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Thread: Dust and Stripes

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Image recently captured at Shigwedzi in the Kruger National Park. Spent hours watching zebras interacting and just cannot make up my mind which image to post, there are so many of them and ever so often some other character got in the way to spoil that "perfect picture"(a wildebeest or a hartebeest, impala, etc). Some cloning involved here - removed an oxpecker flying about, some butterflies and other things you might find distracting - other than that, just overall adjustments and no masks, no tricks either. A bit of NR to the BG and I really tried to make the zebras stand out, let me know if you have any suggestions - I am too happy to implement them...

    Nikon D3S
    Nikon 500F4
    ISO 500
    F6.3
    1/2000s
    Gabriela Plesea

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    BPN Member Bill Jobes's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela,

    What struck me immediately is that the galloping zebras are much more important than their surrounding environment.

    If it were my photo, I'd crop it tightly as possible to convey the drama of beautiful animals romping.

    Leaving room in the crop, of course, for the dust, and a bit of space on the left to give them room to 'run.'

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela - I know this is a departure from your normal style of shooting tighter so good for you on experimenting. I understand Bill's point because the dirt field isn't the most beautiful of surroundings but on the other hand there are no really distracting bg elements intruding into the image. Because of the merger of the other zebras, the foal is the one that stands out and I wish it wasn't angled slightly away. The kicked up dust and action of the second zebra makes the image for me. It's nicely processed too.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela, I like the idea of shooting wider, i.e. to get the environment/habitat in, but also if time and perhaps more importantly the subjects allow you to, get closer too. Then you have the best of both worlds to choose from and it avoids hefty cropping. On this occasion I agree with the above about going tighter, perhaps a straight pano may help and avoid the stump on the LHS. Don't be too quick in content removal unless the birds etc are really annoying, sometimes leaving them in can make the difference to the image and, for the good. Techs look right and I like the fact the zebra have mud up their legs, like socks, likewise the plumes of dust created by the playing and interaction. I think the subjects can take some more selective sharpening, at 1/2000 you have almost frozen the action.

    TFS
    Steve

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you Bill, Rachel and Steve,

    This is a 20% crop - I was very tempted to go closer and the idea of a pano appealed to me tremendously. The reasons why I did not crop further are the following: I wasn't sure whether the IQ could handle it, and I really wanted to give you something different.

    Rachel is absolutely right - this is a quite a big step for me, I love animal portraits and I like getting really close to my subjects, but the Kruger Park forced me to experiment. The zebra were at some distance, on the other side of a large pan. We were parked across the water and I used mainly the 500 lens, yet the whole time I had the feeling I was not close enough and often thought of using the 1.4 converter.

    In terms of content removal Steve, the little bird I cloned out was in fact an oxpecker and just a distracting speckle, there was also a tiny dark branch that seemed to go right into the foal's muzzle, and a tiny impala with its back toward the water, not to mention a zebra bum on the right of the image. I am more than happy to show you the original and quite certain you would agree with my decisions. I am a bit like Artie when it comes to clean images, but I think that- unlike me -he shoots them clean...On the odd occasion I do perform a bit of "surgery" to remove the most distracting bits.

    More zebra images in the pipeline and for some of those I plan a heavy crop, just hope you won't get bored with my posts but I am sure you will tell me if that is the case Thank you again for viewing and for your kind comments, so welcome and appreciated!

    Warmest regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Thanks for the additional info Gabriela, no need for the original and look forward to more stripes appearing over the coming weeks.
    Thanks for all your input and effervescent replies, have a great week.

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela i do find it many times very difficult to get Zebras in a group transferred into a good photograph , so you did well with isolating them and they stand out as yourself wanted them to do so.
    I would also go for pano in this case , nothing you can do about the messy area they stay in , unless you do heavy clone work, but as i told Andre about his Ellie image , i talked to Mr Adobe , and there is a solution in the pipe ................. Maybe ..........

    Hope you have a great upcoming week , and yes Africa is coming closer ........ and closer

    Cheers Andreas

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    BPN Viewer Steve Canuel's Avatar
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    I like the wide perspective and the look of some different habitat for them. Only wish for a little more separation between the individuals but realize how difficult that is with herd animals.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you dear Steve, I entirely agree with your comments. But there's more to come! I have so many images to process, some with zebra kicking and biting and more...Kind of picked this one randomly...Will try post something different in-between, to make sure you don't get bored with too many stripes...

    Have a great week, warmest regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    My favorite zebra is the 2nd one as it is really romping. 2nd favorite is the first one. Least favorite is the last one that is partially shaded with the light somewhat from the left. Count me in the much-tighter to a pano camp. Working wide is a great plan when the habit is lovely. The bushes only detract as do the several branches lying about. SH with a good EXP.
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    I find it very difficult to shoot zebras, not sure if it is the stripes (meant to confuse photographers) or just the way they interact. I agree on cropping tighter, but am also aware with a D3s you have more limited res than with newer bodies so maybe 40% or the original, from top right as we see it here. Sharpening for me is fine, do not overdo it.

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    The zebras pop nicely against that dirt surroundings. I like the feeling of them seemingly turning around as they move. I actually really like the habitat above, but not so much the log debris. From such a distance did you notice lots of heat shimmer coming in between you and your subjects? Sounds like a fun place to photograph!

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you Arthur, Neil and Daniel - some heat shimmer present indeed and when I tried to crop this into a pano it all became more obvious. This place is a beauty, and I did not mind the debris - it has been there since last year's great flood (which flattened many old trees and the damage is hard to imagine unless you see it with your own eyes). This pan not yet discovered by many visitors, kind of far away from the camp and we had it all to ourselves for many hours, enough to take over 1000 images of zebra, wildebeest, hippo and tsessebe.

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Nice action here Gabriela - count me in on the tighter pano crop, though you might need to rotate a bit as you would lose the clear "horizon" formed by the riverbed in the BG?
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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you Morkel, and I agree entirely with your suggestion - once I do the pano I will need to rotate. Let me work on another image and do the pano crop, I think I found something a little more exciting in the same folder

    Once again I thank you all for your input and critique - much appreciated!

    Have a great evening,
    Gabriela Plesea

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