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Thread: Golden Hippo and a Sandpiper

  1. #1
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Default Golden Hippo and a Sandpiper

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    It is the bird whom I hold responsible for my baldness in taking this shot last Saturday morning. This time of the year one can hardly see even the mangrove trees at 7 am on the St Lucia lake, but I took a chance as soon as the sun came up and I would really like to have your thoughts on this...I have a number of images, at times the sandpiper gets the attention and other times the hippo. I just liked this particular scene and wanted to share it with you.

    Nikon D4
    Nikon 500 F4.0
    ISO 500
    1/640s
    F7.1

    Critique and comments of any nature much appreciated...
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela - I really like the golden color and the low pov. I do wish the eyes had a little more light hitting them. The reflection works well and the sandpiper is a bonus.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela, great to see you trying something different and exploring.

    For me this is more about atmosphere and in part, leaving the viewer to assess and read into it what they feel & think. It has a serene quality, a stillness which is nice and as Rachel said, the Sandpiper on the back is the cherry! Personally and just a thought, but I would push it a bit more, both in terms of tonal depth & colour. If the ears fill in, or there are areas that lack detail, so be it, it's the mood you are conveying. The colour all comes down to personal taste etc and this is by no means right, but hopefully it might help illustrate the direction I was going/trying to convey. Also I might loose some more off the bottom and go for an even balance of space, but your call. Trust you are enjoying your new toy, it's a cracking camera.

    Just my take.

    TFS
    Steve

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Gabriela, congrats on the new toy and well done on this, an evocative image and I can see it working with either in focus. Steve's made some good recommendations with his RP, I would bring out the eyes a bit more as well. Just love when birdies perch on these behemoths!
    Morkel Erasmus

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

    Steve:

    I am smitten with my new toy and still discovering things about it, the User's Manual looks like a cabbage after only a week and I am still busy with it, soon I will have to download one...

    Now, back to "your take" , I am really upset with myself for not listening to my gut feeling here! This has happened before, me posting something after doing a few versions (and choosing the "tamest" one to post, don't know why) and then you doing an RP that is so close to what I had in mind! Here's what I initially had in mind by the way, although soon afterwards I started trying to get detail here and there (and couldn't) and reducing saturation on colours etc...I must learn! This is a lesson, thank you Steve again, went back to one of my previous versions and sharpened it (had to write another sharpening action because I "lost" the one I had), so here it is! I have another, darker one too...

    It's all gut feeling from now on...
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Hi Gabriela, great light! and congrats on your new toy. The rP is certainly an improvement as it brings out more depth and tonal variations. i like your latest RP the best. As for the image, I feel it is a bit tight, but now i understand you had a new toy. Loi

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    OK Gabriela, I'm going to throw now another question based on your RP, which side is the light coming from and what parts are therefore in shadow?

  8. #8
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Default Jpg from RAW

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    Steve, the sun was barely reaching through the mangrove trees. RHS. My curves adjustment was a bit extreme in the sense that it brought about some highlights at the back of the hippo. The original is rather dull, here is a jpg of the unaltered version. Lots of fog over the water and hippo not clearly visible. The hippo's face is in the shadow, well...almost...

    I can send you the RAW when and if you have the time to play

    Thank you Steve

    Have a great evening,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    The reason I ask is don't lighten any dark/shadow areas to try and get detail or balance, as I personally feel this 'type' of image is all about the lights, darks & shadow. Feel free to fwd the RAW, but it's all about your own interpretation & vision for the image and ultimately, the look & feel.

  10. #10
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Got that Steve - nothing and no one can bring out detail where there isn't, right? As long as one creates something that appeals to the senses. In this case, a lake of almost perfectly still water disturbed by a solitary old hippo emerging calmly and creating but a few ripples while the sun comes up, morning fog still visible, and for the observer a feeling that is both pleasurable, kind of golden in appearance, and also morally good

    Good night Steve, I go to sleep tonight with that same old desire to worship Mother Nature...and I am just beginning to love my D4
    Last edited by Gabriela Plesea; 08-13-2014 at 03:54 PM.
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Hi Gabriela. Love the gold water and the serene mood... My only wish is to have both the bird and the hippo in focus but I realise that would be a big ask...even of new toys.

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    I love the concept and thinking here Gabriela, but I've always found with fog it's very difficult to cut through that layer to give results that go with the vision of what you're trying to achieve.
    But do applaud your efforts!
    However, reviewing the unedited jpg has seen that you need to seriously clean the large amount of dust bunnies that are present in the top 1/3 of the sensor.


    Was this a used D4 you purchased?
    How are you finding the AF acquisition & lock on, I'd be interested to know your thoughts as I found it was a definite improvement on my D3s, which I still can't part with.

    TFS


  13. #13
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Hello Marc!

    And thank you kindly for viewing and comments!
    Regarding this image, I feel I achieved what I had in mind at the time I pressed the shutter, and with a little help from Steve when it came to processing. I must admit I am quite satisfied with the results. At the same time, I am aware that it might not be everyone's cup of tea and I accept that.

    My D4 is brand new, it was delivered to me about two weeks ago, in the box - I never buy second hand...I have wanted this body for some time and Nikon was so kind to keep for me the last one they had in stock (thank you NIKON!).


    Now to the "dust bunnies" - Marc, on any given cold winter morning, due to the difference between the temperature of the water and that of the air above you will see something called "steam fog". During the night, the air tends to cool faster than the water below and later the warm water from the lake's surface starts evaporating into the cold air above. The sudden cooling of the vapour turns the dampness into these small droplets of water, some very small and some larger - about the size of a "dust bunny"(LOL). I did take them out during processing, precisely because I thought there might be someone out there who might mistake them for "dust bunnies". I store my equipment in a special room with a dehumidifier to avoid fungus and I clean my equipment after every trip. The "deep cleaning" if necessary, is done by Nikon, as well as calibration etc.

    I look forward to give you some feedback on the D4's performance soon, I have used it last Saturday for the first time and I am not ready to pronounce judgement yet. I will only know when I get back from the Kalahari in October.

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Thanks for the clarification Gabriela,
    it certainly looked liked dust bunnies, and was surprised when I saw them on the jpg and then thought your D4 may have been a used one, so all good.

    It's not a big leap by any means to the D4 from the 3s, but I'll be interested to see how you compare it to your D3s, BTW do you still have the 3s?


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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you Marc, I still have the D3S. Really cannot compare yet, I have only used the D4 that morning on the lake and in the Game Reserve on the way home. Still reading the manual.

    Let me see what else I shot with the D4 that day, I might post something new

    Chat soon, have a great evening,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela first of all congrats to your new baby, hope you find it useful and make your thoughts come true.

    Regarding the image , i like the clean image design and the sand piper is a nice bonus.Looking at your OP , looked like a golden morning without reading the intro, just the image as it stands.
    I thought you handled the light situation quite well , Steve pushed it further , too far for me.
    But after seeing the RAW , i think you lost all the nice mood while your edits has been done. If this was mine i would go for a foggy moody look with very subtle colors/tones and contrast.
    But as we can see you can create a golden morning shot , all just different POVīs.

    Looking back i think the OP does look over processed, but not in a bad way .

    TFS Andreas

  17. #17
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Hello Andreas!

    Glad to hear from you and thank you so much for your thoughts! I wanted to do something different here, I have already processed a few similar images of this hippo and they are very different from this. I take a lot of joy from experimenting, planning to post different versions, just allowing some time in-between so that you won't get bored with my hippo. I must admit my foggy version wasn't so exciting, it is waiting in my "unfinished images" folder, I want to think about it for a while. I might send you an email soon with the foggy look, if that's ok.

    Andre is asking whether you received his email some time ago?

    Have a wonderful evening,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela understood your points and it is good to experiment , i am with you about this , as i like to experiment myself , too as you know.

    You guys should check your e-mails better , i replied to both of you about the same e -mail request , but yes got it and replied .......

    Cheers Andreas

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  20. #19
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you Andreas,

    We will email you again Regarding this image, I will keep experimenting. Have some similar ones with different comp, etc., the hippo kept moving and the bird was walking up and down on its back, so I have a variety of different shots to work with

    Thank you all for taking the time to view and comment, much appreciated!
    Gabriela Plesea

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