Giraffe sunset.

[Marc Mol]

Female Giraffe at sunset in the Chobe NP- Botswana Sept '09
D3 500VR 1/750s ISO800@f/5.6 -1.0EV

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

http://africaddict.smugmug.com/Nature/Botswana-Sept-2009/d314493a/758696136_4qFqR-XL.jpg

[Alfred Forns]

Lovely silhouette Marc Just taste but would darken more and sharpen the edges !!! Sweet image !!!

[Callie de Wet]

Ah, the sweet light of Africa. Love it as it is, especially the tuffs on the horns.

[David Fletcher]

Strong shot Marc. For us that weren't there, is it a female because of the hair do? Ok. sorry bud. Like it and thanks for sharing with us. :D

[Craig Markham]

Hi Marc, I had hoped for an opportunity like this when I visited N Tanzania a year ago, but my group was always headed for the dining room at this time of day! I think the red haze over the giraffe's neck and back are caused by internal reflections in the lens from the direct sunlight.

To illustrate a way to adjust for this, I used Viveza 1.0 in CS4 to selectively reduce the red channel within the silhouette of the giraffe, adjusted contrast and brightness to deepen the value of the silhouette, and then selectively sharpened with Sharpener Pro 3.0 along the profile of the neck/back.

I think this reinforces the striking effect of your image. Nice capture!

-- Craig

Oops, I forgot the attachment. See my following post.

[Craig Markham]

Here's the attachment for the above post. I see that my sharpening increased the existing haloing along the lower neck and withers a bit. I would clean up that as well. It's not as obvious in your original post. On my screen at least, I see some posterization in concentric circles around the sun. That may have been caused by the down-size conversion. Check your original. A selective NR pass on the sky might soften that effect, if desired.
-- Craig

[Marc Mol]

Thanks for the tip and repost Craig.


Strong shot Marc. For us that weren't there, is it a female because of the hair do? Ok. sorry bud. Like it and thanks for sharing with us. :D

Thanks David,
Females have tufts of hair on the top of the horns (ossicones). Males, in contrast, usually have bare-topped ossicones (the hair tufts and skin are often worn away during combat with other males).

[Sid Garige]

Very well thought composition Mark. Very well executed.

[Todd Frost]

Nice image and Craigs repost takes this up a notch. Very well done.
Todd

[Alfred Forns]

Great re post Craig, that is what I was talking about !!! Sweet image !!!