Desolation Row #2

[Morkel Erasmus]

I felt compelled to join my friend Ken Watkins in posting a line of animals strolling through desolate terrain.

Here is a line of wildebeest walking towards a waterhole after descending the dune behind them in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa.

You know I love B&W wildlife images where appropriate, and here I felt it appropriate. All comments welcome!

Techs:
Canon 40D with 100-400mm L IS USM
f8.0 @ 1/2000 SS @ ISO-400

[Steve Kaluski]

Your choice of medium is spot on Morkel! Well balanced and the 1/3's rule suits this image, wouldn't change a thing.

The sense of 'follow the leader' is illustrated very well here, even if this is the most unintelligent animal in Africa:D I guess the one in front has the 'brain cell' ;)

TFS
Steve

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel,

I hope Bob Dylan does not sue for copyright breach! I have to confess yet again that B& W is not a happy medium for me particularly on the web, prints maybe a totally different thing!

Steve,
Cruelty to Gnus is forbidden on this forum, at least they do not kill one another:D

[Todd Frost]

Well done Morkel. Pano format works well and I really like the b/w version. TFS
Todd

[Harshad Barve]

Nice shot Morkelbhai , agreed with Ken here





Cruelty to Gnus is forbidden on this forum, at least they do not kill one another:D

LOL :D

[Marc Mol]

Pano crop really suits here Morkel, with your composition spot on and with perfect separation of this herd.
TFS

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Morkel Like the symmetry and selected crop, I'm also not a b&w fan for these type. I think with more contrast tweaks you can make it work. B&W is all about contrast and tonal range !! Will download and play with it, if I come up with anything interesting will post !!!

... I guess you guys are saying these animals are but a dim bulb in a room of rather low wattage :D:)

[Steve Kaluski]

... I guess you guys are saying these animals are but a dim bulb in a room of rather low wattage

Al, I prefer, 'The light is on, but no one is at home' :D

[Alfred Forns]

...... imagine they are not up to that level:D

[Austin Thomas]

Hi Morkel,

I am not the brightest bulb in the pack, but I like this as a B&W. Taking the image wide is showing the scene and environment and the line of wildebeest tells a story. I like the fact that the lead Wildebeest is slightly further spaced from its colleagues.

I am not sure that with colour it would add much more to this image.

Tfs

Austin

[Stephen Stephen]

Morkel I definitely like the composition of this pano. It's your image but I would like to see this in colour to compare with your original B&W.

[peter delaney]

Hi Morkel
nice composition but for me this does not work in B&W .As Al said needs a lot more tonal range and contrast for an image to work in B&W.

sorry
peter

[Stu Bowie]

Hey mate, a well thought out comp that works for. Its good to create something different, and well done on that.

[Sid Garige]

Excellent comp.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks very much for the honest critique everyone. for me this works because I see B&W as a medium to enhance texture, line, form and motion. A shot with high tonal range would rather be left in colour as there are a lot of vivid colours. I will however post a colour version for comparison.

For now here is a new B&W version where I pushed the saturation across various channels in the colour one to boost the implied tonal range, then processed with Nik Silver FX

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Morkel,
I like the composition. I have not been able to make up my mind on this one. Can you share the colour version please.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Sabya - colour version posted as new thread...