‎"Warthog having a bad day"

[Harshad Barve]

Dear All

7D , 300/2.8 , ISO 400 , beanbag in Masai Mara

All C & C are most welcome
Harshad

[Ken Watkins]

Harshad,

Good luck seems to follow you over the sea. :)

I've never seen anyting like this , but you have taken your chance very well indeed, this is after all what Wildlife photography is all about.

I love it, I hope you have more:D

[Harshad Barve]

Thanks Ken



I love it, I hope you have more:D

I have entire series , will post some Wide angle shots too ,

[Steve Kaluski]

Nice capture Harshad, congrats to both of you. :) A fact of life out there, as there are only two options available, "Live or Die".

Regarding the image, I do fine it running a tad warm overall and a drop in saturation IMHO would give a more realistic POV. In addition, personally I would crop to the edge of the green stem, you can afford to lose this part of the lion and distraction bit of foliage. ;)

TFS
Steve

[Harshad Barve]

you can afford to lose this part of the lion and distraction bit of foliage. ;)



Where is distraction my friend :)

[Rachel Hollander]

Harshad - Looks like a young warthog. Congrats on a fine image. I like the different positions of the lion's ears and thinks it adds to the image. I agree with Steve that it seems a tad too saturated for my taste.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Harshad

Just quickly looking at it in PS you have a lots of detail in the image that needs to come out, especially in the shadow and darker areas. I feel it is being slightly 'chocked' by the depth of black within the file. Would love to get into this image as it has so much going for it. :) Just my thought based on your web image, WDYT?

Steve

[Ken Watkins]

Harshad,

I am happy with the warmth the blood looks the right sort of colour to me. I do not find the branch distracting, it is not as if it is blocking anything vital, if you were to crop it out you would need to have more space on LHS to avoid an overly square image (around 7x5.5 on your jpeg)

You could of course clone out the branch but as I have allready said it is hardly a distraction to the focal point of the image, which for me at least is the mouth with the poor little baby Warthog in it.

Not much of a meal, more of a packet of crisps (chips):)

[Harshad Barve]

Steve

I am not loving re-post , in Oct Mara was very much punchy and saturated , You can see one image in Landscape forum which can give you idea of environment
IMHO your repost lost the punch of image
BTW if you find that branch distracting , I will have to shoot big cats in STUDIOS which I don't want , respectfully

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?73047-Masai-Mara Here is Landscape image which I created same evening

[Sid Garige]

In the original post, size of the lion is proportional to warhog piglet and make a balanced image. By cropping part of the lion to avoid a small stem is making the re-post unbalanced. When I looked at the image I barely noticed the stem and I did not feel it as a distraction. I would stick with the original post.

Excellent timing Harshad.

[Kirk Adams]

This image is just perfect as posted originally, I love the amazing action captured in the bloody scene, shows how fresh the kill is/was. The re-post is flat and the edits are not required at all in such an action image. Changes such as removing elements may make you ineligible for an award that you deserve for this gory picture.

Great image, loved it all the way !

[Rachel Hollander]

Harshad - the sprig never bothered me. Interesting that the rains seemed to have arrived in Kenya. I'm not used to seeing so much green in shots of Kenya and thought the bg ta bit too saturated but you know best having just been there. I was only there in the height of the dry season. Btw very dramatic landscape shot.

Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

That's fine Harshad, you ask me, hence my posting.


BTW if you find that branch distracting , I will have to shoot big cats in STUDIOS which I don't want , respectfully Harshad no need for this.

Kirk the crop removed it, no cloning and I am fully award of what International Awards require thank you.

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Harshad, both posts have their merits for me in terms of composition, though I agree with Steve about the OP needing a little more work on the color. However, the important thing is you got all the hard parts right. Clear of vegetation, great BG, good colour in the eyes, an action shot of a kill without too much blood and gore, and the movement portrayed by the way the piglet is curled over the lions jaws. Well done. One small request, please can you include more info in terms of settings to help others...S/Speed, AV, iso, etc
Keep them coming, I can't wait to see what is next!
Grant

[Kirk Adams]

I can clearly see that someone has added canvas to the left and also cloned out the twig (even after the crop)... :-). Good day to you, Sir !

[Steve Kaluski]

Yes Kirk, adding canvas on the lhs was quickly done, as not knowing if it was FF or not and if it wasn't, then a crop with more to the lhs was more balance IMHO. Apologies Kirk the head of the stem was removed.

[Danny Laredo]

Excellent image Harshad.

[Chantelle Voss]

Yup, definitely a bad day for that warthog. Great photograph, love the color (is it too morbid to say the blood add a lot?). Thanks for sharing!

[Haim Ziv]

Great and fascinating image!!:cheers::cheers:

[stuart wanuck]

wow!

[Arthur Morris]

First off, different strokes for different folks. There is no right or wrong here just personal preference. I far prefer the original post to Steve's repost in terms of compostion. With the image in Pane #1 I would have preferred a bit more room both left and right; for some reason I think that this would work best for me as a 3X2. I do not find the sprig distracting at all, for the most part because it is in sharp focus. For me it adds somewhat to the image rather than detracts. Lastly as far as the repost, I am not seeing any great differences in the two in terms of color or brightness. If I saw them side by side or one after the other, any differences would be apparent.

That said, it is a wonderful image, and likely quite tasty. My only wish is that the far ear of the lion were raised. Ah, on a second look, I do find the three tiny grasses in the lrc to be a bit distracting; if the image were mine, I would eliminate them either with the Patch Tool or a few tiny Quick Masks.

[Marina Scarr]

Definitely prefer the original post. I find it better balanced. My favorite detail of the capture is blood trickling down the warthog's throat. I find it a powerful detail. I also love the way the lion's ears are not symmetrical in this case b/c it adds character to the lion and adds to the story as well.

I am envious of this one for sure! Looking forward to more of the series.

Marina

[Hilary Hann]

Harshad, like the image very much.

[Morkel Erasmus]

what a moment Harshad! you certainly seemed to have a good trip...intense drama here. I prefer your OP in terms of composition and the colour also seems fine to me. The sprig doesn't detract for me. Would love to see some other angles of this...

[Lorant Voros]

What a sighting. Africa is a magical place and you had some good experiences. I am so looking forward to see more posts from you.
Dramatic image; I also prefer to OP. Keep them coming please.

[Billy White]

great image - agree with Art - the lrc spring needs to go plus if it were mine i would desaturate the greens throughout

Bill

[Arthur Morris]

great image - agree with Art - the lrc spring needs to go plus if it were mine i would desaturate the greens throughout. Bill

I like the sprig. It's the three tiny grass blades in that corner that bug me.

[Andrew Aveley]

this is a killer image!!!!! Pun intended:D

[DanWalters]

Amazing image!! Very dramatic!