Roan antelope

[Betsie Storm]

These guys are a bit hard to come by. Found this one (I think it is a cow going by horn thickness, but I'm not sure) in Mokala NP, a newly proclaimed park in North-West province near Kimberley. There were a few around, mostly very relaxed, and I still did not manage a good image with proper eye contact and HA. This is full frame. It can use more canvas at the top, I think.
Did quite a bit of pp on this- I just could not get the roan to pop from the BG, gave up and completely desaturated it. (Too much looking at Morkel's images??:)). I hope to see more roan in northern Kruger in a few weeks' time. C&C welcome as always.
EXIF: Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark II N
Date/Time: 2009:01:03 16:38:02
Shutter speed: 1/1000 sec
Aperture: 8
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: +1/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous
ISO: 800
Lens: EF500mm f/4.5L USM +1.4x
Focal length: 700mm
AF mode: AI Servo AF

[Ken Watkins]

Nice to see this,we will be in Mokala next week.
The main problem you have seems to be the light direction resulting in a lot of shadow on the face.
Not sure whether I like this treatment, but hey it's a Roan and good shots are extremely hard to come by.

[Marc Mol]

Good use of selective color & sharpness on this rare sighting Betsie. A bit more light on the face would have been preferable, nice to see anyway.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Betsie, to lighten around the eye is easy, however I am not sure about the mix of colour/B&W. In addition, I find the subject too central within the frame and would like to see less room on the r/h side and more on the left, is there any more in the frame? Saying all that, he's a fine looking fellow :-)

Steve

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Betsie - If you decide to go to the trouble with the suggestions above, I would love to see this one again, especially with the original background color. You have the makings of an absolutely superb image here as this beast is just wonderful to look at, especially those horns -- tack sharp by the way. Thanks.

[Fabs Forns]

Hey Betsy, I like you have done here, mixing the B&W with the original colors. I think you could crop some off the right side to get her off center.

[Charles Glatzer]

I like the b&w with color work and the pose. I agree with Fabs, placing the subject further right in the frame would enhance the comp.. I think it best to have the subjects face illuminated, or not in dappled light.

Best,

Chas

[Ajit Huilgol]

What a lovely animal, Betsie! I've never seen one, and is on my to-see list. I like the treatment you have given this image, but would agree with others about placing the guy a little to the right of the frame.

[Steve Canuel]

I like the selective color treatment you've done. Agree with previous posters on putting him more to the right side. Nice image.

[David Fletcher]

Lovely shot and pp work Betsy. Like suggestions made. Done well with this.

[Morkel Erasmus]

combining B&W and colour doesn't always work but here it has made the roan pop nicely Betsie! I will never bemoan somebody looking at my images, it's when they get tired of them when you have to rethink what you do :)

I am green - never seen one in real life before (you know how rare they are). Been meaning to get to Mokala one day...

[Betsie Storm]

Thanks very much, all, for the very useful comments & suggestions.
I will rework the original according to suggestions and repost at some stage (time is a tad few at the moment). I think I have a better shot of another individual, but he has the top of one ear missing so I rather pp'd this one.