View Full Version : Equus Burchelli - Burchell's Zebra
Morkel Erasmus
06-22-2009, 02:22 AM
I took this photo of a Burchell's Zebra earlier this year at a local wildlife reserve. I quite like the composition with the clouds at the back and the purple flowers in the foreground.
This was when I really just started dabbling in DSLR photography.
All comments welcome.
Canon 1000D with Tamron 70-300 Di Tele-Macro @ 218mm
f5.0 @ 1/3200 SS @ ISO 400
Gerald Kelberg
06-22-2009, 02:42 AM
Hi Morkel,
I like the contrast between the black & white zebra and the colourful flowers - really makes it special. There is one head of grass that comes a little high towards the face - maybe you could loose that. My personal preference would be for a little less tight, but it is a very pleasing image.
Regards,
Gerald
Morkel Erasmus
06-22-2009, 02:50 AM
thanks Gerald. I have removed the long blade of grass. I will play around with a wider comp sometime, but for now I will leave it as is, since I don't have the original nearby to crop from scratch.
Robert Amoruso
06-22-2009, 06:53 AM
Morkel,
I can see why you like this as a lot of elements came together in the composition to make it work as mentioned. I like the second post with the grass removed and a bit wider crop would benefit the image especially at the top, bottom and right. Nice work.
Stu Bowie
06-22-2009, 08:27 AM
Rietvlei Morkel? There's always a toss up with zebbie images whether to leave them in technicolour, or convert them to B&W. I like the angle in this, as if you were sitting on the ground, looking up to him. The clouds and flowers add big time to the image, and I agree a little more space, top, bottom, and right will work.
Alfred Forns
06-22-2009, 09:50 AM
Hi Morkel Just the mentioned space !! One impressive image Love the low angle perspective and the flowers take it over the top !!! Big Congrats !!!
Morkel Erasmus
06-22-2009, 11:48 AM
Thanks Robert, Stu & Alfred. Stu - yeah @ Rietvlei :).
How about this? Had to rework from scratch because the crop was made early in the PP process. Colour came out differently but I still like it. There wasn't any more room at the bottom to add. This is full frame.
This was shot in JPEG before I learnt the wisdom of shooting in RAW :( so my PP is limited.
peter delaney
06-22-2009, 02:00 PM
lovely image..morkel.... no 2 i like best. wud just rotate BG...
peter
Arthur Morris
06-22-2009, 04:28 PM
Better, but a bit wider top and bottom would have been better. Love the flower/animal juxtaposition.
Morkel Erasmus
06-22-2009, 04:32 PM
thanks Peter and Artie! like I said this was one of the first photos I took with my DSLR when I got it in January so I knew pretty much one 100th of what I know now thanks to forums like this. I've got one from a wider focal length - will fiddle with it some more sometime.
Steve Canuel
06-23-2009, 01:13 AM
This is a nice one Morkel. Pose, grasses (and flowers), and the BG clouds all add up to a nice image. Like the room on the repost. The darker purple flowers seem a little oversharpened to me compared to the pinker ones (probably more due to their contrast than actual sharpening) and I might consider blurring them if this were mine.
Fabs Forns
06-23-2009, 04:26 AM
I like prefer the original, especially because of the color cast in the repost. I don't mind the tightness the way you presented it.
Of course, we all have different tastes :)
Morkel Erasmus
06-23-2009, 04:55 AM
thanks for commenting Steve & Fabs...
here I tried to remove the colour cast:
Fabs Forns
06-23-2009, 08:14 AM
Morkel, as far as color goes, the original is about right, in my opinion, of course :)
Morkel Erasmus
06-23-2009, 08:28 AM
I actually also like the original post the most - but wanted to see what the extra space brought. The fact that it's a JPG has caught up with me now as I did considerable work on the original to get the colour the way it is and I couldn't replicate that as of yet :)
Fabs Forns
06-23-2009, 08:47 AM
I hope you saved a TIFF with the original adjustments :eek:
Morkel Erasmus
06-23-2009, 09:15 AM
haha I've got a TIFF file with the adjustments but I had already made the crop so I can't get the space back (so we learn from our mistakes!) :)
Fabs Forns
06-23-2009, 01:40 PM
haha I've got a TIFF file with the adjustments but I had already made the crop so I can't get the space back (so we learn from our mistakes!) :)
Big lesson here: Do not crop your master file ;)
Morkel Erasmus
06-23-2009, 03:52 PM
thanks Peter.
Fabs - jip. Will learn from this!
Chris Kotze
06-24-2009, 12:34 PM
2nd post looks best for me Morkel well captured
David Fletcher
07-06-2009, 01:57 PM
Hi Morkel. To my eyes, the color was about right in the original, but like the amendments.
Morkel Erasmus
07-06-2009, 02:37 PM
thanks for your inputs Chris & Dave :)
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