilities, Steve:cheers:

Kind regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela ....Pretzel is looking good to me in general .
Like the conversion and the toning . DOF is ok for me .
I would just agree about the sharpening and the contrast in the fur ...looks a bit coarse in parts .
How about dodging Pretzels LHS ? To make her fade away into the BG ?
Just a thought .
Well keep experimenting and pick something from somebody else ....:bg3::S3:

Lovely work Sis .... TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Andreas my Boetie,

Pretzels are always yummy. Real pretzels, that is. Not sure about this character, she is a bit dodgy...but so much fun:t3And yes I can dodge the LHS a bit, why not? Will try, thank you for the idea.

And I will keep picking from somebody else, that is for sure. Motivation and inspiration, mind opening stuff...:w3

Let's play some more, shall we?:bg3:

[haseeb badar]

Hi Gabriela -- I like Pretzel here with its body nicely trailing as per the DOF, giving its head a distinguished appearance. At the risk of repeating myself, i too find the contrast/sharpening a bit excessive IMO. But nevertheless it is a lovely image with a great mood to it beacuse of the conversion .

Would also like to see a colour version for comparison purpose .

TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

I really like the image but I keep looking at the fur on the muzzle and forehead, I have not seen a jackal so close but is the fur coarse? Is it perhaps a little oversharpened?

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Haseeb and Jon,

I am afraid I have no colour version of this yet, not sure it will have the same impact though?

Sharpened this only a tad, the coarseness you are referring to is certainly a result of PP work - I must have gone overboard with the curves:)

No RP tonight, sorry guys. But I will keep in mind your suggestions and sort out my Pretzel over the week-end:w3

Wonderful to hear from you, feedback appreciated! Will be back with more soon, have a great rest of the week,

Kind regards,