Elephant portrait

[Rachel Hollander]

I wanted to post another theme image and played around with an image from my 2012 trip to South Africa. I went a little more contrasty just for Andreas.

Canon 5D3
70-200 II @ 200
1/500
f6.3
ISO 400
HH from safari vehicle, cropped from landscape to portrait, luminosity mask, levels, curves, added some black to blacks and neutrals, selective dodging, converted in Silver Efex with tweaking one of the push process presets, added a slight coffee toning, Nik detail extractor at 3% and then selective sharpening when resizing for web.


C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel is that really you posting this ? I am surprised……… You are also having a rough side ? LOL. Can i have some of that stuff , that you had ……………..

Back to be serious, we are not for fun here.

Really strong design , with nice curves and lines in the subject , which you brought out very nicely .
I like the contrast , texture and the detail i see.Nice conversion , too.
Overall a fraction light, not sure about but maybe giving it a bit more depth in the mid tone ?

Thanks for posting this just for me .

Cheers Andreas

[Nancy Bell]

I really like the composition you chose for this. Although you added contrast, etc. the image appears too evenly toned. I would like to see a version as Andreas suggests with more depth in the mid-tone.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andreas and Nancy. As suggested here's a version with a little more depth in the midtones.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Nancy Bell]

Yes, I like this more.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Rachel!

Been looking at your ellie while at work today and I really love the crop here, great presentation. The RP really works for me, very inspiring image!
You make me want to try more B/W conversions...

Warmest regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Nancy and Gabriela. Gabriela - see the sticky announcing the April theme - B&W and toned images. So you have a couple of weeks to work on those images.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, my initial thoughts have been covered by Andreas. To me it just needs more lighting overall so you have changes in the light/tone of the image, although I'm not sure based on the OP there is much? Like the composition.

TFS
Steve

[Andre Pretorius]

I have tried my hand on textured Ellies, ouch

Love the contrast and the comp. Favour the RP more.

For me the magic word in PS is mid tones, and the least understood…..

Stunning image, Rachel

Andre

[Gabriela Plesea]

Great news Rachel, Thank You! Will start selecting some images that might work in B/W.
Cannot wait! I haven't done many conversions but I will take the the challenge, always great to learn something new!

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel the RP does it for me, good job.

Thanks Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve, Andre, Gabriela and Andreas for the comments and suggestions. As always, they are much appreciated.

Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Rachel. I like the colour of the toning here, and the composition overall is very pleasing. A more open/visible eye would be nice, so tough with ele's as they can be so obstinate in this regard
I agree with the original assessment of the OP, on which the repost is an improvement. I would go even more perhaps - more depth in the blacks and midtones? To me this needs to jump out, which is just-just doesn't?

[dankearl]

The color and tone is fine with me, the texture is just too rough…...

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel and Dan

[Marc Mol]

Like the RP here Rachel with slightly more detail in the mid tones, looks like a real veteran judging by the depth of the temple area.