Rim light

[Todd Frost]

After shooting many images of this bull (different bull) I pushed up the shutter speed and under exposed for the rim light. Will post some images of him later so you can truly see the size of his rack, very impressive. Swan Lake Flats, YNP. Thought I would see if this floats anyones boat, I like it :). Wish the limbs in bg were not there.
D300, 400 2.8 w/1.4tc, f4, 1/4000, iso800, man exp.
Thanks for looking, comments and critiques appreciated.
Todd

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Todd, this for me is a difficult one, tried doing this with grizzlies and sometimes there is a fine line about how much content you have within the darker areas so you quite literally get the rim, if that makes sense? I would try darken the BG quite a bit (helps to lose the lims in the BG too :)), and using a mask to emphasis the light on the antlers, ear nose and along the back, retaining some of the nice light also in the FG. A nice change to see. :cheers:

Did you use any compensation when you metered also ie -1, -2 etc?

TFS
Steve

[Todd Frost]

Thanks Steve, will give suggestions a go. As far as +/- ec goes, I was shooting in man mode so all I did was raise ss.
Todd

[Steve Kaluski]

Yes, thats what I did, but use the comp too, difficult to also gauge things via the histogram, a bit of trial and error in my book, but perhaps Robert A might have some thoughts :)? As I said, like the idea behind it.

[DanWalters]

Very dramatic. Agree about darkening the background. Maybe just a little more detail in the foreground as well.

[Todd Frost]

Here is a quick repost as per suggestions, see what you think.
Todd

[Robert Amoruso]

Todd,

Now that you got the separation of the deer from the BG sorted out, I like this one a lot. In the OP, the antlers were lost with the BG.

Thanks for reposting the new version. Always good to see the suggestions implemented.

[Steve Kaluski]

Todd I think more to the point is, how do you feel about it, as the photographer?

We can only suggest :) BTW I think I prefer the more 'golden' FG in the OP compared to the repost, plus, it looks like a bit of branch creeping in at the top of the image.

TFS
Steve

[Todd Frost]

Steve, thanks for the comments - this was done real quick and I'll go back and rework the tiff later. As far as my feelings go with the ps work - photography is an art form, the tools we use are to "create" an image. If we choose not to use all of them it is our choice, I for one am not trying to be a photojournalist here (or I would be posting one w/proper exposure :)). With that said we should always try to get as much right in camera first. So keep shootin the ideas and suggestions out, if painters were limited to one brush how boring would that be!
Thanks to everyone for the input.

[Morkel Erasmus]

the repost is really looking good Todd - and separating the antlers from the branches by selective darkening has done wonders to this image. I agree with Steve on the golden light and would make that "pop" a bit more in the grasses?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Todd, getting right in camera is certainly the way to go, I have always said - 'use PS as a tool, not a crutch'.

If you get the shot you want and are happy, next time, just play with the settings, costs nothing and it might surprise you what results you get. I might post a grizzly later next month, be interesting to see what you think and my question about detail.

Good luck in the future.
:cheers:
Steve

[Hilary Hann]

I like this a lot and the suggestions are very helpful to the rest of us trying some of these things in the field ourselves. I find getting this exposure right for rim lighting one of the hardest things. I like the repost but would love to see your attempt to get some of the golden colour (mentioned by Steve and Morkel).

BTW, agree with you Todd about PS being just another tool to be creative and Steve is also quite correct, tools and crutches … totally different things.

[Harshad Barve]

repost is my choice till you post another version :) excellent image
TFS

[Steve Canuel]

Tough shots to get right but the repost works well for me.

[Todd Frost]

Thanks for the comments. Here is one more with the fg warmed up a bit. Will no doubt do a little more tweaking before I'm done.
Todd

[Steve Canuel]

2nd repost takes the best of both. Nice.

[Todd Frost]

Thanks Steve.
Todd