Reworked a favorite image from last year trip. This image gave me my first IOTW, so it was a special one. Also, thanks to Morkel who gave me a kick in the butt on my poor PP. It's been almost a year, so I thought I would give this image another try.
It was mid morning, but luckily overcast, soft light, or else my only day spending at this wonderful place would be a complete waste. The colors were not great despite my many attempts. Morkel reminded me of B&W on my last post of this giant tusker, so decided to give it a try and would really like your critique here.
1DX
500f4 II + 1.4X III
1/800
f8
ISO-400
HH from safari vehicle
FF except taking a sliver off the top to minimize the impact of the dull sky.
Hi Loi - the conversion to b&w works well. You've got really nice textures. I think you can bring out a little more tonal variation on the elephants with some selective burning and dodging. Also watch the halos around the eles. Not sure if it is from sharpening or perhaps applying too much clarity. I would prefer more room left and right, particularly left but I bet you would too.
Rachel has summed it up well. This image is dying to be a B&W and your conversion is good, but could have another boost. IQ looks great considering the 1.4x converter (I wouldn't have guessed you had it on) but removing it for this situ would have given you a little more room all round.
Ed
Hi Loi , this works nice as presented for me .
Reflecting a dull overcast day in a good way , but i also think some more tonal variation would not harm.
Two minor things are already covered , the halo and the space on both sides , agree with these observations.
I, too, am starting to experiment with b&w and glad to see your image. What software did you use? The composition is lovely in its simplicity of just mom and baby and the very plain bkgd is perfect in this way. If you do not have more room on the left, you could easily add just a bit by stretching that side with the crop tool and try filling it in with Content Aware. You probably would need to do a bit of cleaning up but with such a featureless bkgd I think it would work.
I agree that you are coming along nicely with these conversions, and that this once could use a tad more tonal contrast through dodging and burning.
It's a bit tight on the LHS, but you knew that.
He's an impressive tusker!
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I think I will re-work the B&W conversion to bring more out. Nancy, yes of course, I could add a little canvas to the LHS, but then it is great just to post as is and recognize the short comings. Loi
Hi Nancy, I did the B&W conversion with Nik, playing around with the contrast and structure, then finish it off with the usual adjustment in CS6. Thank you. Loi
I am impressed with your progress when it comes to PP work and there are some details I really like here, such as the textures on the skin of the little ellie (especially that portion in the middle of its back, it resembles cracked mud), the stain of musth on the adult ellie (hmm...this is one big tusker, wondering if mommy was also around?), and I like that soft BG, makes the subjects stand out beautifully. I shall not mention again the issues already discussed above, just wanted to add that your sharpening is spot-on and everything looks just right, the RP does take it up a big notch
Keep them coming, sorry I am a bit late with comments but it has been busy at work and we are expecting some dear photographer friends tomorrow, looks like a "photographic week-end" ahead and we are preparing for their arrival. I enjoy viewing your images, very much!