Chimpanzee II, Mahale Mountains, Tanzania

[Andy Biggs]

http://www.andybiggs.com/Misc/10282009_085630_Mahale0005.jpg

Chimpanzee, Mahale Mountains, Tanzania
October 2009

Nikon D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR

[Marc Mol]

Great job of handling the exposure on the chimp Andy. Lovely moody shot, especially like his hand on the vine. B&W obviously suits here.

[Harshad Barve]

Beautiful image and B & W looks too good
TFS

[Narayan Pai]

looks great in B&W ...TFS

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Moody image. The black and white conversion looks nice. What are the exif details?

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Robert Amoruso]

Going to B&W here really helps to remove the BG as a distraction and center the viewer's interest on the chimp. I am sure that was one of your reasons for doing it.

(BTW: I have been using the Kiboko bag and really like it. Thanks for a fine product.)

[David Fletcher]

Ditto Robert.. (both counts... :)). (Fine bag). The image works very well as does the b&w treatment. Fab shot, sensitively handled.

[DanWalters]

Very powerful portrait. The BW puts it over the top! Love the way he is hanging on to the branch.

[Andy Biggs]

Thanks all of for the kind comments, both for the photograph and for my Kiboko bag.

Regarding chimpanzee photography, I knew way ahead of time that I would be shooting for a black and white look. I knew that I would be shooting at ISO 1600 to 6400, and that would yield some nasty noise and problematic contrast. So rather than fight it I just embraced it. All of the b&w images from the series have been toned with a slight warm-ish tint to the shadows and to the mid tones, yet I kept the highlights neutral. The reason for the split tone is that the highlights, if warmed up, make the overall image appear dirty and less contrasty.

[Stu Bowie]

Andy, super pose, and great pp work with the B&W conversion. I like this a lot. Very well done.

[Andy Biggs]

Here are some of the specs. Sorry for leaving them out.

Nikon D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR, 1/200 @ f/2.8, ISO 3200