Black Rhino Profile

[Loi Nguyen]

I'm struggling a bit with this Rhino. We spotted him at quite a distance away and had just enough time to get our vehicle into position as he was crossing the road. I had other images of him approaching the vehicle, but the light was harsh and side lit, so this may be the best image. His face was covered by the tall grass and the background was a bit busy, so I decided to go for a tight crop.

1DX
500f4 II
1/2000
f5.6
ISO-400
BLUBB Bean Bag from a safari vehicle.

Appreciate your comments.

Thank you.

Loi

[Stan Cunningham]

I like the eye through the brush but it's still a little distracting and I know the feeling of frustration well.
A thought for your other photos with harsh light is to possibly try black and white. I like b and w for rhino's and elephants and find harsh light often accents certain portions.

[Douglas Bolt]

Nice capture. The mid-day sun works well. Was this taken in Etosha?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, firstly and I know Morkel to would second this, but I would refrain from adding any location of Rhinos on a public site for obvious reason. I appreciate this might be frustrating Douglas, but with such an endangered species it's best not to, however Loi if you wish to disclose this then perhaps a PM would be better.

Based on your choice of image I think you dealt with the harsh setting quite well. Yes the grass is a wee bit distracting, nothing you can do, but it also illustrated the Rhino was moving away from you, so I guess it's 50/50 and how you interpret the image. Did you consider using a small amount of NR to the BKG above to help the heat haze, may help? Overall the colour looks good, I think the 1DX does provide a very well balance colour compare to previous Pro bodies. I would also look at selectively opening up the shadow areas in the ears, just to pull out some detail, not much again just to help the form, likewise the front & rear legs. Both may need more or less so do this as separate adjustment layers. Adding some more sharpening to the subject helps too. I assume the faster SS was for the moving Rhino. No sold on the almost pano crop, you could post the FF and lets see if anyone else has another option perhaps?

You could try going B/W, but as the light was quite harsh it might expand on the high contrast of the Blacks & Whites and therefore you may need more softer tones/ mid tones to help balance, but give it a whirl.

I will reply to your email today, just need to wrap up a few things and check some dates.

TFS
Steve

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

the grass is a bit distracting, but I also like the eye coming through. Steve gave you good suggestions for it. I as well recognized the BG haze/noise!

Ciao
Anette

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - It's always exciting to see a rhino in the wild. Too bad about the grasses across the head. They can often be frustrating. Definitely some heat haze in the bg too. Stan's suggestion is a good one. Rhino's often work for b&w conversions.

TFS,
Rachel

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Everyone, please see the original FF here. I cropped and rotated in the OP. I have other images with the Rhino's face not blocked by the grass, but the head angle isn't as good, thus decided to work on this one instead. Now I see that the grass is too much distracting and hard to overcome. Thanks for looking. Loi

[John Ippolito]

Hi Loi,
good comments and advice above with regard to B&W on this species - the vegetation is a tough one to overcome, but any black rhino sighting is one to remember.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Loi-sorry to comment so late- I really like the second image after crop and rotation. I like to see the environment too. (Only I would take out the little tree stump in front of the rhino if this was mine.) So special, the black rhino. And rare. I have not seen one in ages! Would love to see more images of this fellow, if you have. Well done on capturing this!

Kind regards,