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Thread: Elephant Procession

  1. #1
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Default Elephant Procession

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    I've been working up a series of monochrome/duotone images recently. I've always liked my B&W experimentation and hadn't done much of it of late, so hence the 'phase' I am in.

    This photo was taken in the Kruger National Park of all places...there are spots where you can get some nice open terrain and hopefully have some moments all to yourself. I spent the entire afternoon on an overcast day with this herd of elephants, first at the waterhole down the hill from this spot and when they started moving up the hill I drove around and positioned myself ahead of them.

    Elephants lend themselves particularly well to desaturation due to the textures of their skin and the overall mood/expression an elephant exudes IMHO.

    All critiques most welcome. Tell me what you like and what not, and why...

    Techs:
    Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II
    f8.0 @ 1/1000 SS @ ISO-1800
    90% of full frame, cropped out the horizon on top and some amputated elephants on the RHS.
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Lifetime Member Marina Scarr's Avatar
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    I am with you on the B&W conversion here, Morkel. Love how that B&W brings out those textures/wrinkles in the adult elephants and I like the contrast of the FG grasses against them. I also love the procession idea and what you were going for. I do feel however, that the elephants are a bit cramped in the frame, and I think I"d especially like to see more room in front of the lead elephant. The other thing that hurts this image for me is the tail of the second large elephant crossing right smack dab over the baby's eye behind it. I wonder whether this is full frame.
    Marina Scarr
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  5. #3
    Ken Watkins
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    Morkel,

    I feel much the same as Marina on this one the conversion undoubtedly works well, but the crop does not.
    Lets face it a tidy procession of Elephants is very rare indeed

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Morkel, great to see you exploring the world of Duotones, fun hey?

    Love how the whole image comes together, but always difficult where to crop ie RHS, but this works. The texture, tone & structure comes through nicely, especially with the lead elephant. Personally would wish for grass rather than the bolder in front of the lead elephant. Is the ISO giving a slight grain to the look & feel, but doubt it as it's Nikon?

    Hope to see more.

    cheers
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Morkel,

    B7W is a perfect choice here for me. The varied hues and tones of the subjects againist the grasses & bushes works well. The first 3 eles make the image work as a whole. They are leading the herd and draw my eye right to them. the ones following them are frame filling material. The tail of the larger ele crossing over the eye of the smaller one does not detract for me. For that matter the 5th one in line looks as if the trunk is up the behind of the small one whose eye is covered. But neither one is a disraction as the first three eles carry the scene as a whole. The last 2 eles kinda keep my eye from looking at the 2 minor nits just mentioned.

    I like B&W images, & for me the tones on the hides are full of definition. For example; the eyes of the first 3 are clearly defined and the foreheads have viens and the ears have lots of wrinkles showing. The trunks are nicely captured too. The left wrinkles of the left sides can be seen and are not too dark. The shadows of the right side are defined just enough to see skin. I also like the grasses at the feet; you can see individual shoots and the tops; the "seeds" of the shoots are clearly seen. And bushes on the top side show up as symetrical and as clumps. It help the viewer to feel like we are right their with them. By the way, the tusks are a nice bonus. The two showing up front are a good lead in for the procession.

    In short, I like it. I don't have any comments for making it better as I do not see any image breakers. Thanks for sharing.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Grady, great commentary, assessment, observations, enjoyed reading this, thanks.
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Morkel - I like the duo treatment here a lot. I too wish for a little more room in front of the lead elephant but the diagonal view works well. I also like the ears out on the two largest cows.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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  15. #8
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Thanks for the varied and thoughtful feedback guys.
    Grady - what you like is what I like about the image. Sure it could use more space upfront...but that'll have to do next time.
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    excellent Morkel! I love this one and the BW goes well with the massive elephants
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