Desert Elephant

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken in Damaraland, Namibia in August 2012.

Canon 5D3
70-200 II @ 200mm
1/640
f7.1
ISO 400
HH from safari vehicle, cropped for comp, levels, curves, luminosity masks, selective color adjustments, sharpened in CS6.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel,
i quite like this elephant shot while he is feeding .There is a nice depth in the image with the bushes in the FG and the BG bushes moving from the RHS back to the LHS of the frame.
Overall the image is a tad light for me . In CC i would go into CR and drop exposure by 1/3 stop.I feel the WB is a bit warm and the HL on the elephant specially on the back are looking weird, like a HL recovery ? Around the tusks are some masking artifacts ?
I think you can loose the sky , for me it is adding not a lot to the image, and you still have the nice depth in the image.
Parts of the skin are looking too crunchy, even for me. LOL.
But there is some nice detail in the mid and 3/4 tones of the elephant.

TFS Andreas

[edwardselfe]

Beautiful behavioural shot with the inevitable wince as you realise that the elephant is eating those thorns! Yes, agree that there's a nice effect of the eye being drawn through the photo.

I also think that it's a bit too sharpened, and I also saw the halo around the tusks. I would back off on sharpening everywhere as the thorns look a little too sharp too (no pun intended!). I would reduce exposure a little, but for me the colour is right on and I wouldn't adjust at all.

Nice, different shot, with some behaviour and context which is great. Good details around the ele's eye.

Ed

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rachel, I like the angled feeding stance, and the ellie is nicely in the open with no obstructive foliage behind, and also well placed in the frame. I have to agree there are areas that seem oversharpened, but an easy fix for you.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Rachel,

I really like this, and I appreciate that your image allows so much of the environment. My personal feeling is the "lightness" Andreas is referring to helps bring out the elephant. Looked carefully and the subject does not look over sharpened to me, I see a bit of a halo around the tusks but that's an easy fix. Love the thorns and dried-out branches, you captured such a lovely moment here, thank you for sharing this, really enjoyed viewing

Warmest regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, like the feeding/behavioural aspect of the image, nice to see that extended trunk grappling.

I too am happy with the overall warm & colour, you could drop the exp a fraction, but I wonder if that is going to give you what you need, however I would keep the sky in, just brings a little more environment in. I personally might look at a using Channels & Curves, it certainly bring back some more contrast without filling in the shadow areas. I would perhaps back off as mentioned, the sharpening on the trunk just a wee bit and the halo is easily addressed.

TFS
Steve

[Marc Mol]

I'm seeing the halos on the trunk and hind legs as well Rachel, plus just a touch over sharpened, easily fixed for both, I'd leave the sky in also and like the inclusion of habitat here.
TFS

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Rachel, love this image. I'm looking at this on a monitor at work, not the best, so leave the colors to others. Greta composition, depth, placement of the elephant as already mentioned. I too see the halo and agree that backing off on the sharpening a little would help. TFS. Loi

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the constructive feedback and suggestions. My bad on the sharpening and halo. I processed this about a year ago and last night in my haste to post a non-arctic image for some variety, I grabbed an already sharpened jpeg rather than the tiff, resized it and sharpened for web. My apologies.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Crits covered already above - nice image of some elephants I REALLY want to go an visit. Nice overall depth and detail too, Rachel.
I've been guilty of the "quickly-post-an-older-image" phenomenon too, and ran into the same issues...