Etosha in Reasonable Light

[Ken Watkins]

I would hate to have put people off going to Etosha by my comments on harsh light etc. So here to put the record straight is an image in reasonable light, this Eland group was taken at Klein Namutoni Waterhole on 29th June 2011.

Water left in deliberately to highlight the good light.

EOS 1D MkIV

500mm F4 IS hand held from our vehicle

F5.6, ISO 400, 1/2500

[Tom Graham]

Techs look spot on to me, color balance, contrast, saturation, brightness, DOF. Excellent PP for me.
Like composition, placement of Elands, with back brush and sky. It's the water I'm not sure of, as you sort of suggest. It's (water) very nice but probably would like more of it or none of it. But think you already agree :S3: .
Tom

[Marc Mol]

Cannot disagree on the lighting here all right, nice comp Ken, what time?
I must get to Etosha one day.:bg3:

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely light and depth. I am 50/50 on the amount of water, and would like to see a version with some more water included?
Also - do you have some space behind the last eland just to balance the comp out a bit? :e3

[Sid Garige]

Beautiful light and techs Ken. Very nice pano crop for these guys.

[Harshad Barve]

The blue patch at bottom adds so much here , excellent
TFS

[DanWalters]

Nice low angle. Like the position of the subjects with the little bit of blue on the bottom.

[Ken Watkins]

It looks like I may have done a reasonable job here in showing Etosha in a different light:bg3::bg3:

Thanks for your kind comments, much appreciated.


Marc,
You must go, OK it is not "exclusive" and it can be crowded and noisy but that's their market, now that you can get into western Etosha you must go, we will not return untill 2013 as we are allready quite full for next year, too many places:cheers::cheers:

[Mark Wiseman]

Hi Ken,
I like your low POV and the detail you have in your eland, I am not sure about the water at the bottom and agree with Morkel about a tadd more space on the left.
Etosha is an amazing place and it has been some time since I was last there.
Thanks for sharing, Mark.
:5

[Brendan Dozier]

Very nicely composed, Ken, awesome IQ and beautiful group of Eland. Like the different HA's, and the hint of water at bottom, but also wish for just a bit more of it. Nice work!

[Dumay de Boulle]

Superb light, colors and IQ..I would either remove the blue band at the bottom or add...I think it may work either way

[Rachel Hollander]

Ken - nice light and comp. I like the sliver of blue but also wonder if a bit more would be better.


TFS,
Rachel

[Ken Watkins]

Regrding the inclusion of the water, I am quite amazed as I expected most to suggest cropping it out.

So here is a repost staring from scratch

[Paul Taylor]

I saw that repost and thought why not crop the sky - radical, but the colour of the water is very attractive and it seems others feel the same. Might not be the right decision give the water is out of focus, but I like it. Same amount of water and sky might also be nice. I like the way you processed the first so no more ideas!

[Ken Watkins]

Paul,

The purpose of this post was to dispel the "rumour" that the light in Etosha was somehow less than perfect, cropping is of course down to personal taste, or in some cases balance.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like seeing more of the water. The OP has more "pop", but guess you only posted the RP from RAW with a 'quick-edit'...:c3:

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel,

If I could remember what I did the first time round, I would have.

Memo to myself, save the image before cropping:2eyes2::2eyes2:

Hen