White Rhino and Cattle Egret - Symbiosis

[John Lowin]

Lake Nakuru, Kenya is the location for this image. I must admit I was more interested in the symbiotic relationship between these two, that the individuals themselves. I made a number of exposures before I saw relationship I looking for. I hope you like it. All critique and criticism welcomed. I'm here t learn. Thanks - John

f/11 - 1/500 - ISO 400 - 700mm
Canon EOS 1D MkII
Canon EF 500 1:4 IS USM
Canon Extender EF 2X II
Kinesis Gear Safari Sack (Bean Bag)

[Robert Amoruso]

Getting the egret in front of the face but not obsecuring it was the way to go. With that strong sun, hard to get a good white on the bird and detail in the darker rhino though. Of course for the bird photographers, we want that head turn too.

Nice job framing this. My only recommendation there is take some off the top to get rid of the clipped ears.

[John Lowin]

Thank you Robert, In this case you feel that it is better to truncate the head further than to leave an indication that they do have ears. I wasn't sure. - John

[Shane McDermott]

I think you did a pretty good job framing this, maybe including the Rhinos leg or even part of his leg would have made it stronger. Just a personal preference, I try not to frame just the head of large mammals, it tends to look too much like a trophy.

Very creative composition though, well done.

Shane

[Alfred Forns]

Hi John Can add I would crop behind to the first fold of the neck to get rid of the small part of leg. I like it a lot !!

[John Lowin]

Hi Al and Shane, I'm torn between your comments, One easily doable, the other requires a Rhino plastic surgeon. My question is the philosophy of the issue. When to add, when to subtract. - Thanks for your comments. - Regards, John

[David Thomasson]

Hi Al and Shane, I'm torn between your comments, One easily doable, the other requires a Rhino plastic surgeon. My question is the philosophy of the issue. When to add, when to subtract. - Thanks for your comments. - Regards, John

This is a wonderful shot. I can't get too worried about the notch in the ear or the leg partly in the frame. The notch is easily removed, the leg can be cropped or not. The beauty of this image is the contrast between the white, smooth, small, fragile bird and the huge, muddy, craggy, tank-like bulk of the rhino. I would focus on that theme and bring out the details of the rhino more (levels, s/h filter, etc., selectively applied). You really need to engineer two exposures here, one for the white bird, the other for the rest of the image. Something like this:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/1955/rhinoun4.jpg

Comparison
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3111/rhinocomphn6.jpg

[John Lowin]

David, Great solution. Now I just need to learn the workflow. Did you create two separately processed duplicates and then erase the bird from the upper layer, or . . .? I envy your ability. If you don't object i would appreciate a "Tutorial for Dummies" on your procedure. Thanks so much. Best Regards - John

[David Thomasson]

David, Great solution. Now I just need to learn the workflow. Did you create two separately processed duplicates and then erase the bird from the upper layer, or . . .? I envy your ability. If you don't object i would appreciate a "Tutorial for Dummies" on your procedure. Thanks so much. Best Regards - John

Thanks, John. It's just a matter of using adjustment layers and masks. As you can see here, I adjusted levels to suit the rhino and background, then masked out the bird (so it wasn't over-brightened). Same with selective color. For S/H, I applied that only to the rhino, and to nothing else. (I converted that duplicate layer to a smart object first, because that allows you to re-open the S/H filter and make further adjustments if needed.)

You probably know this, but when adjusting levels, hold the Alt key while pulling in the highlights slider, and you'll see exactly when it begins to clip highlights. I let it clip the bird because I was going to mask that out anyway. I looked for clipping on the rhino or background, and stopped at that point.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4309/layersko4.jpg

[John Lowin]

Thanks, John. It's just a matter of using adjustment layers and masks. As you can see here, I adjusted levels to suit the rhino and background, then masked out the bird (so it wasn't over-brightened). Same with selective color. For S/H, I applied that only to the rhino, and to nothing else. (I converted that duplicate layer to a smart object first, because that allows you to re-open the S/H filter and make further adjustments if needed.)

You probably know this, but when adjusting levels, hold the Alt key while pulling in the highlights slider, and you'll see exactly when it begins to clip highlights. I let it clip the bird because I was going to mask that out anyway. I looked for clipping on the rhino or background, and stopped at that point.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4309/layersko4.jpg

Thanks David, I will study and try to work through your guidelines. I'm sure that I will have further questions, may I contact you by PM at that time? This is a great sharing site, and I thank you for your assistance. - John

[David Thomasson]

Thanks David, I will study and try to work through your guidelines. I'm sure that I will have further questions, may I contact you by PM at that time? This is a great sharing site, and I thank you for your assistance. - John

Feel free to email me. Click on my site link and you'll find a contact button.

[Alfred Forns]

Great work David Always enjoy your re posts !!!!

[John Blumenkamp]

This is a great capture... very intersesting see the relationship between the two as mentioned. I might crop from the top as well. Awesome image.