Survivor...in colour...

[Morkel Erasmus]

As requested - in colour. For those who missed the B&W version: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55791

did quite a bit of selective work here since it was midday to enhance the details on the wildebeest and bring out the texture of the clouds.

as said in hindsight, I should've stopped down on aperture to get the FG sharp, but I do think it works as is to place the focus on the wildebeest and the sky.

All comments most welcome...

Techs:
Canon 40D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 100mm
f4.5 @ 1/6400 SS @ ISO-400

[Harshad Barve]

I guess Morkelbhai , this looks much better to my eyes for sure. Excellent image and very well done
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Mork, no need to look at your OP, I remember it well. Super comp, and the WB is nicely placed in the frame. Enough wispy sky to make this pop nicely. Well done mate.

[Peter Buntman]

Why would you even think of doing this in B&W when its so amazing in colour, SIMPLY AMAZING

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel

As an image I like the composition, as it meets the third/two thirds rule so for me it's nicely balanced, with the wildebeest also is in the right spot. The blue sky with its 'whispy' clouds is a nice effect, away from the norm giving a 'pleasing backdrop'. I would like to see the WB in a more natural colour as it seems to have, likewise the foreground, a 'blue cast/hue' and therefore looks a little odd to me. If you can add a mask and substitute the original colours here I would be interested to see it.:)

Sometimes I worry that we have so many options to alter/tweak/enhance an image that we get carried away and perhaps the treatment does not really suit the image and get away from why we took it. I am not saying that this is the case here, but perhaps a fresh pair of eyes is needed, or indeed by hosting on a Forum we ALL can make constructive comments which in turn my/may not improve the image? The phrase 'wood for the trees comes to mind'

Morkel, I am again getting off track here, but you did ask.:D

Finally, to give a fresh comment is probably difficult on this image, as I feel a little Daja Vu on this one.:D:D

cheers
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the kind comments guys and for the great feedback Steve...this is the kind of discussion we need on most of our photos.

I did not alter the WB much from the 'as shot' setting which was closer to a warm daylight than an auto WB. I did selectively punch the blues and cyan in the sky alone (masked).

Here is a repost with your observation addressed I believe...I created a color balance adjustment layer on the FG and wildebeest and moved the slider from blue to yellow in the highlight, midtone and shadow ranges, only by about 5-10 points. Then set opacity of the adjustment layer to about 65%.

What do you think now?

[Morkel Erasmus]

for reference - here is the original shot straight out of the camera, no RAW settings touched.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Morkel

I just think you need to lower the saturation of the original post, here is my suggestion !!!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Alfred. I want to keep the saturated colours because the midday Kalahari sun flattens the colours a lot and I think the colour here is part of the impact. :)