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Thread: New born

  1. #1
    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Default New born

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    Fortunate to spend a few minutes, latish afternoon 16.46pm, with this elephant herd before they moved off quite quickly and hidden within the group was this new born calf, estimated a couple of days old. A few will have seen another shot of this one which I will post later, as it has been reprocessed, as last years version was all a little hurried to get to print' I just love the scale & sizing, not ideal to have them walking out of shot, but I would rather get a shot than not to have one. I think colour suits this rather than B/W because I like the slightly saturated warmth.

    The blemishes and smudges on Mom are true, have removed two grass stems over the calf & two palm tree trunks in the BKG, as they looked like telegraph poles without any foliage.

    Brendon this was on your patch, but not with James 007 or Wim

    Steve
    Subject: Elephant calf and mum walking out of shot (Loxodonta africana)
    Location: Botswana
    Camera: Canon MKIV
    Lens: 500f/4 HH
    Exposure: 1/500s at f/5.6 ISO40 0 stop compensation
    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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    Steve - always nice to see them this small and the calf is a cutie. I'm not sure of mom's prominance in the frame. Colors, processing and IQ all look their usual high quality. Presume ISO 40 is a typo.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    How cute! I've never seen one so small.

    Is that a lion in the BG?

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Steve,
    very nice to see such a small ellie.

    Like the soft colors and the tones , like wise the contrast.

    This time i am not a friend of your comp and some missing detail in the baby. Listened to you some time ago, watch the key areas , you told me.

    For me the key area is the little ellie, the little ellie is too dark for my taste in the head area.
    THe comp is not ideal for me, think maybe cropping from RHS, to get rid of the half leg, and from LHS to get rid of dead space , like wise the palm tree ?

    But i still like the line of the big tail down to the calf , which make it for me.


    TFS Andreas
    Last edited by Andreas Liedmann; 01-18-2013 at 02:05 PM.

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    Lovely image Steve and great to see such a small baby too, Duba is such a special place, cant wait to be back there in March. I dont see a problem with the detail but i do prefer the comp in the RP a slightly less dominant mother and the removed Palm in the bg, i really like the ele in the bg it adds nice balance to the image.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Steve - I think Andreas' rp has taken care of my issue with the initial comp. I would just get rid of the little sliver of mom's front leg on the right edge.

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    Too cute !........I prefer the original to be honest

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    BPN Viewer Tom Graham's Avatar
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    I like the OP moms leg at the far right side. It gives balance to her huge body and defines her as a solid, supported animal. It also provides a nice visual "block" so the eye is kept in the image. A large crop on the left would cut into the BG OOF ele which I feel adds environment, and meaning, to the image. And of course nice that there is no merge with the mom's tail and the little one. And as Andreas says, makes nice line linking the two.
    Tom
    Last edited by Tom Graham; 01-19-2013 at 04:19 AM. Reason: clarification

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Thanks folks, it nice to be on the receiving end of observation/thoughts process for a change.

    I think both have merits and we all see things differently. As I've lived with the image for sometime I guess it's hard not to see the front leg & palm, but it does illustrate how we all see things differently, so if you are asking which one do I like then I'm on the fence.

    Is that a lion in the BG?
    No Dianne, it's another grazing Elephant, lions are much smaller.

    For me the key area is the little ellie, the little ellie is too dark for my taste in the head area.
    I agree Andreas, but it's a balance IMHO and perhaps if both saw things in the same light ie on the same monitor we would be able to make that final call. If I was to lighten it, it would look odd, the head is in shadow and would be dark, however I did slightly lighten it from the original, but take your point.

    really like the ele in the bg it adds nice balance to the image.
    I agree Brendon, it gives context

    I like the OP moms leg at the far right side. It gives balance to her huge body and defines her as a solid, supported animal. It also provides a nice visual "block" so the eye is kept in the image.
    Cheers Tom, I think on reflection that was were I was going in my thinking, but did not communicate it as well.

    Thanks folks, I really do appreciate the feedback as it's so easy to go down one train of thought. If we can ALL add our thoughts like this to threads, this really would be a great showcase for our photographs and valuable advice in helping others.

    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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    I like the original best, but I can still see where you removed the tree. maybe fade it a little more? I also agree with the fact that it's a pity they are walking away, so no eye contact. I like the elephant in the background (obviously not a lion ) it balances the picture I think. Nice shot!
    Cheers,

    Carole

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    BPN Viewer Steve Canuel's Avatar
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    Hey Steve,
    I have lots of shots of animals heading the other way that I like so no problem with these two doing the same. I like how this shot shows off the contrast in size, the mom's tail is taller than the baby! Also like the layers of color that the BG vegetation and sky provide.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Rare to see them that small!
    It's not really doing much for me, Steve, besides the cuteness overload of course...so I am looking forward to the "other one" you mentioned
    Here's a totally different crop which makes it work somewhat better for me...all IMHO of course...
    I also applied some more shadow recovery on the little one.
    Morkel Erasmus

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