Another of my experimenting with different comps of elephants. This one I wanted a frame filling profile with the tusk going into the corner. Taken just after dawn in the Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa.
Canon 5D3
70-200 II @ 200mm
1/80
f7.1
ISO 800
EC+.67
HH from safari vehicle, luminosity mask, levels, curves, selective dodging, burning and color adjustments, sharpened in CS6.
Funny, I have also been looking at my elephant images and thinking of ways to present them. I like the diagonal line created from the eye to the grass in the mouth to the tusk...and for me I would like it to continue down the trunk more. Then depending upon balance, less space on the right and more on the left.
I like this comp very much. If you have a bit left just under the tusk. A tiny bit!!!
Wonder if you have done anything with the ele's colors! If yes it looks great. If no it still looks great and I will assume this is the color of Timbavati else like the Leopard.
Sharpness gets a bit lost RHS above the ear ( the ear hole!!! sorry don't know the English word for that ). Usually your are spot on, as well with the eyes. Miss that in this lovely ele eyes, IMHO!!
The details are great to me.
Thank you ladies, this is full frame and as composed in camera so no more room below or further down the trunk. I didn't want part of the other tusk creeping into the image. As it is, there's a very tiny amount which I know I could clone out but generally I am avoiding cloning other than dust spots these days.
Anette - not sure what you mean about the color. I reduce the yellows and reds in almost all my images because I find that Canon skews to these colors. I also added a couple of points of black to blacks and neutrals.
Hi Rachel, Like the framing of this image, As mentioned above this is full frame that would not have been easy. If the brightness in the sky is reduced maybe more focus would fall on the elephant. The blade of grass makes this picture so real.
Hi Rachel, interesting no one mentioned the techs on this one?
With the kit and in close proximity you should have nailed it, but the ISO was too low IMHO, or you needed to shoot wider, the option to me would have been to crank the ISO, 1/80 I feel is too slow and the sharpness is not quite there for me, especially when compared to previous images of yours. I also feel that perhaps you could have even gone to EV+1 as the 5D is similar to the 1DX and I am far more + on the EV than I have ever been which can be rather frustrating when going back to the MKIV. I would look to open up in Curves the shadow areas, perhaps add some Lumo to the forehead. I would also snip some of those solo leaves close to the LH edge too. I would look to the RAW and see if you can get a bit more detail out of the ear, perhaps combining two images?
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Rachel, with the color. For me the ele looks like black with silver combined
well some other colors are in there too, but black/silver is for me the dominant color of the els. :))
Thanks Steve and Anette. Steve - you're right about a faster ss but I also backed off the sharpening some. So here's a rp with more sharpening applied. I also went back a couple of steps in my pp and eleminated some of the dodging, burning and adding of blacks. Hopefully, this addresses Anette's suggestions as well.
Hi Rachel, the RP is certainly an improvement and there is a huge difference between the two now which, when comparing side by side you can begin to look at areas you can still improve on IMHO.
This is just my take so please distill from this what you feel is applicable:
Globally I feel you have lightened it, I liked the more saturated BKD as it gave some colour to for the Ele to sit on, so to speak
The forehead needs more tone to help reduce the lighter areas
I still think you can get more detail from the ear, I love the aged lines and contours.
So by applying a Midtone luminosity layer it's kind of balanced things out, I then ran my own version of a Luminosity adjustment layer. A Midtone Curves adjustment to lighten parts of the ear, plus a Midtone to darken certain areas set at various %'s. Two additional layers for sharpening, one for the head, the other for the ear with various amounts applied and then adjusted the %. Pruned back the odd leaf on the LHS, plus the little area of the second tusk.
I think it's a compromise between the two, WDYT?
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Rachel, your RP looks great. I agree with the Lights on the head with Steve. His RP looks better with the lights and sharpening. I would give that a try
Late to this one, Rachel...
Good discussion and suggestions. I noted the SS issue on the top of the head which looks to have suffered from movement.
I think somewhere between Steve's RP and your RP is the answer in terms of look/feel.
I like the framing but would've liked a tad more in front and below the tusk tip.