Two coyotes walk after one another in Death Valley. This was taken during the winter, and it was rather cold outside, the two of them were fighting it out moments before, but it seems like they had settled their dispute. I liked catching them one after the other with both their eyes closed and heads down.
Sony A100, Tamron 70-300/4-5.6
f/6.3, ISO 100, 1/320s
First off, a big welcome here Dvir! Feel free to ask us anything that may seem unclear at the moment.
I like the repetition of coyotes here. The light seems rather harsh - which I know it does even mid morning in desert climates - but well handled (except for some of the whites that look blown out, look on the legs).
I'm in 2 minds on the overall framing/composition, but I'll let others weigh in on their thoughts as well...
(feel free to also weigh in on other people's photos, that way we all learn from each other as each has a different perspective - we recommend 5 critiques for every 1 photo posted).
Hi Dvir, and just to echo Morkel's comments and warm welcome too.
Overall I feel the image is a little tight and restricting the subjects, they need more 'space' to breathe I feel, was this shot portrait (vertical) or in landscape format? It might be worth posting the full frame (FF) image as there could be other possible options in cropping. I might look to applying a little selective Noise reduction (NR) to the background just to perhaps help, what appears to be some heat haze. There is good detail and sharpness although the harsh light has created some hotspots on the legs of the front subject, but I think you did well given the circumstances.
Look forward to your participation in the future in both posting and commenting, please do not feel shy. Never fear about asking what may appear to be a simple question.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Dvir - another warm welcome to BPN and to the Wildlife Forum in particular. Nice first post. I think the head down, panting poses of the coyotes conveys the heat of Death Valley well. Morkel and Steve have given you good suggestions above. I too would like the front coyote to have more room to move into. If this is ff then you would have had to shoot in landscape format otherwise you would have probably cut into the rear coyote to give more space to the right. Highlights and NR issues discussed above.
Looking forward to seeing more of your wildlife images and also your participation in other threads.
Here is the original (its a jpeg, in horrible light, and the focus is a bit off)
Thank you both so much for the warm welcome. I am only 17, so I will gladly take any advice. I really liked the pose of their heads with this one, the light was rather horrid and harsh, but what can you do. Also the A100 that I had with me when I took this is a wee bit of an outdated camera, and it missed the focus a bit. I wish I could retake it today with better light and my better gear. But anyhow, here is the unaltered original jpeg, what would you do?
Ok here is the original. It was a jpeg because I was running out of memory space and from a beginner crop camera from 2006 (A100) so the amount of dynamic range to pull down the highlights is limited.
Hi Dvir, I'm glad you posted this as your original thought and framing was about spot on. Going landscape was the right choice, plus there is enough space for the subject to walk into, so apart from perhaps a 'slight' crop if you wanted to, it all looks good. I like the trailing one in the background too. Light is always tricky, often you have low light, you can have harsh light, but occasionally you have great light. Early mornings or towards the end of the day can be the most rewarding time, albeit it oh so short.
The camera maybe old, but you seem to be getting good results, plus at 17 years of age you have a good eye for framing, so just get out there, take truck loads of images and build on the experience. Then when you have the opportunity you can think about upgrading your kit if you wish, but photography takes time and do not get hung up about posting exotic subjects, racoons, coyote, beaver anything just post and get the experience.
Good luck.
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
I as well like the composition here very much and the chap walking in the BG in the horizontal image. That is indeed better. If you look in the shadows there is a blue cast. When you use Photoshop! than just reduce the blue saturation in the saturation adjustment layer. You will see then the difference
Thank you very much for that little nitpick, it is slight (at least to my eyes) but you are right that its there. Here is a version with -12 saturation on the blue channel. What do you think?
for me -12 is not enough. Do which Software do you use for your editing your images?
I took it in Photoshop and moved the blue slider down to -60 > -70!
This is a matter of taste I think. When you check the difference bring my RP in your software as well and toggle between both images that you see the difference in the shadow.
But remember it is up to you. Next time you go out, have a look in shadows, is there blue? The other thing is with snow, but you will figure that out in the forum pretty fast when you read through the comments.
Hi highly recommend you to read them all, walk through them and participate. This helps really very much
Must say, I have a little thing with blue cast in shadows
Hi Dvir, the original JPEG I personally feel is about right, yes by removing the blue in the shadow areas, adjusting the Red and then the perhaps the magenta & yellow via Selective colour does help to, but perhaps this is where thing begin to fall into the bracket of what we all see and that can vary, although having the correct embedded profile as you have does men we are at least on the same page so to speak.
I do think the RP are carrying a lot of Red and the detail is being choked a little.
Good advice from Anette above, and I hope you can build on your learning curve within BPN.
Finally, ensure you calibrate your monitor on a regular basis, this will also go a long way in ensure consistent looking images, don't leave thing for over a month, once a month or when it tells you is good practice.
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Thank you both Anette and Steve. I have only been shooting a year and a bit so I still have some things to do through like picking up color casts and stuff like that. I use CS6 (I am a student so I got it for much cheaper) so I can do all the actions which you guys preform. I use a laptop monitor so it might (probably isn't) 100% accurate, but at this stage that is all I have. I think I will cut down slightly on the reds channel, and a bit more on the blues channel and post my final final rendition later. But thank you all for the advice, it has been incredibly helpful.
Dvir, also make sure, in PS, under Edit, Colour settings are correctly set up. If you are using a laptop have a read of this and avoid having a window behind you, will light striking the screen.
I use a laptop monitor, but use it in a room with out lights from behind and windows. Colors come out rather accurate in prints as well, so I think its rather accurate.
To me it looks still a little red, but again, unless we are next to each other... BTW I also added 8 brightness, but masked the legs to prevent further burning.
Time to post another Dvir.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi, sorry to be late getting back to this one. I too like the wider image and agree that the last rp is better but still a little red. Sometimes it helps to put an image away for a few days, especially one that you have been working on for a while, and then come back to it with fresh eyes.
Haha yeah another one is here, I saw the red cast now that I tried to neutralize the greys of the image and I brightened the dark parts with luminosity masks and added some contrast, so here is my "for now" final rendition.
I could have made it a bit less red, but I think that it makes it a bit too neutral.
Nice first image and I've enjoyed reading the discussions below. I think the final crop option is good and I don't mind the haziness behind. Keep 'em coming!
Hard Times
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