Think I owed him money

[Stan Cunningham]

This older Cape Buffalo Bull blocked our path back from breakfast at Kirkman's Kamp in Sabi Sands. I decided to go with black and white to reduce some of the glare from the midday harsher light, and I like how the texture of the horn base looks in B&W more than color.
Canon 5 D III, 70 -200 2.8 with 2X III converter set at 310, ISO 640, F 5.6 at 1/250 sec.
Processing from Lightroom 4 through CS5 to NIK filters. I converted to b and w in Color effex then used several of the filters in CE to bring out highlights using control points.
All comments always appreciated.

[Diane Miller]

I LOVE the composition and tonalities here! B/W is a wonderful touch here, for me.

What would you think about touching out the grass stalk just to the right of his face? Just enough to break up the pattern that attracts attention away from the gorgeous animal.

[Loi Nguyen]

Stan, I think the B&W works well here. I think the light is still a bit harsh, so may be toning the highlights on the horn and the node a little bit down. I'm with Diane on the BG, which is a little busy. Breaking up the pattern or smoothing it out would help. Loi

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stan - this works as a b&w and I particularly like that we can see the eye so clearly. Good sharpness and dof. I would try a luminosity mask at about 75% on the bg only to tone down some of the highlights there and draw us back to the face and probably still go further with some of the brightest spots in the bg as Diane suggested. Some of the highlights on the horns are blown but I'm guessing they are that way in the raw due to the harsh midday light.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stan, I like the composition with the HA slightly towards camera and also the idea of going B/W, as these animals are 'characters' and like elephants, can lend themselves very well to being portrayed in B/W.

Looking at the image I think there is a lot more you can do with it to extract what you have captured. Also by going B/W you need more 'tonality' within the B/W range, you have the whites but to me the blacks are missing. Firstly, as Rachel pointed out, using a Luminosity adjustment layer to tone down some of the harsher areas of light will help, you may find it easier to controlling this back in the RAW with the various Exposure sliders, plus adding key adjustments to specifically target areas like the nose and horn, where the light is strongest, just to tone them back and get 'colour' in there. Getting more depth of colour in there, will help to bring out more detail too. If you feel inclined, you can, as suggested adjust the BKG to give more separation to the subject which would not be a bad thing. IMHO I feel a lot can be achieved within both the RAW & PS without the additional software, but we each work differently and also how comfortable we are working within the various softwares too. You need the subject to be some distance away from the vegetation to get that diffused look & feel to the BKG, plus I don't think the 70-200 compresses the BKG as much as the straight 300 or 500 etc? IMHO I feel a lot can be achieved within both the RAW convertor & PS, without the additional software, but we each work differently and also it's about how comfortable we are working within the various softwares available too.

Hope the attached illustrates/clarifies my points, you have it all there I think Stan, you just need a few little tweaks.

TFS
Steve

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Stan

Steve brought it up to the notch what he did
Very nice portrait of this buffalo

Have a great day

Ciao

Anette

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stan - Steve's rp is along the lines of what I was thinking and suggesting.

[Diane Miller]

Good technical work on the RP, and the BG is improved, but I'll be the contrarian. What I liked immediately about the OP is the open shadows, which for me made it look more out of the ordinary.

For me, the impression isn't that it is lacking contrast, or that contrast has been brought down too far to try to compensate for harsh light. And it looks (without checking) like there are probably blacks in the folds of the neck.

But going darker definitely works -- just a matter of taste.

Great image, either way!

[Steve Kaluski]

Taking the RP Dianne, would be great to see your thoughts as a RP, always good to have a comparison working from the OP.

[Diane Miller]

Will do if I find time -- but really, my thoughts are probably better summed up in general words than in a redo. It's such a wonderful image that it can have different flavors of interpretation, none really "better" than the other. The main criterion would be smooth tonal gradations, which it looks like there are in both versions.

[Stan Cunningham]

WOW guys, some great comments and I like much of what you did in the RP as usual Steve, I may PM you later to get a CS5 lesson as I'm a little unsure how to get the background so lightened and blurred with my current level of "unmastery".
For now it's off to work but thanks again as always!!!!
Stan

[Steve Kaluski]

Stan, the RP was with CS6, sadly they have upgraded things and so any pointers, unless you upgrade, are a non starter, sorry.

In all honesty it's the first time I used this 'adjustment', as it's something I never do, so it was just as interesting for me too, we have both learnt something today. The rest was all done in LR and a couple of Channel selections, but my advice would be to look more at the RAW. If you think this is going in the 'right' direction then you have something to act as a comparison. This is why I tend to add a RP, because typing a description or interpretation can be difficult or misleading if it's more than a sentence long, LOL. Here you have both the vision/direction couple with a RP, which, by having the two may be understood more clearly?

BTW, the BKG was as per the OP tone wise, I just changed it look, however coupled with the tonally darkened subject, it may appear 'optically' different?

[Steve Kaluski]

Stan, just a thought, but often we go down this route of B/W which can work well, but it also can bring a 'harshness' to the look at times IMHO, however you could do something like this that brings a bit more 'softness/richness' to the look & feel, WDYT?

Steve

[Loi Nguyen]

The last RP brings out a lot of details on the horn, which I think is the best. Great comments on this tread. It gives me something to try on my rhino pics. Thanks and will post later. Loi

[Stan Cunningham]

I like that Steve, did you add some sepia tone or a filter?
Here was my redo after all the excellent comments. Although Harsh and Cape Buffalo could be considered synonyms. But I can see right away I need to take the highlights down in the horn base when compared to yours, you did a much better job of bringing out the texture.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stan, interesting that you see 'a colour' and no, this is not Sepia or a filter. I guess anything that people see that may have a warmth to it they assume it's Sepia well in fact it's a Black and Grey, a Duo tone. Now again, I am not going to be specific here and the reason I am not is that there are a raft of options within the colour picker to choose from, in addition there are three options, Duo, Tri & Quad, each one will create a different option depending on the original, hence not being specific. You, as the creator of the image have to decide which works best to convey your thoughts and which one best illustrates your interpretation of the image to the viewer.

The RP is better, the BKG highlights are more subdued, although it still looks a little light and there are some areas that look a little 'fudged'. The horn also looks still a tad bright and there is more tone in there to play with as you can see, however it appears you have added something in the bright part of the horn, just on the bend, looks odd??? Just check you Histogram when you shoot and look for any 'blinkies', that will help you protect your image from blown highlights/whites and avoid having any PP to do on the image

Stan, also just scroll down to the bottom of this thread and look at the calibration bar, do you see a solid black on the left and a white on the far right, ignore the rest?

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Stan,
like the tight image of this dangerous looking guy...!

OP is too light and too flat, with a not very pleasing BKG.

Think Steve made just two RP`s that both work, cannot say which one i like more.

I think covered the problem areas and showed us a direction to try.

TFS Andreas