Mommy and Me

[Loi Nguyen]

Another image from my recent trip to Kenya.

1DX
500f4 II + 1.4X III
1/800
f8
ISO400
Handheld from safari vehicle.
Slightly crop, left, top, right. No room at bottom.

Appreciate your comments on the PP to bring out the best of this image.

Thanks

Loi.

[Nancy Bell]

Darling little guy! I really like the inclusion of part of mom & her tail. It really shows the bond between mother and baby. If you have it, I think a bit more room at the bottom as the hind feet are very close to the edge.

[Diane Miller]

This is a wonderful catch! If it were mine I would bring up some light on the elephants (Shadows-Highlights used here -- you might be able to get a little more balance in RAW conversion). I brought out some texture with Nik's Detail Extractor and warmed the shadows a little. Also did a quick mask with a soft-edged brush on the face and used a curves to lighten the area a little more. All this is, of course, artist's choice in how far to go. Just showing the possibilities.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, from the intro I think you realise that the shot might have been better without the 1.4, it would have given you more flexibility in framing and really not much of a crop, plus with the 1DX it's not a problem.
Tonally I do find the young calf is a little flat compared to mum, but not much, but what shadow work is there, is good, nicely balanced, just need a hint more. I like the curvature of the hunting/grasping trunk, if you ever get a chance to feel it, it's like crape paper I'm not sure wether you crop a fraction off the RHS to give a cleaner line or leave as is, it's just that hint of leg, I want more???? Adding a little mid tone Curves, not the pre-sets, just brings a little edge to the hide/skin, plus you can target, although you might also want to look at some Selective Colour tweaks just to define the lines more. I would also add some more USM it can take it, well on the calf certainly. The grass does add a vibrant backdrop to separate things.

For me, a tad more room all around and everything would have room to breathe. Let me know how you got on with Canon when you have a minute.

TFS
Steve

PS If I take a look I will fwd it to you.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Everyone, thank you for looking at this image. It was a bright, but overcast day so the advantage was I could shoot all day long, but the disadvantage was the images tend to be a little flat. I felt there is too much space over the calf, so cropped the image in the OP, but will post a FF here. The FF shows the size of Mom relative to the calf very well.

Diane, thank you for your RP. I think it is a bit too bright, not like my recollection of the real life situation.

Steve, I used Curves and added more contarst to the mid tone (middle part of the curve), but I'm in new territory here. I tried to play with Selective Colors, but again here I'm on pretty shaky ground, so left it alone. I did sharpen the image using USM with Amount = 120, radius = 0.3 pixel. Is it what you referred to?

Got my 1DX back from Canon, no charge, but I have not called and asked them what they meant by the AF service. Artie complained about his 1DX's AF performance and ended up ordering 2 new bodies for his Africa trip. So I assume mine was the same.

Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, now that is looking better with the space, just needs more below sadly.

Going in the right direction with Curves, it's just PS being PS in how the options are set up that I feel are a bit 'pants'. Sharpening is very subjective and we all have our own way, looking at the RP I think Mom is looking a tad too much, this is why I say be selective, less is more, likewise in software usage. Not sure if there is a little blue creeping in on the calf?

Interesting about the AF, not had an issue as such with that, but Canon have been good, however, look through the viewfinder and let me know if the inner nine squares align with the circle & where the centre square is. drop me a PM.

Steve

[Stan Cunningham]

Loi, I like your repost better but would still try to lighten the elephants a little more per Nancy's direction. I think boosting the luminosity in the face would help. Good shot.

[Loi Nguyen]

Let me try one more time. Used Shadow/highlights to lift the shadow of the calf. I tried add contrast, but doesn't look good, so left it alone. Adjusted the WB to reduce the blue. Sharpened the calf and Mom separately. Hope that you like it better. Thank you. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Loi, personally I think you are now going in the wrong direction based on you FF posting, IMHO you don't need S/H or anything else, you have it all within your RAW converter. The above just looks flat and everything now is even flatter because there are no shadows. Without adding another RP or longwinded note and going 'off topic' now, I will drop you a line, you can then decide how best to go forward, but all these tools mentioned I think is just killing the image and loosing some of the nice qualities you captured within the RAW and your are loosing direction.

Gabriela will tell you, less is more.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi,
lovely intimate moment,with a nice touch of the tail to the youngster.
Sadly there is not enough room to the bottom, think it would work better.
Will not really comment on PP,difficult to say after different RP`s.
I would try to achieve the same tonality of the adult to the youngster from the OP , and your better off i think.
As Steve said try and proceed, sometimes your lucky sometimes not, just a learning curve.

TFS Andreas