Looking for Love

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken in Fall 2012 in the Cataloochee Valley on the North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains N.P. This buck was an interloper who traveled through another male's harem just after dawn on a very foggy morning. He stopped to bugle a few times hoping to lure one of the females away.

Canon 5D3
100-400 @ 235mm
1/500
f5.6
ISO 1600
EC +1
HH, cropped to about 75% of original, levels, curves, luminosity mask, added black in selective color, NR on bg, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[David Stephens]

He's a year or two away from having a harem, but he's still a beaut and feeling his oats. I can hear that bugle now.

I love the fog and his proportion in the frame. There's a piece of paper in the lower center of the frame and something yellow at the bottom right edge. I'd clone out both. If that's a flower at the bottom, it only distracts, because it isn't sharp enough and wholly included in the frame. Perfect exposure and nice processing.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks David, it's actually a dry leaf in the middle. As a general rule I do not clone except in fine arts images.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Canuel]

Nice mood here Rachel. I like the way the fog has helped to bring out the colors of the dried, reddish grasses. The dark BG provides a nice balance.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve, much appreciated

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, firstly if I may, nice to see you back Mr Canuel.


I like the 'atmosphere' in this one, but wonder if it looks a little over exposed there is no real 'blacks' and so it looks a little 'thin', or did you bring the image up slightly, WDYT? You could have a 'fiddle' with the Exp adj, using the top & bottom sliders. Like the 'bellowing' posture and head angle. I think you could afford to prune the flower on this one.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve, the +1 EC may have been too much. I can look at reducing the exp in post.

,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Could be an option, however I think you could also look at making a couple of other adjustments too, perhaps selective colour, curves, Lumin mask %...

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Rachel,

nice one elk and comp, but does not look like your usual processing. Steve has mentioned already most stuff, even used the word 'fiddle"
According clone, I think this image would make a nice print!

Have a great Sunday

Ciao
Anette

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel,
like the foggy mood of the image with the subtle colors and tones, but agree about the "missing blacks" by Steve.
Great bellowing posture of the elk bull.
Look for the noise in the BG i would reduce it even more or reduce the sharpening , looks like some artifacts in the BG foliage are showing up.
TFS Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice pose and foggy mood here Rachel.
I would shave some off the bottom, and agree with Steve on adding some depth and colour tweaks.
The elk seems to be standing "level", but to my eye the grassland ridge in the BG is a strong "virtual horizon" here, though I concede that may have been a slope in real life. WDYT about a slight rotation?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very atmospheric, I like the colours and composition, I like the pose and bellowing, I appreciate it is misty but I wonder if a little more NR would have been beneficial?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everybody for the comments and suggestions, much appreciated. I will take another look.

Andreas - where are you seeing artifacts?

Morkel - I think the image is level and what you are seeing is uneven grass heights. If I rotate then the trees in the back look off.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel,
i called it artifacts , not sure if it is the case, but the background where is some detail is looking sharpened ? , to me.Or not enough blurred by the NR, depending on my POV.Basically i think the BG is to busy with tiny detail, not sure if i am saying the right technical thing. ??!!

Mostly obvious between the stags.
For illustration the RP with some funny arrows.
Cheers Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andreas. I see what you are talking about when I blow it up. Not sure what they are but they seem to be in the RAW too so I am wondering if it is just gradients/holes in the fog.

Thanks again for taking the time to draw the arrows. Much appreciated.

Rachel

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Rachel, I like this scene, especially the foggy conditions and do agree on darkening it a touch. I think a slight blur to the background might address what Andreas mentions. Nice work!

[Don Thompson]

I like as presented. I like the subject and the foggy adds to the photo.

I do have a question, not a critique, just a learning question. I see you were zoomed to 235mm, then cropped to 75%. Did you change your mind after seeing the photo, crop out distracting elements...?

Would love to be able to photograph an elk.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andrew and Don. Don - a good question, I was shooting a few different elk in the field when this male came trotting through. I tend to shoot wide and was shooting a little wider to include the foggy conditions. I decided to crop for presentation here to emphasize the bugling posture which only happened for a couple of seconds so I didn't think or try to adjust in the field at the time. With the 100-400 I often have the push/pull tightened down to prevent movement while handholding which means it can take an extra couple of seconds to adjust the focal length.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[dankearl]

Interesting reading the responses.
My initial reaction is a bit more contrast but easy to lose the fog.
Just a tad for me.