Supportive

[Ken Watkins]

Another image of the "tiny tot" held up by Mum

Taken in Addo Elephant National Park South Africa 18th April 2012

EOS 1D MkIV

500mm F4

F5.6, ISO 800. 1/640

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Ken,
very cute image with mummys helping hand .comp works well here,as well as sharpness and detail .But the .....colors do not work,as well as the too light BKG.

So here is an RP tried todo a bit better , WDYT

Cheers Andreas

113530

[Ken Watkins]

Andreas,

Firstly thanks for your comments.

Regarding the colours I knew there would be problems. In particular the BG which was very bright to start with, on my monitor your re-post has succeeded in darkening the BG, but to my eyes has introduced a little magenta into the Elephants.

Lets see what others think?

[Grace Scalzo]

Ken, I'm not qualified to comment much on the processing except to say that the report looks better on my work monitor. As far as story telling goes, it doesn't get much better than this. Love the image.

[Grady Weed]

At the risk of standing alone, all by myself and kinda a blank look on my face, I am not fond of the comp. I can only say the legs of momma are not enough for me. Much prefer her head be in view. Other than that, the baby in her trunk is a nice different change. I usually do not speak out on comps like this. But Ken is such a good photographer, I think he can take a critique like this in the spirit it is given, just my humble opinion. I do love your work, you know that. Since I am using my laptop, the differences in the brightness is obvious to me in OP and the re-post.

Just love the eye on the baby Ken. I hope you do not mind the frankness. Thanks for sharing and letting me post to your fine images.

[Steve Canuel]

Really like the sweeping curve of the trunk around the baby. Regarding color, I can see just a touch of magenta in the shadows of Andreas' repost, your OP has a bluish-mint tone. All according to my flawlessly calibrated monitor, perfectly tested color vision, and expertly designed and constructed digital darkroom environment :S3:.

[Ken Watkins]

Grady,

Firstly I should have said this is almost full frame the main crop LHS, was used to delete mums legs which were hopelessly overexposed. The composition was dictated by my desire to show the youngster being helped by mum. Your frankness is welcome by me:S3: Frankly I spent ages trying to get this too look better, I wonder if anybody has any suggestions?

Steve,
You see exactly what I see so your new equipment must be working perfectly:w3

[Hilary Hann]

Ken, not sure if it helps but the strongest part of the image in my view is the calf, trunk and the hint of tusks. If it is almost full frame I would be tempted to crop off the adult's legs. Might make it too square for your liking, but still a lovely cameo of the calf.

[Ken Watkins]

Grady,

Not sure if you saw this one but the crop may be what you were looking for?

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/98846-Lean-on-Me

[Grady Weed]

Grady,

Not sure if you saw this one but the crop may be what you were looking for?

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/98846-Lean-on-Me

O yes! Much more to what I would have imagined. But you post here is still a nice different perspective.

[Rachel Hollander]

Ken - I've looked at this a couple of times and I have to agree with Grady. It doesn't work for me without more of the mother. Maybe as part of a series but not on its own. While the calf is cute, I find the mother too truncated (pun intended :bg3:). I prefer the colors of Andreas' repost but also see the hint of magenta in the shadows. Sorry!

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi to you all,
who stated that i introduced some magenta into the darker parts,you are right!!
As i said above i only wanted to make a bit better in terms of that strong green/cyan cast in the ellies.I do not have the target to make it perfect ,i just wanted to show the direction which way the colors had to go,from my POV.Not thinking this is "the way" to go,just my thoughts,so do not get me wrong!!! A matter of taste as always.

Cheers to all,specially Ken

Andreas

[Ken Watkins]

Rachel,

Thanks for your comments on the composition.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Uber cute. Stunning moment. The OP was overly green, which Andreas fixed in his RP.
:tinysmile_shy_t: