Impala Ram Portrait

[Dumay de Boulle]

Canon 1D MKIII
Canon 100-400 L IS @ 400mm
AV f7.1
TV 1/800 Hand held
ISO 400
AWB
Evaluative metering
RAW file processed in CS5 iMac

Crits appreciated:S3:

[Marc Mol]

Techs, lighting, detail all looking good here Dumay.
TFS

[Harshad Barve]

Picture perfect for me :cheers:
TFS

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent! Beautiful light, colours, BG and excellent techs.

[Wynand van Wyk]

Stunning coloured background and what light! Like the detail as well. Superbly done!:S3:

[Stu Bowie]

Great sharpness and detail mate. Nicely separated from the BG too.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

This is super Dumay, love the light and a fantastic BG. Great portrait :cheers:

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dumay, a cracking image with great detail & colour, with good separation.

Perhaps out numbered, but for me, I don't feel the comp works as I get the impression you are shooting down and at about 1 or 2 o'clock with the subject lowering it head. Difficult to suggest an alternative crop, but sadly it doesn't quite hit the spot on this one for me.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Impala are just one of those animals that shine in golden light! Lovely portrait and looks to be almost a "trophy" ram, Dumay...:bg3::cheers:

Curious to hear if you did anything to the BG? I have found the 100-400 can give great bokeh like this if the BG is far enough removed from the subject...:e3

[Rachel Hollander]

Dumay - great light and pleasing bg. Well done!

TFS,
Rachel

[Dumay de Boulle]

Thank for the comments folks. Steve, I can see what you are saying, something never felt totally right about the pose. I suppose it was probably cos it was walking. I should have asked him to stand still:t3. Thanks, I always appreciate your feedback. I am really working on my wildlife photography at the moment as I feel I am getting there on my Avian but my wildlife is falling behind.:e3:S3:

[Dumay de Boulle]

Impala are just one of those animals that shine in golden light! Lovely portrait and looks to be almost a "trophy" ram, Dumay...:bg3::cheers:



Curious to hear if you did anything to the BG? I have found the 100-400 can give great bokeh like this if the BG is far enough removed from the subject...:e3

Morkel, we have huge Rams here, larger tan I have see anywhere else. Sometimes I see these guys with the huge horns and I am blown away by the size.
No, all I did was selective strong NR and some median NR on the BG. The BG was reasonably far behind.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hey Dumay, just look back a year ago and see the huge steps you have made in your photography and like Hilary, your passion comes through which gives the edge.

With regard to NR I guess it is down to personal preference and when to apply and not, but selecting a stronger NR may help to separate your subject, but personally I feel the strength is too strong, hence comments such as, have you added addition blur, as to me the feel isn't quite right. Not sure what you use, but I might try easing back a bit and see the feedback as the whole image should look 'natural'. I could well be wrong, but it might be worth a punt?

Cheers
Steve

[Hilary Hann]

Dumay, I am also fighting to find the right balance with NR. Interesting to read the comments here as I liked the final result but not having seen your original it is worth experimenting with strengths of NR and selecting subjects to compare the results. Training the eye to see the difference also changes the way we process our images, I'm sure.

BTW, beautiful antelope and I love the light on the horns. Lovely tonal range.