Wild Dog

[Marc Mol]

One of the Mapula pack of WD waking up at early light.
Apologies as I did have a little more room on top, not sure why I left it a little tight there?

D3 500VR 1/180s ISO400@f/4.8 Moremi GR, Botswana.

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Marc, why have you waited so long before posting this one, good detail & colour. :cheers:

Although I personally am not a lover of square crops, I just wonder if this might suit it better as the composition I feel isn't quite working, or perhaps less room to the left & more to the right if you have it, based on the stance of the dog, WDYT? I might also suggest a hint of NR just on the top BG area, as there is a little grain/noise coming through, did you need to lighten the overall image at all?

Nice one, hope Grant is able to add something to this post too when he is back, knowing his love of WDs.

TFS
Steve

[Marc Mol]

Some good suggestions Steve.
I settle for a compromise, I think a 4 x 5 crop suits a little better (not being a fan of square crops in nature photography either), increased the lumo mask a tad + some slight NR on BG.:w3
Here:

[Rachel Hollander]

Marc - repost has taken this up a notch. Nice attentive pose and comp. Well done.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Marc, I think that addresses the issues nicely and certainly the crop works better IMHO, like the 5x4, better than square :bg3:, however one thing I did overlook and it was also apparent in Vivaldo's post too, look at the nose, there is a blue semi-ring that has come through on both posts. Vivaldo's was under the tail & to the left of the rear foot which I think is a processing artifact, but would welcome others thoughts on this.:2:2

See what it is like in the original RAW, if it's OK there, output again and combine the two in layers and just mask in the nose, quickest way I think. Interesting note, I have been shooting little owls most of the week where the little buggers have been mostly backlit, so comp has been +1 or even 2 and have noticed a cyan line appearing on parts of a branch, hence my thoughts if you had lightened the image?

Much prefer it in a larger format too. :cheers::cheers:

Steve

[Vivaldo Damilano]

The blue ring (cast) normally happens when one add saturation to the dark area's IMO. I normally always add saturation in PS and then mask out shadow area's. My cheetah image is a good example. I add saturation to the whole image and forgot to remove colour from shadow area :c3:

Marc repost is great, good suggestion from Steve on moving the dog more to the right :cheers::cheers:

[Morkel Erasmus]

The 5x4/4x5 repost is a good compositional improvement Marc, and your luminosity mask adjustment has added some pop.

I agree on the blue on the nose...I think it's a camera-recorded colour due to white balance or metering issues. Easy to correct either via selective de-saturation or selective colour balance adjustment. :S3:

[Harshad Barve]

Marc ,

Excellent pose by dog , love the framing and specially re post
TFS

[Marc Mol]

Appreciate the comments everyone.


look at the nose, there is a blue semi-ring that has come through on both posts. which I think is a processing artifact, but would welcome others thoughts on this.:2:2

See what it is like in the original RAW, if it's OK there,


Steve

Yes Steve, I did notice the slight blue cast on the nose, but let it slide.:t3
The RAW file has no hint and as Viv has hintered and for me it appears to happen when applying the lumo mask, easily fixed as you said.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely pose and I prefer the original crop with a touch more space on the top. Nice one Marc