Ray of Light.

[Andre Pretorius]

We are back from our trip from the promised land, sharing it with our friend, Andreas.
He spent some time with us on home ground and we then shared our passion, ethics and frustrations of the Kalahari.
We have a new life-long friend in our small circle!

This was an image captured on our first afternoon, after setting up camp we drove the few hundred meters down to the Nossob Riverbed.
Chose this image to begin with for lights, darks and mid tones. It was last light, the sun was obscured by the dunes, just one last ray broke through, the bokkies were lit up.
Only TK luminosity masks were used in PP, no selection tool or painted masks. D&B layer with soft light on horns and some removing of OOF dark spots in close BG.
Aim was to to achieve maximum detail in lights,darks and mid tones. Removed a bit of blue cast on horns and side of main subject's face.
Almost FF with little crop.
No NR
Any crits/suggestions welcome.

Techs: Nikon D3S with 600f4
1/1250 @ F5.6
ISO 2800
Centre-Weighted Metering
0 OEV

[Thinus Schoeman]

Andre, this is a beautiful image and a classic Kgalagadi scene. Techs look spot on, and the contrast of the sunlit springbuck against the darker background certainly adds to the image. I think the composition works as well. Congratulations!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Welcome back! Love the light here, makes the image and creates something lovely from an "ordinary" species. I wish there was some more separation between the two, but I do like that the fawn's head is peeping out behind mom. Looking forward to more!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andre - Welcome back and I'm glad you all had a great time. I added the theme prefix to your image when I peeked at it earlier on my work monitor. I wanted to wait until I was home on my calibrated screen to comment. Beautiful light and I like placement in the frame. I agree with Morkel on the separation but not a deal breaker by any means. Looking forward to seeing more from your trip.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, can only echo the above comments.

TFS
Steve

[Mike Poole]

Great use of light, can't really add much more to whats already been said, nice work

[Carl Walker]

Lovely use of light here Andre. Well seen and captured. TFS

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you all for commenting!

[Douglas Bolt]

Wonderful light! Maybe a little crop from the left side to get the animals out of the center of the image would be worth trying.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hello my Kgalagadi companion thanks for the great time we had , loved every minute ........ well almost ,i remember you once tested the function of your hooter ................; LOL.

A lovely image to start with , you described it to me and it looks like i have been there , in fact i was not .
A nice beam of the warm evening light hitting the two , i might go darker and loose some detail to get a deeper effect of that beam .

TFS Andreas