Thief Caught in the Act

[Loi Nguyen]

This hyena stole half a fresh impala kill from a leopard right after sunrise. We were a bit far when it happened, some people in the group saw the leopard got down from a tree, I didn't. The hyena ran towards our vehicle and momentarily stopped on his track when he saw us.

I'm on shaky ground when it comes to this type of golden back lighting, so appreciate your comments.

1DX
500f4 II + 1.4X III
1/1000
f5.6
ISO-800
Converted RAW using DPP, imported to CS6
Adjusted WB
Saturation 10
Vibrance 10
Sharpened the hyena and prey only, No NR reduction.

Thank you

Loi

[Gregor Bergquist]

Nice moment. These hyenas is very cool animals. Underrated I think as a photo-object.
For my taste (or monitor) it is a bit dark. I know it is backlit, but I think that would shine through even with a little more exposure.
And I would like a lower angel, but don´t we often?

TFS / Gregor

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice sighting, Loi. Overall you handled it well as there is detail, just needs to be tweaked a little as Gregor pointed out. There's also some green and blue coming through in the hyena (specifically shaded parts).
A quick RP - brought back some expsosure and quick colour correction. Wish it had a wee bit more space at the bottom...

PS: that's a "Tommie" fawn, not an impala

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - I think this is one of those backlighting situations where because of the subject, hyena with prey, you needed to expose properly for the hyena rather than the bg. As it is, it is sort of in between. If it's a strong subject with an easy to discern outline then you can go silhouette with just a hint of detail but here its the hyena and kill that tell the story, not the outline. I also would prefer more room below for the virtual feet. Hopefully, Brendon will weigh in as he has a real talent for these backlit and rim lit shots.

TFS,
Rachel

P.S. I was composing while Morkel did his rp and he has done a nice job to bring up the hyena and kill a bit.

[Loi Nguyen]

Morkel, thanks for the RP. It looks much better. I increased the exposure by 0.5EV, and reduced the Green a little bit, and used the Shadows tool to lift some of the shadows here. Let me post so that we can compare. Loi

Rachel, yes, I should have adjusted the exposure for the subject, but I wasn't thinking straight here.

Also, the business about the "virtual feet," I will try to aim a little bit higher next time.

thanks

Loi

[Morkel Erasmus]

Also, the business about the "virtual feet," I will try to aim a little bit higher next time.

I think the point is to aim a bit lower

[Loi Nguyen]

I think the point is to aim a bit lower

Yeah, I meant aiming lower (and get the subject higher in the frame) :)

Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, I think this illustrates my point about checking your histogram, even taking a few frames prior may have helped the exposure issue. Although I'm viewing on the laptop, I think perhaps somewhere between Morkels & your last RP, but more on Morkels. In your last RP you can see where you have lifted the shadows creating/adding more noise within the image. Saying that, I like the posture and content of the image. I think you now know, based on the above comments what you need to lookout for next time round.

TFS
Steve