The Fight - Copied to OOTB

[Morkel Erasmus]

We came across these 2 Springbok males having a playful go at each other in preparation for the rut season in the Kalahari.

I decided to play around with zoom-panning and came away with this 1 shot out of 20 which I am reasonably happy with. Enhanced detail by overlaying a B&W layer with Nik Silver FX with about 50% transparency.

Would love your feedback...

Techs:
Canon 40D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ changing focal length (zoom from in to out)
f36 @ 1/50 SS @ ISO-400
shooting in Shutter priority

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Morkel,
I will start my critique with a caveat: I somehow have a bias against the use of zoom blurs in wildlife imagery. So I am not sure, whether I will like such a creation, even if executed well.

In this image, the ground just below the head of the fellow facing us is more prominent. It would have been better if the head were more prominent. Cropping from the bottom may strengthen this. Retaining the original colours may have given us a better feel of the subject.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, firstly it is always good to experiment and I feel most, if not all of us, play safe.

I agree with Sabyasachi that less foreground will possibly strengthen the concept, but applying two forms of effects I feel just jars too much. For me the focal point is the eye on the lh buck, this should be sharp & visible(?) and the point at which I think you should zoom out from. Personally, do I like this, sadly NO because it's not something I like, therefore perhaps I am not the right person best equipped to say if it's good or bad.

Morkel, I wonder if this should go in the OOTB section where you might get better advice & feedback?

Steve;)

[Marc Mol]

Agree with Saby & Steve here, but I do admire your efforts for getting in there and having a go!
TFS

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for your honest opinions guys...personally I like this as so many of us have the normal "dust frozen in mid-air" scuffle shots of antelope sparring...for me this takes a different tack and tries to show the frenetic movement and intensity these battle can contain.

I am posting the original colour version for comparison...

[Betsie Storm]

I like the arty feel, Morkel, it makes an otherwise nice but relatively mundane shot very interesting! Love both versions. Well done for trying something different. OOTB may well be a good place to get additional feedback.

[Martin Wallis]

I do like it, although don't normally like this sort of effect. I prefer the colour adition. Well done. BTW do you mean f32 rather than f36? I use this set up and can only get to f32. Cheers

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Betsie & Martin!

Martin - my EXIF on the file says f36...:confused: