California Elks

[Norm Dulak]

Nikon D300 w/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens @ 400mm, hand held
ISO 800; f/7.1, 1/500 sec; uncompensated matrix metering

PP w/PS CS5: Camera Raw luminance noise reduction; crop, levels, curves and smart sharpen

This image is from the Point Reyes National Seashore, at Marin County, California. It caught my attention because of what I thought was an interesting pose struck by the female elk and her calf.

Norm

[Rachel Hollander]

Norm - It is an interesting pose and I like that they are both the same pose. I feel like you needed to stop down a bit more to get them both sharp, seems like mom is sharp but the calf a little soft. Not sure if selective sharpening on the calf will help. I would also run another round of NR on the bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like the similar poses here, Norm. I concur with Rachel's comments on sharpness and also feel that the whites on the rump are a bit overcooked (would have liked some more detail there - could be salvageable in RAW). :S3:
It also seems just a tad too 'warm' ito WB for me?

[gail bisson]

I like the similar poses and agree about some serious NR. I wish the similar poses had the butt end pointing the other way ! I also find the whites and midtones a bit off. Not sure what you did in curves and levels so would love to see the original,
Gail

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks everyone for your comments thus far. I agree that it would have been better to stop down the lens a bit more to ensure better sharpness of both elk. For Gail, I've converted the original RAW file directly for the web, with no adjustments except very modest sharpening. For what it's worth, no histogram in any of my files relating to this image shows any evidence that the whites are overdone.

[Steve Kaluski]

The tones and clarity look better on the RP than the OP?

Based on the OP I might suggest in Colour balance moving the slider more to Cyan & the Blue to the right reducing the amount of yellow in the overall image. The whites in the tail aren't blown, the detail just needs to be brought out, although judging by the larger Elk and the position I'm not sure how much more detail you might like to bring out, retaining modesty at all times. I would also try to open up a little more in the Blacks as I feel it is also choking some of the detail.

You may find that the Luminosity may need adjusting to compensate for the NR, these need to be juggled carefully as Sharpening may bring some noise out, but the Luminosity may loose the clarity.

By having more space around the subjects ie in the RP it gives the subject room to breathe, the OP I feel is all a bit tight.

Just my thoughts.

TFS
Steve

[Hilary Hann]

Agree with much of what has been said although I'm not fussed about 'modesty' issues as we are all too happy to shoot and post animals suffering unpleasant deaths, guts ripped open, blood dripping, animals mating etc. etc. A slight issue with modesty says more about us as viewers, than with the animals themselves. (Not picking on you Steve, as I know others feel the same way, just seems slightly odd given that we have no similar qualms about animals being eaten alive … everyone says "that's nature"!! :S3:)

With this image I feel that a crop to include the nicely sweeping arc of bush around the animals would frame them well. I like the mirrored poses and also agree that there should be plenty of detail to be extracted from the pale rumps.

[Ken Watkins]

Norm,

The repost using the hardly touched RAW is much better, but could perhaps do with a crop, mainly from the bottom and left. You may like to try "linear contrast"

[Harshad Barve]

I may crop very little of RP and I am sure this will shine , image with excellent potential
TFS

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions!